Elijah’s bare feet slapped against the rocky ground, which had been worn smooth by generations of heavy traffic through the twisting corridors of the Nest. Behind him, his slower brethren followed, their pants of exhaustion and fear echoing throughout the underground passage. He ignored them, save to acknowledge that they would serve their purpose as sacrifices so that he might survive. He didn’t have to be faster than the monster pursuing them; rather, he only needed to be faster than his fellows. That, more than anything, spurred him on and prevented despair from building in his heart.

It was a thin hope, but he clung to it with the fervor of a doomed man.

An agonized scream sliced through the corridor before abruptly ending. Elijah didn’t need to look back to see that another one had fallen, which left only a half-dozen of his companions. He poured on the speed, using every point of his agility to his advantage, but he knew he couldn’t outrun the monster. Nor could he defeat it. He could only hope to reach the surface where he might find solace in the sunlight, where he may find someone stronger. Someone who could offer some meager protection from the unrelenting creature.

Luckily, after six months living in the Nest’s maze of tunnels, he knew every twist and every turn. On the surface, he’d been little more than a beggar, a thief who had, after being reborn, used his meager skills to eke out a living cutting purses and, on occasion, slitting throats. But then, when he’d caught the attention of the Spiders, everything had changed. Suddenly, he had a future. A way to make his mark. The means to find a comfortable life where he might find a modicum of respect.

Elijah had always known that he couldn’t hold a candle to the new world’s true elite. Even if he’d had the talent, he lacked the desire to push himself like those monsters. But he was a survivor – a trait that had been present in his life back on Earth and had transferred to his new existence.

He’d never had any desire to be an assassin, but the opportunity to join the Crystal Spiders was too beneficial to turn down. So, he’d let himself be recruited, which had ended with him spending the last six months in the Nest, where he struggled against a hundred others just like him for survival. And as always when it came down to protecting his own continued existence, he had excelled. He’d had to make a bevy of unsavory decisions along the way, most of which had resulted in the death of one or more of his competitors, but it had proved to be an unfortunate necessity.

The Spiders, after all, didn’t want guild members who shied away from doing what was necessary. They wanted survivors like Elijah, men and women who would do whatever it took to get the job done.

But then disaster had struck in the form of the monster’s descent into the Nest. It had the shape of a young woman, but it was a merciless killer that ignored even the most plaintive of pleas as it slowly exterminated everyone within the Nest. At first, he and the others thought that it was all part of their initiation into the assassin’s guild, but that hadn’t lasted long after they saw the woman-shaped monster rip one of the compatriots limb from limb. It was one of the most disgusting displays of overwhelming power Elijah had ever seen, and he wanted no part of facing such a threat.

It was beginning to look like he wouldn’t have a choice, though. Every few seconds, one of the other survivors fell to the monster, screaming in agony as their lives ended. Salvation bloomed when he saw a familiar intersection of corridors up ahead. Relief flooded his mind as he took a right and saw a set of stairs leading toward the surface. With haste born of unrelenting terror, he mounted the steps, taking them two at a time as he climbed toward safety.

Barreling through a door, Elijah didn’t have to pause to get his bearings. He knew he’d found himself in the first sub-level of the guild’s training hall. It was where he had begun his journey toward becoming an assassin, and, more importantly, it housed many of the Spiders’ elite fighters who were putting in their time as trainers for the next generation of killers.

Skidding to a stop, Elijah slammed the door and locked it shut before grabbing a nearby metal bar and sliding it into place. Once that was done, he looked around. The sub-level was much as he remembered, and he found himself in a mostly unadorned room with low ceilings. Judging by the casks and crates piled against the walls, it served the role of storage. Panting, Elijah sank to his knees.

How long had he been running? Hours? Days? It had all begun to blur together. His stats weren’t particularly high, but as a level fifteen, he could stave off fatigue for quite some time. That he was so exhausted was a testament to the combination of the sustained exertion and stress of life-and-death flight. Adrenaline had kept him going, but now that he was safe, the effects had begun to fade.

“What now?” asked one of the few novice Spiders who’d been following closely enough to make it through before Elijah had barred the door. There were three others – two women and one man – who’d avoided being locked on the other side. The unlucky ones clawed and pounded at the door, begging for admittance, but Elijah ignored them. He wasn’t completely stone-hearted, but he wasn’t going to risk his neck for his fellow novices. That would be antithetical to his whole existence.

Elijah flinched as something slammed against the door with much more force than any of the novices could muster. After spending six months competing with his fellow fledgling assassins, he had a good measure of their capabilities, so he knew that the monster had arrived. A moment later, a cacophony of muffled screams found his ears. A few seconds after that, and Elijah felt something wet and sticky seeping under the door, and he looked down to see a puddle of blood slowly spreading.

“We can’t stay here,” he said. “It’s coming.”

“It can’t get through that door,” one of the others said. “It’s been reinforced. It would take –”

Another resounding thud cut the man off, and Elijah felt the door bulge inward, straining the hinges and bending the crossbar, if only slightly. The panic returned, stronger and more urgent than ever before.

“W-why is it here? What did we do?!” came a whine from the other side of the room. Elijah glanced to the corner and saw a woman curled into the fetal position, her knees in her chest, and rocking back and forth. One of her arms ended in a bloody stump at her wrist that had been hastily bandaged with a few strips of tattered cloth that had once been someone’s shirt.

None of the others, including Elijah, had escaped unscathed. Although, Elijah’s injuries were limited to a few scrapes and a twisted ankle he’d sustained while trying to take a corner at top speed. With his vitality, it wouldn’t be long before his body healed itself. Nothing could regrow a missing hand, though.

“We have to go,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. His shoulders slumped as he started toward the door on the opposite side of the room. The methodical bangs of the monster’s attempted ingress thundered through the room, but Elijah confined his reactions to mere flinches.

The others weren’t so stoic, and tears were common sight. Elijah studiously ignored those as well, opening the door and continuing on his way. Before he did, he said, “Come on. I’m going to bar this door, too.”

The other novices followed, and he did what he’d promised to do. This one wasn’t reinforced, though, and he knew it would barely slow the monster down. But every second gained was important.

Like that, the group crossed the expansive sub-level, passing through the dungeons and various storage rooms before eventually finding their way to another set of stairs. If Elijah remembered right, they led to the courtyard behind the building that functioned as the assassin guild’s main headquarters.

Behind them came a crash, announcing that the monster had finally broken through that first reinforced door. It spurred them on, and they scrambled up the steps and into the blessed daylight.

Elijah broke free of the sub-level, and for a moment, he thought he’d finally made it. Surely, such a terrible creature couldn’t exist beneath the sun’s rays. It was evil, a creature of darkness that would be confined to the shadowy realm beneath the city. More importantly, now that they were topside, they could find the guild’s higher-leveled fighters, and those elite assassins would make quick work of the fearsome monster.

It was a good plan, and Elijah was busy congratulating himself for, once again, surviving, when a gout of red-and-black flame washed over him. He didn’t even have time to understand what had happened before his body disintegrated into a pile of ash.

* * *

Carlos watched as Pudge bathed the fleeing novices in a cascade of his distinctly destructive flames. They had won, but he took no pleasure in the victory. The novices had been causing all sorts of mayhem since the fall of the assassin’s guild, popping up and killing people all over the city. Their extermination was necessary. However, just because it had to happen didn’t mean that he took any pleasure in it. After all, he’d once been one of them. If Zeke had been reborn into the Radiant Isles a few years earlier, Carlos might have been down there, too.

“Is that the last of them?” Abby asked, standing beside him.

“I don’t know,” was his response, his tone laced with frustration.

The pair continued to watch as Pudge made quick work of the exhausted novices. The bear, for all his anthropomorphic characteristics, didn’t have any issues with killing, so he was the perfect one for the job of tying up the loose ends.

Talia, though…her mental state worried him. None of them were in good spirits, what with the undead army bearing down on them. The novice Spiders had exacerbated an already tense situation. But Talia? She’d insisted upon being the one to go down into the Nest and take care of the problem. Everyone – even Zeke, who was often the least compassionate of the group – had argued against it. Talia had ignored them as she descended into the labyrinthine set of tunnels beneath Jariq.

Death followed.

With her speed, she really was the perfect exterminator. None of the baby Spiders were high-leveled enough to put up much of a fight. Nor could they outrun her. And as a result, she had made quick work of them, killing hundreds in the space of a few hours. Some had resurfaced throughout the city, but Carlos had marked most of the exits. There were plenty of volunteers to make sure none escaped with their lives.

Carlos shook his head. It wasn’t that surprising, given how much mayhem the Spiders had caused over the last few days. In a time of peace, it could have been overlooked, but with a war against an undead army looming over them all, the city’s warriors, adventurers, and thugs had all banded together to contribute to ending the threat.

Certainly, some had done so to curry favor with Zeke. Others had simply taken the opportunity to see old grudges against the Spiders satisfied, once and for all. But regardless of the reasons, any Spiders that managed to reach the surface had met much the same fate as those unfortunate enough to feel the bite of Pudge’s flames.

After a while longer – Carlos was unsure of how much time had actually passed – a pale figure emerged from the depths. Talia had the same familiar form, but she was covered in red blood that clashed with her pale skin. Her face bore no signs of the emotions he knew were roiling within her mind. She hid them, and they were muted, but he knew they were still there. Despite what she had been through, Talia was still human where it counted.

But day by day, that was changing. One day, he expected that when he looked into her eyes, he would see the same monster so many others saw. The thought chilled him to the bone.

“It is done,” she rasped. “They are all dead. The Nest is empty.”

Carlos wanted to comfort her, to throw his arms around her narrow shoulders and embrace her. However, despite feeling something for the girl, he knew he couldn’t give her what she so blatantly wanted. It was painful to admit, but he held no attraction for the undead girl. To pretend otherwise would have been cruel. The best he could offer was friendship, and even that was strained by the combination of her obvious crush and his equally obvious lack of attraction.

Luckily, she had Abby, who approached her slowly. Like she was a wild animal. Or a monster. With a tentative hand, the archer reached out and gripped Talia’s shoulder. Gripping it tightly, she asked, “Are you okay?”

“Of course,” said the undead girl. “Why would I not be?”

“You just killed a lot of people, Talia,” Abby said.

“So? That is what monsters do,” she responded. Then, without further conversation, she pushed past Abby and put on a burst of speed that quickly took her out of sight. The bear followed on her heels, moving far too quickly for a creature his size.

“Where do you think she’s going?” asked Carlos.

Abby turned, a pained expression distorting her features. “Where else? She’s going to find Zeke,” she said.

Carlos nodded. “We should probably do the same,” he said. “The undead are going to be at the walls soon, and we’re going to be needed in the city’s defense.”

Abby’s shoulders sagged, and she said, “I just wish we could help her. She’s in so much pain, and this…constant fighting is just making everything that much worse. I’m afraid she’s going to lose herself.”

“Do we have a choice, though?” asked Carlos. “Zeke won’t leave, and Talia goes where he goes. Same as the bear. Same as you.”

“You, too.”

Carlos ran his hand through his hair, but he didn’t argue with her statement. After all, he knew better than most how easy it was to get caught up in that man’s gravitational pull. He’d never meant to, but what he wanted never seemed to matter. Circumstances kept him tied to the man, just like all the others.

He sighed. “You’re not wrong,” he said. “Let’s go.”