“Alright guides, time to earn your keep,” a man in a blue vest yelled, “Pikes up front, shields to the sides, ranged behind. Let’s see if we can catch up with the main group a little quicker this year, yeah? Everyone else, listen up. We don’t stop moving. Doesn’t matter what comes up on us, doesn’t matter who falls behind. We don’t stop. We will be running all night, and we won’t rest until we are safe in the stronghold halfway down the mountain. I don’t care who you are, we aren’t stopping for anyone, not until we are in that stronghold.”

They passed out lanterns and formed up. Hugo thought it was interesting that the unmarked in the middle of the group got the lanterns. The only soulmarked guide that kept a lantern was the leader in blue, who walked up front with the leading edge of their phalanx. He saw long pikes materialize out of nowhere and get passed along the front. Once they were all ready, the group took off at a jog.

Slightly more than a hundred people jogged down the trail, the soulmarked protecting the normal in the middle of the pack. They were almost immediately beset by monsters. Eleven overlarge insects leapt out and attacked the group. Five monsters attacked from the front and three attacked each side. The monsters attacked senselessly, practically falling all over each other to get at the people. Each one was over seven feet tall. There were a few different forms, four legged monsters with scythe hands like praying mantises, six legged armored monsters like beetles, and segmented monsters with hundreds of legs. Each one was similar to a real life insect, but the form was enlarged and mutated to make it more deadly.

The mountain guides didn’t even break their stride.

As one, the soulmarked in front stabbed forward with their long spears. Three monsters were instantly turned into light blue sparkles. Two of the larger monsters were just impaled. Instead of finishing them off, the mountain guides used the spears to toss them off to the side.

Once the insects hit the sides of the phalanx, they were bounced back. A few of the defenders manifested a small transparent blue shield directly in front of the attacking insects. The monsters hadn’t expected the sudden appearance of the shields, and tumbled to the ground. Soulmarked holding physical shields stepped forward to bash the monsters back.

From the rear of the formation came small blue bolts, targeting and destroying the downed monsters. The final monster was shot with a large crossbow quarrel that dissipated the huge beetle.

A few normal people cried out when the monsters attacked, but other than that, their reaction was muted. This wasn’t the first time they had been attacked on this trip, but tensions were high. They knew things would get worse.

They jogged down the switchbacks, slower when it got steep, and running when the path was easy. Hour after hour passed, and they continued to be attacked by groups of monsters. The guides handled these ones just as easily as the others. No one was scratched, let alone seriously hurt.

The next turn revealed a long straight stretch of the mountain path. Hugo couldn’t see the other end, but he knew from his earlier trip that this was a long, mostly flat valley. It is where they had camped last night. They had traveled down in four hours what took the entire previous day of hiking up.

The man in blue held his lantern high and spoke just loud enough to be heard, “We can walk for a bit, take a drink, eat a light snack. Don’t stop, don’t fall behind.”

Everyone slowed to a walk, taking out bottles and water pouches to slake their thirst. Hugo could hear a few people gasping for breath, spilling water as they tried to recover from their hours-long jog. It was then that Hugo finally felt the impact of being soulmarked. He might not be any stronger or faster yet, but every soulmarked could recover faster, and this jog hadn’t depleted him.

It was real. He had been soulmarked. He was going to be powerful, just like he had always wanted. He felt conflicted though. He was not sure if he should be happy he had survived, or upset at the cost. It was only now, when he felt out of immediate danger, that he really thought about that situation. It made him sick to his stomach.

Seven people had died, and from their actions, it seemed like some of them knew what was going on before the ritual started and they entered soul space. Florin had yelled something about being the only one. Then the three of them had attacked and killed the other teenagers. They knew what was going on and they jumped straight to killing. The ritual must require a death to power up the survivors.

He had read about this kind of thing. It was foul twisting of life magic, sometimes called necromancy. He hadn’t expected something out of his two copper novels to actually happen to him in real life. He looked around for the ritualist again. Hugo had to bring him to justice. But he wasn’t here. Maybe he had run ahead or found another way off the mountain after Hugo had made that scene.

Another thought occurred to him. Two of the three murderers had rich parents. Did they pay extra to the ritualist to ensure success? The ritualist must have then let them in on the secret. At least one death was required to power up the ritual and soulmark the victors. The whole realization felt abhorrent.

Hugo was going to be able to realize his dreams, but it came at the tragic loss of seven other lives. Well, four of them were tragic. The other three were murderers and got what they deserved. Hugo briefly wondered if he should feel guilty for his part in all this. He had fought Lina and Florin and even though he hadn’t been the one to lay the final blow, he killed them all the same. Should he feel guilty for that?

No, he had only killed in self defense. He wouldn’t have even done that if he had realized what was going on. The only real guilt he felt was surviving when Marion had died. No one would be happy to see Hugo return home, but Marion was leaving behind a grieving family.

He didn’t want to think about that, and instead focused on the trek. He had to be alert in case of attack. The mountain guides couldn’t protect him from everything. There were flying monsters, and stealthy monsters, either of which could slip past the defenders.

As soon as they were out of the valley, they continued their jog down the trail. The switchbacks were steep and soon even Hugo was feeling the pain in his feet and shins. He wished that they could stop instead of just walking to rest. But they couldn’t afford to spend any more time on the mountain. The monster surge would only get worse from here.

The monster attacks continued, at least one per hour. As they got lower on the mountain, more varieties started cropping up. Dire wolves appeared out of the dark, their black coats allowing them to sneak up close before they attacked. The velociraptors attempted to sneak up as well, but they were quickly killed. The python monsters were perhaps the most dangerous, if only because they managed to trip up some of the red vested guides. But those monsters were killed or incapacitated like all the rest. They didn’t even bother to injure the stone turtles, they just jogged a little faster past them.

Some of the girls took turns being carried by a generous escort, too exhausted to keep jogging at pace. Hugo could tell that some of the boys wanted a break too, but they were too proud to ask to be carried. He kept an eye on them, resolving to help anyone that fell.

They kept moving through the entire night. Every so often the man in the blue vest would offer soft words of encouragement. He would tell them to be strong, that they were getting close. He lied. Their destination was miles away. They did take a brief pause shortly after the sun rose, but then they were moving again.

Hugo started keeping an eye out for the stronghold when it was midmorning. He knew it had to be close by, he recognized the schist field they had just passed. There were a few distinctive boulders strewn about, and he started seeing more dirt and less stone.

The man in the blue vest called for a halt shortly before they got to a grove of trees. He had a quick whispered conversation with the guides in the front of the group. Hugo didn’t know why they were stopping, especially when they were so close to safety. Then it hit him, there was no vegetation on this mountain. None. Those trees hadn’t been there when they climbed the mountain, and so they couldn’t be trees.

Now that he knew to look at them carefully, he tried to see the monster shapes in the tree camouflage. He couldn’t. The illusion was perfect, this whole grove looked real. If it wasn’t for the fact that he knew the trees had to be monsters, he would think the man in blue was scared of what was hiding in the forest, not the forest itself.

The man in the blue vest had walked to the back of the formation and was arguing with a woman there.

“You have to throw it, it’s our only chance.”

“It works up to rank forty-eight. Do you know how much it costs?”

“I will ask the commander to reimburse you when we get back.”

“You know he will only give me half of what it is worth.”

“Look. Look at that. You can see what I see. If you don’t throw it, we will all die. And you can’t spend your gold if you are dead.”

“... Fine,” she said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a large flask with a green liquid in it. She loaded it into a slingshot apparatus on her forearm and pointed it at the grove of trees. Without hesitation, she shot the flask. It soared through the air, landing in the middle of the grove and bursting. A green mist billowed out, covering most of the forest in less than a second.

Suddenly the illusion dropped and the forest disappeared. Instead of trees, there were enormous spiders. Instead of tree trunks, there were spider legs with blades on the end. Instead of a leafy canopy, there were spider bodies with huge fangs.

As soon as the illusion broke, the monsters sprang into action. The two spiders on the far left hadn't been hit by the mist. They quickly skittered over to the group. Blue shields appeared in the air, but they weren’t fast enough. A red vest got skewered right through his midsection. The spider tried to lift him away, but the two guides to the side of him pulled him off the leg blade and kept him grounded. Blood gushed from the wound. A parent with the black robes of the life domain shouldered his way to the front to try and heal him.

Hugo couldn’t see if they were able to save him, but he could see the blade spiders continuing to attack. They stabbed at the blue barrier, a staccato rhythm that quickly cracked through shield after shield, turning them into swirling mana. With the barrier gone, the two spiders attacked in earnest. Some attacks were turned away with physical shields, but the spiders attacked so quickly that dozens of wounds seemed to just appear on the guides.

The guides tried to counter attack, sending out arrows and flying daggers. But all of the attacks just plinked off the spider’s tough exoskeleton. One spider backed up, annoyed by the daggers to the face. But the other blade spider leapt over the soulmarked guides and stabbed down at the normals huddled in the middle. Two teenagers were impaled through the head, instantly dead. Everyone in the middle screamed and tried to run away.

The spider’s success also hampered it. The corpses were slowing the monster down. A guide with runic armor took the chance to leap onto its rear leg. A man with a barrier domain joined him. The two armored defenders climbed up the spider legs, breaking joints as they went.

With a screech, the spider tried to turn and attack, but the defenders hung on tight. The wild flailing soon made the monster stumble to the ground. As soon as the body touched the road, several guides stuck their blades deep into the monster’s body. It burst into heavy swirling mana. Once the mana cleared, they could see that it left behind a black manacryst.

While this monster was getting killed, the other spider had regained its senses and attacked again. New blue barrier held it off, but those shields were quickly broken through. This monster didn’t make the same mistake as the other. Instead of jumping into the middle of the people, it swept its legs from side to side. This bowled over five guides and made the rest jump back. The monster was about to jump.

Sticky blobs hit the monster’s body, covering several leg joints. Within seconds, the yellow blobs turned into crystals, severely hampering the spider’s movement. Hugo looked past the monster to see what had attacked it. A new group of soulmarked guides had appeared, one of them continuing to lob yellow blobs at the monster. Long, sharp spikes of barrier magic took advantage of the monsters new immobility. In less than ten seconds, another black manacryst appeared.

Hugo knew there were more than just two monsters in that grove of trees, and he looked around for them. Eventually he found them where they had started.

The effects of the potion could still be seen. There had been eight colossal spiders in that illusionary grove, and six of them were under the effects of the green mist. It slowed them down, to a snail's pace. The monsters were trying to attack the people in front of them, but they still hadn’t made it a hundred yards.

“Quickly!” blue vest yelled, “The potion won’t last forever. Everyone, attack now!”

Following his command, all of the guides rushed forward, attacking the blade spiders. They were just as tough as before, but now that the monsters were practically unmoving, each shot hit a joint or other sensitive spot. In short order, six more monsters were reduced to mana crystals.

“Thanks,” the man in the blue vest said to the new arrivals, “Your timing couldn’t have been better.”

“It wasn’t luck, we have a few light magic practitioners, they saw you coming,” she said.

“I always forget about those guys, they just fade into the background, you know?” the leader said. Then he turned to the group and yelled, “It’s not far, everyone sprint back!”

Thankfully, he wasn’t lying this time around. In less than ten minutes they were to their destination. Low slung walls surrounded the stronghold halfway up the mountain. The walls were there mostly as a demarcation, they were too low to keep monsters away.

Instead of tall walls for protection, this stronghold had been carved deep into the mountain side. Their small group ran through the round entrance. It was wide enough for eight of them to walk in side by side, but Hugo knew from experience that they would slide a thick stone door into place right after they were inside. They were safe in here.

A series of caves spread out from where they had entered, with enough room for over three thousand people. The main entrance led to a central chamber where breakfast would be served in the morning. After that was a long tunnel, with several communal sleeping quarters branching off from the main corridor. The tall ceilings helped keep the claustrophobia away.

As the latest arrivals, they had to walk all the way to the back of the caves before they got to their assigned spot. Hugo tiredly tossed his bag on the stone floor. He almost wished that he had kept Marion’s bedroll so he would be a little more comfortable on the hard stone. But even with hindsight, he knew it wasn’t worth the extra weight.

At least the most dangerous part of the journey was over now. There might be more monsters attacking them tomorrow, but they were with the main group. Several high ranked guides would keep them all safe.

Hugo started to walk out of the room in search of water when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. Someone picked him up and threw him up against the wall.

“Did you kill my son?” Florin’s mom yelled.