Abby drew her bow, a conjured arrow glittering in the tunnel’s firelight, as she held her skill, [Thunder Strike] on the brink of activation. A staccato of footsteps echoed from around the corner, announcing the impending arrival of a group of the strange Jaguar warriors who populated the keep. It would be the first time she tried to activate the skill underground, so she wasn’t sure if it would work. There was nothing in the skill’s description to say it wouldn’t, but common sense dictated worry. If the skill failed, she was ready and willing to use other means.

In front of her, Zeke readied himself to intercept the threat before it reached the more vulnerable members of the party, Abby included. The hall was wide enough for three people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, so it could barely accommodate Pudge, who’d grown far too large for such a cramped space. So, he brought up the rear, guarding against any stragglers they might have missed. The rest of the party clumped in the middle, with Tucker standing between Abby and Pudge, and Talia taking a place just behind Abby’s partner. The newest – and probably temporary – member of the group, Carlos, seemed unsure of his place, so he hovered beside Abby.

Suddenly, a group of men and women scrambled around the corner. With frothing mouths and some sort of dark liquid trailing down their cheeks, these new arrivals were clearly under the influence of a higher power. Abby had heard of a few people who could mentally control others, but those people almost never lasted long. Normally, they ended up like Julio and were killed after trying to control the wrong person. But sometimes, they met their ends under mysterious circumstances, eliciting rumors that the truly powerful weren’t willing to let that kind of a threat run rampant. Even the ones who didn’t find themselves in an early grave invariably had some sort of restriction on their powers – be it an ineffectiveness against anyone of a certain level or some sort of addendum to the skill’s efficacy. Whatever the case, such cases were rare enough that most people never had to worry about their minds being hijacked. At worst, most mental skills were used to confuse or obfuscate, rather than outright dominate.

Abby loosed an arrow, which flew true, piercing through the eye of the man at the head of the pack. He rocked back and howled, the sound an inhuman screech that drowned everything else out. An instant later, a lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere, striking the man with enough force to throw him forward and into Zeke’s waiting shield. The big warrior wasted no time in batting him aside, and even as the stunned man collided with the wall, Talia pounced. Her claws glistening with green ichor, she slashed at all of his most vulnerable places, eviscerating him in the space of a single breath. She used no skills, but then again, she didn’t need to.

While Talia finished the first enemy, the shadows came alive. Spikes of darkness erupted from the umbral patches, spearing through legs and torsos and halting the group’s charge. The raging men and women jerked at their impalements, but they were well and truly skewered.

Carlos let out a deep breath, clearly fatigued by the skill’s usage. Abby glanced in his direction, raising her eyebrow as she asked, “That you?”

“Figured we wanted to take them alive,” he said. “You know, to ask some questions. They’re just normal people.”

Talia had already started forward, but Zeke reached out, grabbing her arm. She wheeled around, cocking back a clawed hand. In a vacuum, it was easy to think of the action as a simple reaction in a tense situation, but Abby saw it for what it was. Talia’s mind was balanced on knife’s edge. One little push, and she would likely fall. If that happened, it would be incredibly difficult to get her back; she would be well on her way to true monsterhood. Abby couldn’t abide that eventuality coming to pass. So as Zeke released her, Abby stepped forward and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. It was rigid to the point of feeling as inflexible as stone.

The undead girl didn’t usually show much outward emotion – a well-established side effect of her transformation. She still felt emotions; they were just buried deep enough that they almost never affected her. That combined with her undead quirks – not least of which was not needing to breathe – to paint a picture of an unfeeling, unstoppable monster. But Abby had had enough conversations with her to know that that wasn’t at all the case. She was a teenaged girl who’d had her entire life – even her humanity – destroyed, and she had all the problems that such a situation would suggest. She just hid it behind that monstrous mask. That being said, she was still incredibly dangerous, and if she did completely give in to her monstrous side, she would do a lot of damage. As her friend, Abby had a fine line to walk between being supportive and, in a lot of ways, making sure that never came to pass.

“Calm, Talia,” Abby said. “Just…”

Abby wanted to tell her to take a deep breath, but she knew that would only push Talia’s buttons. So, after only a moment, she continued, “You’re in charge. Not the monster.”

Talia, who usually refrained from most involuntary human mannerisms, blinked. Then, in that sandpaper voice, she said, “I am not the monster. The monster does not control me. I am Talia Nightingale.”

Abby released her. In her past life, she’d been a mental health professional, but she had never imagined helping a teenaged girl cope with undeath. Such was her life, now, and it wasn’t even the strangest thing she’d had to get used to in the past nine-plus years.

Talia stepped back, her hands falling limp at her sides. Tucker, who hadn’t said anything in a while, pushed past Zeke. His hand found his face as he wiped a tear from his cheek, but he didn’t say anything. Like with Talia, it would’ve been easy to look at Tucker and see an amoral man who’d consistently chosen to act according to his own self-interests. He wasn’t just responsible, at least partially, for Talia’s transformation, but he’d also confessed to committing a delayed genocide against the Jotuns. There were mitigating factors in both situations; with the Jotuns, he had done what he’d done because he thought it was the right thing. He thought he was protecting people. And with Talia, he had been a prisoner, and so, he’d had no choice but to do Micayne’s bidding. However, Abby still found his actions abhorrent. She felt confident that, if she ever found herself in similar situations, she would find other ways. Or perhaps she only had the benefit of looking at it from the outside in. It was easy to judge someone’s actions from afar and in hindsight. But in the moment? It was almost impossible to make all the right choices.

Abby watched Tucker approach the still writhing mass of impaled people. The fact that they couldn’t escape the shadow spears had done nothing to negate their ferocity, and when he drew closer, each and every one of them tried to attack him. Curiously, though, none of them used skills. With a sure hand, he caught one of their hands in an iron grip. With his other, he reached out, extending a finger to the curious fluid on the man’s cheek, pulling it away once he’d taken a sample.

“I know what this is,” he announced, letting the captive go. It continued to screech and struggle, but Tucker ignored it. “But you’re not going to like it. You can kill them, by the way. They’re already gone.”

“Are you sure?” asked Zeke.

Pointing his thumb over his shoulder, Tucker said, “Those aren’t people anymore.”

Abby used [Keen Eye] on the closest enemy.

Ferdinand Keller – Level 9 (21)

“What the hell?” she muttered, never having seen such a thing. “Is anyone else seeing two levels?”

“Yeah,” said Zeke. “What does that mean?”

Tucker, who had far and away the most experience of the group, said, “Nothing good.”

“Quit trying to be so cryptic,” Abby said. “Just tell us what you think is going on.”

Tucker gave a dramatic sigh, slumping his shoulders as he said, “You just suck the joy out of everything.”

“There’s nothing joyous about this,” interjected Carlos. “These are my people. My friend is somewhere down there. If you know what’s happened to them, just tell us.”

Tucker straightened to his full height. “Sorry,” he said. “I let myself forget that these are real people. It’s a bad habit I had to…you know what? Never mind. I’m sorry. I was insensitive. It won’t happen again.”

Abby was a little surprised by the show of humility, and she was about to make a sarcastic comment when Tucker continued, “They’re demons.”

That cut her off. Demons were little more than a myth. “Here?” she asked. “I thought the only place they ever appeared was the Lake of Flames.”

“Like, actual demons?” Zeke asked. “Like that guy from that old Tom Cruise movie?”

“Legend?” Abby asked, not bothering to hide her surprise. “You said you never really watched many movies, but you made an exception for Legend?”

He shrugged. “My mom liked all those ‘80s movies,” he said. “And I liked that one. It was –”

Tucker cleared his throat, then once everyone was looking his way, he nodded toward the impaled group of people. They hadn’t lost any of their vigor, despite each one of them having multiple spikes of shadow driven through their arms and legs. A few had even worked the shadow spears loose, though whatever skill Carlos had used compensated for that by growing larger. For his part, Carlos’s forehead was shiny with sweat; clearly, holding the skill wasn’t as effortless as it had first appeared.

“Sorry,” Zeke said. “Continue.”

“Right, so – demons,” Tucker said. “Sometimes, they take physical shape. Those are the ones you see down in the Lake of Flames. Or you would if taking more than twenty steps into the area didn’t melt your skin from your bones. This isn’t that.”

“So, what is it?” asked Abby, gesturing for him to get on with it.

“More like ghosts,” he said. “Lesser demons. Incorporeal. They can’t exist on this plane without a host.”

“This plane?” Zeke asked.

Tucker took on the tone of a professor giving a lecture, which was a bit macabre, given the screeching and struggling people who’d been impaled by the shadow spikes. He didn’t seem to mind though. He said, “Okay, it’s widely speculated – at least among the academic community – that there are multiple planes. Anytime someone has claimed to see a deity or summoned an elemental, that’s them getting a glimpse of higher realms. But what few people know is that, parallel to our reality, is a darker one. The demon’s realm. We’re not exactly sure what –”

“The bad people,” Zeke said. Then, he shook his head, “That sounds weird. I wonder if there’s a better way to refer to it…”

“What are you talking about?” asked Tucker.

“Okay, so you all know about Oberon and what he told me,” Zeke stated. The only one who hadn’t heard Zeke’s story about what he’d experienced before his rebirth into the Radiant Isles was Carlos, and because of that, he looked suitably confused. However, he didn’t ask what they were talking about, probably because he wasn’t comfortable. But it could’ve been because he was straining to maintain his skill. “Well, he told me that the good people came here. The bad people went elsewhere. The demon realm seems like a good bet as to where they went.”

“Might be a bit of a stretch,” Tucker said. “But speculation or not, what we do know is that these lesser demons can possess people. In fact, it’s the only way they can persist in this reality for more than a few minutes. The bigger ones don’t have that issue. I’ve never seen one, but…well, I don’t want to, either. If you want my educated guess, it’s that these people are possessed by demons. When you inspect them, you see the host’s level, followed by the demon’s level in parenthesis. I could have it backwards, but…well, considering how these guys were moving,” he gestured with a thumb over his shoulder before continuing, “I’m thinking the higher number refers to the demon.”

“What does that mean, though? They didn’t use any skills or anything,” Zeke said.

“Oh, they won’t use skills,” he said. “Skills are tied to your soul. Or core. Whatever you want to call it. When a demon possesses you, it destroys that. And most of your brain, too. When I still lived in Salvation, there was a group that came back from a demon hunt in the Lake of Flames, and one of their members had been possessed. Awful stuff. By the time he got to us, the demon had completely supplanted his brain. There was just nothing left. He was an empty shell, a vehicle for the demon to drive. These guys back here? Something similar. That stuff leaking out of their eyes? That’s what’s left of their brains, mixed with demon shit. It’s not actually fecal matter, more like a metaphysical runoff taken solid form, but you get the picture.”

“Can we save them?” asked Carlos, his voice hoarse and strained.

“No,” Tucker said, his tone offering no room for debate.

“Are you sure?” Abby said. “Is it impossible? Or is it just too much trouble for someone like you?”

Tucker fixed her with an unwavering stare. “I know you don’t like me,” he said. “I deserve some of that. You think I’m a self-serving asshole. And sometimes, I am. I freely admit that. But if I could save these people, I would. If you don’t believe me about something like that, then maybe it’s time we went our separate ways. I’ll help clear this place out. I won’t leave before that. But when this is all done, you need to think long and hard about whether or not you can tolerate me. If not, I hope you have enough integrity to let me know when the time comes. Until then, can I get a hair less condescension and hostility from you? I’m trying to help. Trust that.”

For a moment, Abby felt bad. After all, she felt entirely justified in her judgment of the big alchemist. The man was responsible for so much pain and suffering, and that was only considering what he’d done while working with Micayne. He’d sentenced an entire race to extinction, and without anyone else’s input. Abby wasn’t sure she could ever forget that. But she could push it into the back of her mind for now, especially considering that Tucker seemed like the only one who had any inkling of what was going on.

“Fine,” she said.

“What do we do?” asked Carlos, clearly seeing the only path forward.

“I’m sorry,” Tucker said. “They’re gone. There’s nothing we can do except put them out of their misery. If you see someone with that black stuff coming out of their eyes, it’s over.”

“Put them out of their misery,” the man said, letting his gaze fall to the floor. He took a long, deep breath, and when he looked up, he looked like a completely different person. His features hadn’t changed, but whatever vulnerability had been there before, it was now gone, replaced by grim determination. This was a man who’d killed before, who expected to do it again. He said, “Step back. I’ll take care of it.”

The others, recognizing his tone, did just that, sheltering behind Pudge. All except Zeke, who stopped to stand beside Carlos. He asked, “Are you sure? I can take care of it.”

“No,” Carlos said. “These are my people.”

“Alright, then,” Zeke stated. Then, he raised his shield.

The moment Zeke was safe behind his shield, the shadow spikes began to expand. The narrow spear-like protrusions of darkness soon doubled in circumference before suddenly exploding into blades of darkness that ripped through the demon possessed people like they were paper. Blood, ruined flesh, and minced organs flew in every direction, but most of it went in the opposite direction as the group’s position. Carlos had directed the eruption as much as he could but a few blades still reached Zeke, clanging off his shield with a sound of metal on metal. A couple of those blades went as far as Pudge, but they had lost enough momentum that they didn’t even penetrate his thick hide. In the space of an instant, more than two dozen men and women were decimated.

“Damn,” Tucker said. “Pretty boy has some power after all.”

“He’s level twenty-one,” Abby said. “Nobody gets there without having some skills.”

“True,” Tucker agreed. “I’d have known that if I bothered inspecting him.”

“You didn’t inspect him?” Abby asked. When Tucker didn’t answer, she just shook her head, saying, “You’re worse than Zeke.”

Abby glanced at Talia, who was staring at Carlos with open adoration from the other side of the hall. Tucker noticed it to, whispering, “That’s probably going to be a problem.”

“Hopefully not,” Abby said.

Talia either didn’t hear them, or she pretended as much. Either way, she wasted no time in joining Carlos and Zeke. Tucker and Abby soon followed. No one wanted to rummage through the viscera, and whatever equipment the demon-possessed people had been wearing had been ripped to shreds just like their bodies. So, no one bothered looking for loot. Even Zeke refrained from using his looting skill, clearly wanting to move past the grisly scene as quickly as possible. The rest of the group, including Abby, followed, with Pudge bringing up the rear, and they continued their exploration of the lower levels.

A few more battles erupted, but none ended any better than the first. The groups of the possessed lacked skill or cohesion, attacking without plan or any sense of self-preservation. Abby had seen monsters that fought with more humanity, and she was reminded of the zombies they’d battled on the Micayne estate.

“You smell that?” asked Zeke, sniffing loudly.

“Sulfur,” Tucker said. Whether it was due to a skill or simple experience, the alchemist’s senses were more finely tuned than anyone else’s. On top of that, he had the experience to tell him how to interpret that sensory input.

“Great,” Zeke said. “As if caves aren’t enough…”

After a few more twists and turns, they found a break in the wall, beyond which was a roughly hewn tunnel, supported by wooden beams. Standing in front of the tunnel, Zeke sniffed again, saying, “Yeah – this is the source. Go down? Or should we just bring the building down on top of them?”

“I want to know what’s going on down there,” Carlos said. As a newcomer, he had remained mostly silent throughout the exploration of the keep and its lower levels. But after he’d executed that first group of the possessed, his demeanor had changed. “I need to make sure there aren’t any survivors.”

“It’s unlikely,” Tucker pointed out. “We’re probably –”

“I vote that we check it out,” said Zeke.

“Me too,” Abby agreed. “We have no idea if there are other exits. If we bring the keep down, there is no guarantee these demon-possessed people won’t escape. And that’s not even considering whoever’s responsible for all of this.”

“His name is Julian Asino,” Carlos stated. “He’s a level twenty-five. Nothing special, as elites go, but he can hold his own. He’s smart, though. He’ll be ready for us. If he doesn’t already know we’re here, he soon will.”

“More reason to bring the whole keep down on his head,” Tucker said. “And we get a nice, huge explosion, so that’s fun for everyone, right?”

“He’ll survive,” Carlos said. “I need to see him dead. Otherwise, he’ll just do this again somewhere else. Or worse, he’ll turn the whole of the Crystal Spiders against us.”

“They already hate me,” Zeke said.

“Hate is a strong word,” Abby stated.

“They tried to have me killed,” the big warrior said. “Seems appropriate.”

“I don’t think –”

“It doesn’t matter,” Carlos interjected. “I’m going. I don’t care if you all go with me or not. I probably won’t survive if I go alone, but I can’t just let this go. I have friends down there. People who depend on people like me to keep them safe. I won’t stand by and…and…I just won’t leave them.”

“I am going as well,” Talia said.

Abby knew better than to think that Talia had been swayed by anyone’s argument. She had seen the way Talia had looked at the man. But regardless of her reasons, it was the right choice. Abby said, “I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t go.”

Pudge snorted. It could’ve meant anything, but Abby knew the bear well enough that she could almost understand his chuffs, huffs, and snorts. This one said that he wanted to go as well. Or perhaps that was just anthropomorphizing normal bear sounds.

Zeke said, “I guess that’s a majority, then. Sorry, Tucker. You were outvoted.”

“Fine,” Tucker said. “But when we get out of here, I’m still blowing the building up. You have to give me that, at least.”

Zeke smiled. “That’s only fair,” he said. “Plus, who doesn’t love a good explosion?”

“I know, right?” Tucker said. “That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time.”

Abby rolled her eyes, then pushed past the two men. After taking a few steps down the long tunnel, she said, “Are you coming?”