"We’re going to have to look in tunnels close to the city. Nadine, take your time making more flashlights and anything else we can use to illuminate as we explore. The objective is to discover who is behind the voices. Depending on the circumstances, we’ll negotiate or fight."

"Things in the Rock are going well. We can have the whole guild working."

"No, we still need to mine the metals of the Rock, and the way the soldiers are acting is making me think these voices are a mental attack. Psychic damage can be dangerous; if we take too much, we could suffer some condition or another effect we don’t know about. We have to do this in shifts."

Silas wrote down on a piece of paper the three teams and the rotations. "This way everyone takes two weeks off in the forest or the desert to recover and help with other things."

"Sounds easy. I’ll catch the beast or whoever is doing this." Nathan was excited to redeem himself after his loss in the carnival.

"For now, let’s practice our teamwork and prepare for the hunt."

***

Two weeks later, Nadine finished making the lanterns and flare guns for exploring the tunnels in the underground world. Silas, Nathan, and Silvano were the first three to go looking for the culprit.

This trio could look around and defend against any danger. After passing the new walls guarded by soldiers, they entered the darkness and began to explore the paths nearby. Silvano mapped the twists and turns as they advanced. When they found a dead end, they opened a portal and jumped into the next tunnel.

The first few days, they didn’t find anything or anyone. The strange whispers disappeared when they were exploring, but as soon as they returned to the city to rest, they could hear them.

"It’s messing with us. We look at all the tunnels around the city, and we started to put torches to mark the paths we have taken, but nothing is close."

"I think we need to increase the range, which is going to be risky but is our only option."

Silvano opened portals far away; they had already mapped the tunnels around the city and confirmed there was no one close. The enemy had some type of ranged power to mess with their minds, but determining the range was essential to defeating it.

They found black cockroaches that tried to kill them and a small river with water flowing from above to the tunnels below. More lizards and the bones of beasts they had never seen. But no matter how far or how long they searched, they didn’t find a single clue to their enemy.

Until the afternoon of the fifth day, there was no sun, so they couldn’t tell what time of the day it was without using the watches Nadine made. They were having dinner while sitting behind a column of stone holding a small ceiling over their heads.

The walls had paint similar to the ones made by primitive humans. Silvano was sketching them in his notebook, and Nathan was eating the last piece of bread. At that moment, Silas noticed a shadow in the corner of his eye.

He didn’t move to avoid acting suspicious. "Nathan, can I see your shield for a moment?"

"My shield, sure, but why?"

"I thought that maybe there was a weak point when I looked at it in the morning. I can show it to you if you come close."

"Huh, sure..." It was a weird thing to say; Silas knew that his shield was solid every time he summoned it, but the way he was looking at him was strange.

Nathan took a seat and summoned the shield. He looked at it, and it seemed fine.

"Around here, do you see the small crack?"

Nathan looked in the reflection of the shield and noticed something hiding behind it in one of the tunnels. "Yeah, I see a small crack. What should I do to fix it?"

They were in sync, and Silvano was also pretending to be clueless while paying attention to the conversation.

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"I don’t know. Hey, Silvano, do you have any ideas to help with this?"

The shadow moved in an instant and retreated into the darkness. Silvano made a portal, and they jumped right in front of the shadow.

"Block its path! We need to corner it!" Silas tried to use his power, but the shadow was already in the other tunnel to his left.

It was fast, but they could catch it by cutting its escape route. He noticed that the shadow was much smaller than when it was hiding behind the stone pillar. The way it moved and ran across the ground and walls, it was more like an insect or small animal.

"I got you!" Nathan jumped from a portal in front of the shadow and blocked the path with the shield.

The shadow twisted its body and went back to the right. Silvano cut the paths two more times until they cornered it into a dead end.

Silas was right behind it; the shadow was about to turn to the left and find Nathan in the dead end. This was it.

Only a moment, a single moment as the shadow left his vision, was enough to shatter his plan. He touched the wall to keep his momentum, and in that moment, the shadow jumped at him.

He didn’t have time to dodge, so he raised his hand to block. The shadow pierced his skin, and his mind went blank.

This is a mental attack! Flashes of memories crossed his mind as the shadow consumed his hand. The memories mixed, and he could only see flashes of people and places.

He began to drool, and his eyes went white. He fell to the ground and lost consciousness. The next thing he heard was Nathan and Silvano's voices waking him up.

"Silas! What happened? Did it attack you?" Nathan shook him, and the world regained color.

"What, I was attacked by my hand..." He looked down at his hand, but it was fine. The shadow consumed it, but now it was intact. It was like nothing ever happened.

"Did any of you see the shadow attacking me?"

"No, I was waiting in the dead end, but I only saw you collapse."

"Sorry, I was way behind you."

"Wait, then the shadow didn’t run forward or back?"

They shook their heads. Silas was the last one who saw the shadow, and now it was gone. It disappeared like a magic trick.

"Maybe it went between the cracks. It was small, so it is possible."

"Wouldn’t have run that way in the beginning?"

"Maybe it didn’t want to reveal his true power."

It made sense, and since he suffered a mental attack, he needed to go back and make sure the damage wasn’t serious.

"We should go back and ask Rebecca to look at you."

"No, it's too late now. She should be in the capital tomorrow morning, just in case I want to spend the last two days off in the city."

There was no reason to push more. They returned to the city in the middle of the night. The torches in the way made it easier, but Silas couldn’t shake the bad feeling. The power of the shadow was stronger than he anticipated. The thing that bothered him the most was that even during the attack, he still couldn’t steal any of its power.

He wasn’t wounded, and his mind worked fine with the exception that he was tired.

He went to sleep. When he awoke, he heard Nathan's voice, but he wasn't in the tunnel or the city.

"Where am I?" An enormous desert extended in front of his eyes. It was different from the desert world. The sky was tinted purple; it was dawn.

"Over here, Silas, come here!"

"Nathan? Silvano?" He ran into the desert, following their voices.

The sand turned into grass, trees, and plants blooming in the middle of nowhere. A giant tree with a bird's nest, a cave filled with plants and houses, a tumultuous river, and a Rock formed with dozens of dead ant bodies.

It was surreal, but he didn’t mind; it felt familiar. Each scene and object were a memory in his heart. Images of his guildmates were everywhere.

"That was a good plan!" Nadine gave him a high five.

"If you need my help exploring the forest, tell me." Emily was human again, but she still had her orb.

"I give you my word, we are going to find it: A way back home for everyone!" Silvano was filled with determination.

Each step made him feel better; his companions were happy, and his plans worked. They were making progress.

"Silas, come on; you’re the last one." Jacob took his hand and ran with him.

"Last one for what?"

"For going back to earth. Everyone is waiting for you."

They arrived in front of a massive portal. Everyone was present, not only his guildmates but all those who died.

"Tomas?" He looked at the man wearing a suit. He hated his guts, but he never wished him death. He was standing in front of his eyes, breathing along with all the others.

"Yes, Silas, thank you for saving us. I should have listened to you during our first day. You’re the most capable to lead us back home, and this portal is the proof."

"I made this? Yes, I made it. I found a way back home."

The pix came along, hundreds of them, and Cink stood in front with a proud smile. "Good work, kid. You made it; we can go back home. Thank you for freeing us from the System’s claws."

All the pix cheered for him. He was a hero, a savior. The tears started pouring down his face. There was nothing he could say; this was the first time in his life he felt he had done something of real importance. Something that other people could look up to.

"I... I..." The lump in the back of his throat made it hard to talk. No one looked at him with disdain. Their faces were only filled with gratitude.

This is…

"I think you should be the first one to do the honors." Jacob gave him a little push on the back. "Thank you for saving us, Silas."

On the other side of the portal, he could see his room in his parents’ house.

"Mom? Dad?" Their figures had their arms open to welcome him back home. They were saying something, but their voices were muffled.

After over a year, he was going back home. Just a few steps away: one, two, three………….

He stopped, and his face went white.

"Silas?"