About a day later, Silas and Silvano were ready for their next incursion. This was supposed to be their last day on the shift, but that changed following the attack.

They were infected, and to avoid any risks in the capital, they had to stay here. After Silvano woke up, Silas explained what happened. The most important thing was to discover how the illusion worked.

"I was at the base of Dawn; you were there, as was everyone else, including Edward. It was like a dream; everyone was fine and alive. We were about to find a way back home, back to Earth. But looking back now it was all lies, a trick made by the shadows to control me."

"You aren’t the only one who got controlled, Silvano. This all happened because I was too careless; I shouldn't have gone back to the city after suffering an attack without any apparent damage."

"How are we supposed to get rid of this shadow infection?"

"Wait for Nathan to come back. I’ll explain then."

"I’m ready; you can tell us the plan." Nathan arrived from the back room after finishing reporting the situation and talking with Valks about not letting anyone inside the city.

"Valks said he could make sure that no pix crossed to this side, but he couldn’t promise if anyone in the guild tried."

"Are they planning to come?"

"Not for now, but we only have one day before the next group comes to take over the shift as we originally planned. We don’t have much time; do you have an idea how to find the real shadow?"

He sighed. "It’s not certain. Since we have been infected, the safest thing to do is for Silvano and me to go outside and look for the real body of the shadow. We can’t let the portal go unguarded. The city could hold for a while, but you need to kill anyone who tried to take the gate, and in the worst case, destroy it."

"Hell no, I’m not abandoning you two in this place. If I joined you, we'd have better chances of killing the monster. It's not like he could send an army to attack the city; he tried to take it from inside by using us and the pix."

"Huh, that’s only an assumption, Nathan. Remember what I told you about the way it learned about the gate? It can read our memories, but we don’t know if that's only when we’re being controlled or from the moment of the infection."

In the worst case, the shadow could learn about their plans as soon as they think about them. That meant giving a tremendous amount of information to the enemy. That’s why Silas wanted to take Silvano alone.

"I don’t think we’re the only ones infected. He could be hiding an army right outside these walls. Slave animals or other creatures of the dark. If you’re gone, no one can protect this place."

"But what if they are too many for me?"

"I already told you. Don’t make me repeat myself." He looked over at Silvano, who nodded in agreement. They were ready to make the sacrifice and ensure the others would be okay.

"Is this really our best move, Silas? If you tell me to stay here, I will, but only for a day. If you don’t come back, I’m leaving this place to the army and going inside to look for you two."

There was no way for him to convince Nathan to stay for more than a day. He had to take the offer. "Do what you want, but don’t get lost trying to find us, and please don’t get infected. Use any method you can think of, but don’t tell us anything else. We can’t let it prepare."

The conversation had gone on for too long; they didn’t have the luxury of discussing things since the enemy could be listening. They grabbed some provisions and the maps of the tunnels they explored over the past week.

"Open a portal in the south-east tunnel. We're going there first."

"Understood."

He looked back at Nathan one last time. "Make sure to check the main gate every once in a while, just in case. Keep an eye out for any holes or other entry points into the city."

"Sure, sure." With that, they jumped to the other side and took out their flashlights.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

It was the same as before, but the motive was completely different. First, they looked for World Stone to build more gates, and now they were exploring with their lives on the line to purge the infection from their bodies by killing the one behind it.

"Silas, I know I shouldn’t think of this, but what if the infection can’t be cured? Even if we kill the shadow. What are we supposed to do?"

He considered the possibility; there were a number of things he could do in that case, but he had no idea what answer would satisfy Silvano. So, he chose his own answer.

"I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a mindless zombie. I'd rather die than live like that."

"Yeah, me too…" They reached the same conclusion.

"Let’s go find this shadow and make him pay." At the very least, he wanted revenge before dying.

The exploration went silent for about five hours before they encountered the first movements of the enemy army.

"I see, this is the cannon fodder." The skittering grew and grew until the insects were right in front of them.

The giant cockroaches reacted to the light with violence and attacked. These weren’t common cockroaches; they were being manipulated by shadows. Their limbs moved in unnatural ways, and their bodies were covered in a thick layer of shadow that worked as armor.

Silas stole their power and cut their legs from side to side. "I’ll take the right, and you the left; if we keep them in this small tunnel, their numbers are meaningless."

The cockroaches weren’t strong enough to push them back. After five minutes of fighting, another group came from the tunnel behind them.

"Back to the east!" Silvano opened a portal, and they crossed it before being caught in the pincer attack.

"It’s so obvious they’re being controlled; the bastard is sending them to the city."

"I wonder if Nathan is going to be fine fighting so many of them alone."

"These insects are a bunch of weaklings. He’s not going to have any problems, but he’s going to get tired for the second wave."

Not even Nathan could fight hundreds of cockroaches without getting tired. He could still hear the legs running up and down the walls, above and below.

"I got an idea. Open the next portal, close to the tunnel where the cockroaches are."

"Why?"

"We can follow their path in reverse to find the one controlling them."

"Good idea, but wait. If he’s reading our minds, won’t he send them down wrong paths on purpose to try to lure us into a trap?"

"Maybe, but we need to kill some of them to lessen Nathan’s job. Even if it’s a trap, we can run away or kill more of his puppets."

Silvano took out a map and looked for a tunnel they hadn’t investigated yet. He opened a portal, and they fell right above an army of cockroaches marching toward the city.

"Same as before, let’s kill some of them." He fell into one of them and stabbed it right in the back. It made a high-pitched noise from pain, but they were too weak. After the ants in the Rock, these cockroaches were nothing special as insects.

After killing fifty of them, they retreated into another tunnel and kept walking closer to the origin of the army.

"I can feel something right below us."

"Yeah, me too." He put his ear to the ground and could sense the vibrations of something big. It was sitting still and breathing heavily. Some cockroaches were passing right below the creature, but they stopped and disappeared.

"I’m going to take a look. Stay behind." He was missing his invisibility collar; it would have been perfect for this kind of situation, but there was no time to complain about the past.

He moved right behind a group of cockroaches patrolling the area and looked behind the corner of the tunnel. In the back was an entrance; it was a hanging bridge of stone; on the opposite side was an inscription made with metal letters; and guarding the entrance was a giant lizard with a saw on its back.

The cockroaches walked in a line to be devoured by the lizard, which was also under the influence of the shadows.

He’s keeping him alive by feeding him the other puppets. That way, it doesn’t have to move or leave the entrance unguarded. The bridge is too small to try to run, and I can’t see the bottom of this cave.

He could feel a light wind coming from below, but jumping would be suicide. He went back to Silvano's side.

"I think we’re getting close. Open a portal inside the building across the bridge." Silvano was in the back, looking away. "Silvano?"

The air turned cold, and he felt the sweat running down his back. He gripped the sword as Silvano turned around, revealing a pair of black eyes. The shadows were taking over his mind.

A portal formed in front of them, and Silas ran to his companion's side and kicked him in the head.

"Tch." Silvano dodged the kick, and the cockroaches came out of the portal.

When did he take over his mind? or was he waiting for a chance from the beginning? Can he control me too? No, if that were possible, he would have controlled both of us and infected Nathan in the city. Was it because I broke free and Silvano didn’t?

There were too many questions, but he had no time to lose. He jumped into the ceiling and smashed Silvano's face into the wall, knocking him out. The only reason he could do this was because Silvano was still resisting the control, but if he got overwhelmed by the shadows then it would be over.

I can’t subdue Silvano and fight multiple enemies at the same time. I have to take him back and hide.

The cockroaches blocked the path and called for reinforcement. He ran back over to the bridge and copied the power of the lizard.

"Gggggrrrraaah!" the beast roared and charged. Each step made the bridge tremble.

Surrounded by both sides, he couldn’t fight the cockroaches or the lizard alone.

"I don’t need to fight. I just wanted your saw!" He ran straight to one of the pillars holding the bridge. He made the saw on his back spin at maximum power and slashed the stone.

The beast threw his weight carelessly, and he jumped right as the bridge collapsed.