Dassyra pulled a round piece of red dyed glass from her bag and brought it to her eye, examining the mountains. Currents of mana swirled inside the piece of glass just like the strands of fire mana embedded into Elincia’s blanket. The glass lens had to be an enchanted item of some sort.

Dassyra remained silent for a moment, glancing at the mountains.

“It's an area spell.”

I focused on my surroundings, letting my mana sense run wild. The colors faded just to be replaced with ethereal currents of mana drawing lines and highways through the ground, into the tree roots, accumulating into the underground water reservoirs and seeping deep into the earth. Over the mountains an evil presence stretched out its arms into the valley.

“It's going to freeze the valley.” I replied.

Before Dassyra could add anything, the waterfall slowly froze on its way down. Snowflake shaped crystals grew along the pond, until the whole surface was turned into ice. Suddenly, the temperature around us dropped and a thick mist rose up from the ground. [Awareness] triggered all the alarms inside my brain.

The undead monster was nearby.

“This is bad. The western area was supposed to be secured.” Dassyra cursed as she frantically stomped on the ground to get rid of the ice on her legs.

“What does that mean?” I grunted as I sat on the ground and rubbed my feet to break the ice crystals that continuously crawled over my skin.

“The main army retreated or was defeated.” Dassyra replied with a somber tone. “Let’s go back.”

The icy mana flew down the creek, freezing the sandbanks and any branches hanging over the water. The high peaks were completely encroached in the same magical mist filled with mana.

We set off towards the orc camp. We walked in silence, Dassyra surveying the path ahead while I prayed for Elincia to be safe and sound back at the outpost. The valley became colder by the second, to the point I could see my breath as thick white clouds.

The outpost was thrown into chaos. The orcs were already preparing to depart, the work benches had been stripped down and the tents had been disassembled and loaded into handcarts and travel bags. The old orc who had received us earlier that day approached us but before he could utter a word, I interrupted him.

“Where's Elincia?” I asked but the elder didn't understand. “Where is the Caretaker?” I spoke again, this time in Common.

“I don't know where the Caretaker is, I don't care where the Caretaker is.” The old man angrily replied just to turn his focus to Dassyra. “The young ones are already heading to the caves escorted by your warriors. We'll be ready any moment now, we just need to load the last...”

“I want everyone to leave right now, leave everything you can't carry.” Dassyra said.

“But...” The elder was interrupted before he could complain.

“Something is casting an area spell over the valley. I don't want anyone getting caught.” Dassyra barked back.

The elder became as pale as a green skinned orc could, then he nodded and got lost among the chaos of the outpost yelling orders left and right.

Dassyra made her way across the sea of orcs towards the main tent. Dassyra's tent was already taken down and packed on a cart with my sword and my backpack. I let my [Awareness] run amok in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse of platinum hair and pointy ears but Elincia was nowhere to be found.

I was starting to panic.

“Little One!” Dassyra bellowed and a moment later, the behemoth of an orc pushed his way through the camp as if he was waiting for the woman. In his arms he carried a heavy wooden crate. Dassyra stripped off her jacket, leaving only a white tunic and her heavy skirt.

Little One dropped the crate and pulled out a black brigandine. Dassyra opened her arms and Little One helped her to fit the armor around her body, first a light padded jacket, then the brigandine, greaves, and pauldrons. Then, Little One pulled out a round steel shield and a short spear.

I glanced at Dassyra. Orcish armor was in the strange intersection between a Scottish warrior from Braveheart and a Greek hoplite. She looked imposing.

“I want everyone to leave anything they can’t carry. I don’t know how much time we have left before the Monster Surge arrives, I want everyone inside the tunnels by then.” Dassyra asked as she put on her wolf-head helm.

“The miners are still retrieving the Greater Slime Cores from the carcass.” Little One replied as he secured the belt around Dassyra’s waist. The mist was already encroaching the remains of camp.

“Then put your arms to work and go help them. Grab any warriors left to protect the miners. Prioritize their safety, you have five minutes.” Dassyra said.

I grabbed Little One’s arm before he could leave.

“Where’s the Caretaker?” I asked.

“She went west, I thought she’ll be with you.” The giant orc replied before turning around and getting lost among the chaos.

Without even thinking about it, I grabbed my sword from the cart and pushed my way back to the waterfall. Leaving Elincia behind wasn’t among my plans.

If I knew the journey to the Farlands was going to be this dangerous, I would’ve stayed at Farcrest and devised another way to make money. I cursed myself. None of us could’ve guessed there was going to be a Monster Surge.

I looked up to the sky and I saw the Changeling still describing wide circles above our heads. Considering the haste with which the Changeling had fled during our first encounter with the undead monster, we should have time before its arrival.

“Creature!” I yelled and the Changeling took a dive just to land on my arm. The Changeling needed a proper name but now wasn’t the right moment to think about it. “Can you find Elincia?”

The Changeling looked at me with its avian eyes and nodded.

“Damn creature!” The Changeling called as it took flight, and I made a mental note to help it to improve its vocabulary. I couldn’t have it yelling obscenities in front of the kids.

Dassyra caught up to me. Dressed in her war attire she looked like she could take on an entire army of Ice Wraiths. However, her expression was somber.

“Don’t put on that face, we will deal with any monster that dares to cross our path.” I said, trying to ease my own fears. With Dassyra’s strength and my [Swordsmanship], no monster could possibly stand a chance.

“Be on guard, Rob. Monster Surges are not something to take lightly. When the Corruption runs free there’s no way to tell how it will affect monsters.” Dassyra replied as we left the camp behind.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The magical mist rose over the canopy, hiding the sky and enclosing us into a milky dome. Only [Awareness] allowed me to distinguish north from south when all landmarks disappeared behind the white wall. Panic slowly crept inside me. Elincia was nimble enough to run away from most monsters and she had an observation skill that could help her locate the way back, but the mist was so saturated with mana that I feared it would act as a wall against skills too.

This was all my fault. Elincia was probably out there looking for me.

We slowly traversed the forest, my [Awareness] working overdrive to locate footprints or any trace of the half-elf’s passage. But all my efforts were in vain. With the mist surrounding us and Elincia’s light foot, there was nothing to pick up.

Dassyra pulled out her red glass and peeked through the mist, or at least tried, because she cursed and pushed it back into her bag.

When I thought all was lost, the Changeling’s voice came out muffled through the mist.

“Damn creature!”

Out of nowhere, the Bernese Mountain Changeling emerged from a clump of ferns, followed by Elincia. I rushed to them and surrounded Elincia in a tight hug while the Changeling circled around us, cuddling against our legs.

“You scared me.” I said with a shaky voice.

“I was just there.” Elincia replied, sneaking a quick kiss on my cheek.

I pulled her away to make sure she wasn’t wounded but to my relief, other than her shredded cloak, she was okay. I couldn’t pinpoint if the tattered garment was like that before. Not that it mattered, we had to get out before the monsters arrived.

“Alright, lovebugs, no time for that. We have to reach the caves.” Dassyra grunted as she turned around and led the way back to the outpost.

The urgency in Dassyra’s voice made us snap back to reality. We broke apart and followed in silence, listening for any little sound that could give the position of the enemy while keeping an eye on each other. When we reached the camp, there were no orcs in sight, just the remnants of a forge that was too heavy to be transported by hand. I looked around and noticed the cart where my backpack full of herbs was gone.

I hoped the cart remained safe during transit, the future of the orphanage was stored inside that backpack.

“It’s going to get us killed!” The Changeling suddenly yelled.

We stopped in our tracks. At first I didn’t notice any changes, my [Awareness] was stretched to its limits trying to penetrate the magical haze. Then, in the span of a moment, the mist was suddenly gone. My instincts screamed that danger was imminent. [Awareness] told me the area spell was ready.

I expected the ground to freeze but instead, a sudden earthquake brought me to my knees. Elincia grabbed my hand while the Changeling wrapped itself in black mana and turned into a rat before jumping inside my pocket. Trees swayed and a rain of dry branches fell upon us. Dassyra used her shield to cover us.

I scanned the surroundings but there were no monsters in sight, just a constant flow of mana coming from the depths of the earth.

Then, when I thought the earthquake couldn’t get more intense, the ground split open, creating a deep, jagged chasm that seemed to lead to the very heart of the world. The trees, once firmly rooted into the ground, now toppled into the hole as it widened.

As suddenly as it came, the earthquake stopped and Elincia tugged me back on my feet. I didn’t let her hand go. A deep sound came from within the chasm.

“Let’s go.” Dassyra said, but my eyes were glued on the darkness of the chasm.

Something was climbing from the depths of the earth.

The deep sound became more defined. Drums, horns, heavy steps.

“Let’s go, Dassyra” I said, turning around and walking away from the cave but the orc woman remained frozen in place. She was pale as paper. “Dassyra?”

A rotten green hand appeared from the chasm, then part of a head and most of a torso. An undead orc climbed the edge of the chasm and roared, then it grabbed its spear and threw it towards us. Instinctively, I raised my mana shield, but Dassyra was faster and, with a sound of metal against metal, she deflected the projectile with her heavy shield.

“The main army…” Dassyra muttered.

Before the undead orc could grab a second spear, we turned on our heels and ran as fast as our legs allowed us.

“It’s going to get us killed!” The Changeling yelled with a small, muffled voice from my chest pocket.

A second spear whistled near my head and got lost among the forest. I looked over my shoulder just to see an army of undead orcs, geared with war attire just like Dassyra, hunting us down.

We sprinted through the fern forest with our hearts pounding against our chests and adrenaline flowing through our veins. The cacophony of drums and horns echoed behind us. [Awareness] notified me that at least a dozen undead orcs were chasing us. I clench my jaw. Was it too much to ask for slow zombies instead of this?

“Keep moving! The caves are nearby!” Dassyra shouted. Her voice was a mixture of urgency and fear, and her confident demeanor was replaced by a mask of anguish. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. All those undead orcs must have come from somewhere.

As we darted through the trees, the air grew heavy with the scent of decay.

“We need to find a defensible position!” Elincia yelled over the sound of the pursuit.

The undead orcs were gaining on us.

“There’s an entrance nearby.” Dassyra replied between gasps, pointing slightly to our left.

We climbed a rock outcropping, and Dassyra dragged me up the ledge just as a rain of heavy spears and arrows chipped the rock. I took a second to glance down into the valley. A thousand undead orcs with battered rotting skin and maimed limbs stomped on the forest bed as they crossed the valley at full speed.

We needed a bottleneck.

“Almost there.” Dassyra said, leading the way.

A plain wall of stone greeted us but there was no entrance at sight. Dassyra pressed her shoulder against a loose stone and growled. The entrance was hidden behind the stone. Without pausing for even an instant to catch our breath, Elincia and I rushed to help. Blood rushed to my face as I strained my shoulders. For a moment, I thought I was going to pop a vein, but the stone finally tipped to the side and fell flat on the ground.

“Inside!” Dassyra yelled as a volley of projectiles fell upon the rock.

We turned our backs to the undead army and entered the cave. The tunnel was narrow and damp, and the walls rough and uneven, unlike those we had found previously. The air inside was even cooler but at least the scent of decay was replaced by the musky odor of damp earth.

We were crossing the entrance when Elincia screamed in pain as she collapsed to the ground. My heart clenched like a fist. When I turned around, blood froze inside my veins.

A spear had gone through Elincia’s calf from side to side. I rushed to her side. She gritted her teeth, trying to stifle her cries of pain with little success. The sight of the spear jutting out from her leg was gruesome. Panic took over me. My hands moved over the wound without knowing what to do. Elincia’s forehead was beaded with sweat and her expression turned into a mask of terror and pain.

I raised my head. At the entrance of the cave, a single undead orc aimed its bow at us. Its dead eyes glared down at us, emotionless. Before it could shoot, I extended my arms and raised a mana shield.

The arrow bounced and a small portion of mana moved from my mana pool to harden the barrier.

“We need to get the spear out of her leg.” Dassyra said.

The orcs flooded the entrance of the cave. I focused on keeping the barrier up as the undead army shot a barrage of arrows and spears at us. With each hit, mana was pulled out of my body to keep the mana shield up.

Elincia’s screams sent a shiver down my spine.

“We have to go, now.” Dassyra said just as the first orc crashed against my barrier with a mighty thump. The undead orc recovered and punched the barrier, smashing its wrists in the process. It didn’t seem to care. Then, a second and a third orc arrived and soon the whole cave beyond the barrier was swarming with undead.

My mana pool dwindled with every punch, arrow, and sword strike the barrier received.

“I can’t move. Go.” I managed to choke out, my voice strained with the effort of keeping the barrier up. My muscles quivered, my arms felt heavy as if they were made of lead.

Dassyra patted me on the back, grabbed Elincia on her arms, and dashed into the cave. My heart clenched at the sound of Elincia’s panicked cries. I had to muster all my remaining self-control to not turn around. Elincia screamed, threatened, and called my name. I wished I could grow an extra pair of arms to cover my ears, every fiber inside me yelled for me to turn around to reach her. But I only had one responsibility. Hold the barrier as long as I could.

This wasn’t a fight we could win.

The barrier absorbed the relentless barrage of blows. Minutes stretched into an eternity, each second was an agonizing battle against pain and fear. My vision blurred. Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. System prompts announcing the levels of mana exhaustion floated in front of my eyes.

It had been a nice run. A bit short if anything, but I was grateful I had got to know someone like Elincia. I closed my eyes. There were still a few strands of mana inside my reserves. Most certainly not enough to fight the undead horde but just enough to try something.

“Every problem has a solution.” I said, readying myself to lower the barrier.

Suddenly, before I could break the spell, the orcs stopped moving. In unison, they pressed themselves against the tunnel walls, leaving a clear passage towards the entrance of the cave. As I raised my head, the air froze inside my lungs. A familiar pair of frozen eyes glared down at me.