Bronwyn swung her hatchet at the clawing, frenzied giant centipede, splitting its carapaced head and sending it twitching to the ground. She stood behind Morgan, ready for the next insect to break past him. They’d been fighting their way through the long, downward-sloping marble hallway for what felt like hours. Every few minutes, a wave of the black, giant insects would come rushing up the hallway, clicking against the hard floors and walls, squeaking, hissing, chirping, and clacking.

Morgan stood in front, and Olivia and Bronwyn gave him space so he could use his point-blank area attacks. Any creatures that broke through either met their fates on Bronwyn’s hatchets or amid Olivia's devastating magic bursts. Morgan seemed to be in a frenzy, a glowing red claw enveloping his left hand as he hacked and slashed with his sword in the other. Every now and then, he’d let out a wave of void Energy or a blue blast of pure Energy, decimating the current wave of creatures.

“He doesn’t seem to tire,” Olivia said after they’d watched him working through the fourth or fifth wave of giant insects.

“He uses his Energy drain to keep going. It’s like he was designed for clearing hordes of weak enemies.” Bronwyn shrugged. It was impressive, but she’d seen how much trouble the massive tick had given Morgan—he wasn’t some sort of demigod.

“I keep wanting to step up and fire a blast of plasma into the horde, but I’m afraid I’ll walk into his Void Wave or something. He’s not exactly lucid when that wolf claw comes out. Have you noticed?”

“Yeah. Look at him! He’s going berserk!” Bronwyn gestured, and sure enough, Morgan was screaming and hacking with both hands, driving deep into the wave of insects. Then, with its signature sound, worse to Bronwyn than fingers on a chalkboard, his Void Wave rippled out, obscuring everything in the hallway with its nothingness, and when it cleared, Morgan was standing over partially obliterated insect corpses. He leaned over, hands on knees, breathing heavily with a grin plastered on his face.

“Having fun?” Olivia chuckled as she picked her way through the carnage to stand next to him.

“Actually, yes. I know I’ve said it before, but seeing that Issa was alright has taken a weight off my shoulders. I’m happy to take pleasure in exterminating some bugs.”

“Let’s hurry and make some progress before the next wave comes!” Bronwyn urged, striding past the two of them. Olivia and Morgan started after her, but they’d only made it four or five steps before a surge of Energy flooded into their backs. None of them leveled, but Bronwyn felt like she had to be getting close. Sure, Morgan was doing more killing than she was, but he was also a lot higher level.

When she’d recovered from the influx, Bronwyn started jogging down the tunnel, and she could hear her friends’ feet keeping pace. “Yes!” she hollered when she saw a set of large marble doors up ahead. “We made it! No more waves!”

“Hell yeah!” Morgan cheered, catching her happy vibe easily. Olivia didn’t say anything, but Bronwyn saw her smile when she caught up.

“I mean, it is kind of fun,” Olivia said, perhaps voicing a conversation she’d been having with herself. “Killing giant bugs, flexing our spells and abilities, but let’s not forget that the tick outside could’ve killed us easily if we’d just made one more misstep when we met it.”

“Killjoy,” Bronwyn said, grinning at her. She’d been a lot easier around her beautiful friend ever since they’d confronted their feelings about each other. Nothing was official, but it was nice to feel like there was some potential there and that they both felt it. When they arrived at the doors, Bronwyn saw that they had handles to pull them open, much like the doors that had opened into the hallway. “Should I open one?”

“Why not? At least take a peek. Be ready to close it, though,” Morgan said. Bronwyn nodded and grabbed hold of a handle, pulling on the right-hand door. Like the doors above, it silently swung toward her with very little resistance. She pulled it open about six inches, and then she peered through. Morgan and Olivia crowded close to look through as well.

A massive marble chamber opened up beyond the doors, well lit with shimmering white Energy lamps that hung from dozens of silvery chains attached to the high ceiling. The space reminded Bronwyn of a gymnasium or exhibition hall in its spacious, echoing enormity. On the smooth white expanse of the marble floor, only one thing stood out: a colossal statue of a coiled centipede-like insect. Rather than just a head, mounted at the top of the long, multi-legged body was a humanoid torso with six arms, all holding curved marble swords. The humanoid body had an insect-like head with gaping mandibles. “That thing’s ugly as hell,” she muttered.

“Look,” Olivia said, pointing high along the walls. Bronwyn followed her gesture and saw round holes evenly spaced around the room's perimeter about twenty feet up.

“What are they for?” Morgan asked softly.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling that when we step in there, we’re going to find out,” Olivia replied.

“Well, it feels kind of like cheating, but I could send my double in. Hopefully, this is like the last boss, and it won’t pursue us if we stay in the tunnel.”

“It’s not cheating! It’s using our resources,” Morgan scoffed. “We all full Energy? Ready just in case?”

“Yeah, I was full as soon as that Energy reward hit us,” Olivia replied.

“Same,” Bronwyn said.

“Same.” Morgan grinned. “Alright, do it, Bron!”

Bronwyn nodded, motioning for Morgan and Olivia to give her some space, then she concentrated and cast Mirage Double. After a surge of Energy flooded out through her pathways, a shimmer in the air heralded her double’s appearance. Soon she was looking into the eyes of her twin Energy construct. Bronwyn pointed at the statue, and both thought and said, “Attack.”

The mirage double didn’t say anything or even nod, but it turned to the statue and ran through the door. The three adventurers watched, holding their breath, as it charged over the marble floor. Nothing happened with the holes in the wall, but as soon as the double’s hatchet struck the giant marble insect creature, it exploded in a shower of stone shards. Bronwyn grunted, feeling the pull on her Core as the double drew Energy to continue existing. “It just ‘died,’” she hissed through clenched teeth.

As the dust and debris settled, the whirling, chittering, sword-swinging insect thing resolved into clarity, and Bronwyn’s double “died” again as a sword slashed her in half. Just then, a volley of orange, flaming balls exploded out of the holes lining the room’s walls. They burst into the mirage double with a concussion like a bomb going off, “killing” it again in a fiery conflagration. When the smoke and cinders settled, the heaving, black-chitoned, insectoid monster was coiled back in its position with its blades splayed, staring at the door to its vaulted chamber.

“Damn,” Morgan breathed, rubbing a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, that looks rough,” Bronwyn said.

“I wonder if those fireball cannons target the first person into the room? I could probably shrug them off in my fire Elemental Form.”

“They didn’t seem to hurt the big bug, either,” Morgan said.

“Yeah, he was caught in that blast but seems fine.” Bronwyn pushed the door gently closed, then turned to her friends. “Ideas?”

“We could try a really fast blitz again. You know, stack up our attacks like on the tick.”

“If those fireballs target us before it dies or after, we could end up with a rather pyrrhic victory.” Olivia frowned.

“True, or if our combined attack isn’t enough to one-shot it,” Bronwyn added.

“This door didn’t close when combat started. Let’s try this: I’ll go in first; when the fireballs start shooting at me, send in your double. Let’s see if they keep firing on me or split to attack the double,” Olivia said, her eyes distant as she envisioned the scene.

“You’re not going in there alone!” Bronwyn grabbed Olivia’s shoulder. The taller, black-haired woman smiled at Bronwyn, the blue flames in her eyes flickering brightly.

“I’m tougher than I look, Bron.” She gently pulled Bronwyn’s hand away, and it reminded Bronwyn just how much the other woman had changed. She remembered being able to look down into her blue and silver eyes and how she’d shyly suggested her adventuring days were over after the Yovashi cave.

“You sure, Olivia?” Morgan asked.

“Yep, is your double ready?” She looked at Bronwyn’s troubled face and forced her smile wider. “I’ll be fine!”

“Yeah, give me a couple of minutes for Energy.” They stood there chatting for a few minutes about mundane things as though to keep from thinking about the idea that Olivia was about to risk her life to test the mechanics of a monster fight. While Morgan lamented the lack of good cold beer in his dimensional containers, Bronwyn suddenly laughed. “This is fucking crazy! I swear I fought through plenty of RPGs learning boss mechanics by trial and error—this is too surreal!”

“I know what you’re talking about. I had friends who ran in raid guilds; they talked about that shit all day on patrol,” Morgan said.

“Well, I have no experience with those things, but I can say this feels very game-like. The System has its methods for encouraging growth, that’s for sure. You ready, Bron?”

“Yeah, I’m ready. Be quick to run if that thing comes at you!”

“I will,” she said, then saw how Bronwyn stared at her and repeated, “I will. Stand back, you two; I’m going to take my fire form.” Bronwyn reached out and squeezed Olivia’s arm, looking into her eyes again, and then she stepped back next to Morgan. Olivia smiled, turned away from them, and then erupted into flames. As Bronwyn’s eyes adjusted to the glare, she realized it was more than that; Olivia’s form under the flames was like a coursing semi-solid magma.

The heat from her roaring, flickering cloak of fire was difficult to bear even several feet away, and Bronwyn and Morgan both had their hands up to shield their faces and eyes while they waited for Olivia to head into the giant insect’s hall. Olivia lifted one fiery, crackling arm, and it took a moment for Bronwyn to realize she was holding up a thumb. Then she turned and drifted into the chamber.

Bronwyn hurried forward to watch and prepared her Mirage Double spell. Olivia hadn’t gone far; she was gliding back and forth near the doorway, perhaps waiting for the monster or the fireballs to target her. Nothing happened for a few heartbeats, then Olivia drifted a bit further in, and suddenly the boss stood up, fanning out its swords in outstretched hands. With concussive *thunk,* *thunk,* sounds, fireballs started soaring through the air at Olivia.

“Now!” Morgan barked.

“Right!” Bronwyn’s Mirage Double took shape as she summoned it and ordered it to attack the enormous insect monster. It charged into the room, and Bronwyn looked to Olivia, relieved to see that she glided out of the fiery explosions, no worse for the wear. Meanwhile, another volley of fireballs launched into the air, again targeting Olivia. The insect monster had started moving toward Olivia but turned its attention on the double, bearing down on it with stabbing legs and slashing swords.

Olivia glided to the far left-hand side of the vast hall and moved back and forth, waiting for another volley of fireballs. When they came, soaring through the air at her again, she shouted, in a strange, disembodied, echoing voice, “That’s it! It works; I’m coming out!” The fireballs exploded into her, and she emerged from the rolling, furious explosion laughing in that same strange voice. Bronwyn felt her double “die,” and then Olivia was through the door, and she canceled the spell.

Bronwyn and Morgan backed away from Olivia, but then the flames surrounding her sputtered and winked out, and their friend was standing in front of the doorway with a wide smile. “Looks like it will work! I’ll draw the fireballs; you two kill the boss.”

“You say that like it’ll be easy,” Morgan chuckled.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Bronwyn said, finding Olivia’s confidence infectious.