The first thing I was aware of was the sound. A soft sort of shuffling, something hard rasping against stone. Then came the pain. It turns out portal travel can do a number on you. Memories came flooding back to me like a cold tide.

The ship sinking, the others running through the portal, and then… then….

I sat upright, trying to ignore the sudden pounding in my head. It felt like a bad hangover. I was lying in what appeared to be a large natural tunnel. The light was dim but for several clusters of glowing green crystals that stuck out at intervals.

“Where am I?” I croaked, my throat dry as sandpaper.

The system blinked and a window appeared in front of me. I squinted at the sudden light.

Notice: You have entered The Underground, location unknown.

The Underground? Where the hell? I pushed to my feet, ignoring the stiffness in my legs. There was a pain in my left arm, a throbbing that reminded me of the nasty spiderling bite I had taken during the fight.

When I ran a hand over it the skin felt raised and hot. That wasn’t good. Sitting on a nearby boulder I opened my inventory and examined the contents. I had only a single Molotov cocktail left, and a lighter and a roll of duct tape were the only other things available. It would have to do.

Removing the cocktail from my inventory I tore off a strip from my t-shirt that was mostly clean. Then I soaked it in alcohol and cleaned the wound. It stung, but I ignored the pain and kept at it. After I was satisfied that I had cleaned the wound to the best of my ability I placed a new strip of cloth over the worst of the cut. Then I wound the strip in duct tape, using my teeth to tear off the tape.

I examined my handy work in the low lighting. It was far from professional work, but it would have to be enough until I could find a doctor. Or a healer, I supposed. With my immediate concerns taken care of I had only one matter left.

When I had killed the Hive Lord, I received two skill points. Without the immediate threat of danger or death, I had time to consider the best use of my build. I opened my status window and leaned my head back against the rough stone.

Zade Russo

Hunter Rank: H

Class: Sand Mage

Skills Learned: Sand Spike, Weapon Summoning

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Magic: 7

Wisdom: 0

Unused skill points: 2

I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, now prickling with the beginning of stubble. My biggest problem as I understood it, was my mana pool. My magic was strong, but my spells weren’t sustainable for anything outside of a short-term fight. What I needed was mana regeneration – or at the very least a way to reduce the cost of my spells.

I let out a sigh of frustration. Was that even possible? I had spent at least half an hour scrolling through various system tabs seeking information but had come up with nothing tangible. I closed my eyes, willing the ache in my skull to go away.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I placed a point into wisdom, and one into magic and hit the allocate button. Then I rose. I didn’t have a clue where I was and there was no sign of the others. I was alone here, and if the system notice had been anything to go by that wasn’t a good thing.

My best bet was to keep moving and try to find a way out of this place. I chose the direction of the tunnel that slopped uphill. The air was cool almost cold, and I was glad of my hoodie as I walked. Every once in a while I would hear something – a strange shuffling sound. But when I turned around I could see nothing but the darkness from which I’d come.

Still, I was starting to feel easy. Live in a city as big as I have and you gain a sort of intuition for these things. I was being followed, but by who or what was unclear.

Sticking a hand in the pocket of my hoodie I focused my magic in the center of my palm and called for my sand dagger. Behind me, only a few paces away the sound resumed. Dagger raised, I whirled around, ready to gut the threat.

Again, I saw nothing but darkness. That was until I looked down.

“eesh,” I said, nearly jumping out of my skin when I saw it. A small dog-sized jumpy spider has perched a few feet away, its large eyes studying me with interest. I raised my dagger and bared my teeth.

“Come on then,” I growled. “You want a piece of me? Get in line.”

The spider didn’t respond. It had black legs and an odd white pattern on its furry abdomen that reminded me of a panda bear. I narrowed my eyes.

“If you don’t want to fight then get out of here. Go on.” I waved the dagger at it menacingly but it did nothing but cock its head, watching.

I scowled and backed away. When the spider didn’t move, I turned and kept walking. The scuttling behind me continued for several seconds until I whirled back around.

“You mind getting lost,” I grumbled, watching as it came to a halt a few feet away. “don’t you have bugs to eat?”

There was, of course, no response. I considered picking up a rock and chucking it at the damn thing, but looking at those cute and curious eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Fine,” I said, turning and releasing the stream of magic summoning magic. “You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”

Talking to a jumping spider? Yeah, I was losing my mind. Ahead of me the cave mouth widened and drew father upward, revealing a path that branched in several directions. The large formation of crystals at the center cast enough light that I could better see my surroundings. The rock face was black and unusually polished.

I could see a murky reflection in the stone, and when I ran my fingers over the rockface it was smooth to the touch. Interesting. There were three paths leading into the darkness, and all of them looked equally menacing.

I rubbed the back of my head as I examined each. From what I could see there wasn’t much of a difference, but the path in the center seemed much wider and less claustrophobic. I shrugged and stepped forward. A soft chittering noise made me pause. I turned to see the jumping spider flitting near the entrance to the rightmost cave.

I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m not going that way,” I said jerking a thumb over my shoulder. “I’m taking the big tunnel. You know, the one that seems like it’s less likely to end in a cave-in.”

The spider stared with its big black eyes. I shook my head and turned away. I’d only taken a few steps down the tunnel when more agitated chittering sounded, this time from the mouth of the tunnel.

“Get over it,” I said, thrusting my hands into my hoodie pockets. There was a long drawn-out pause. Then a blur. The jumping spider had leaped over my head and scuttled forward and away into the darkness.

I shook my head. Weird, this whole thing was weird but I had bigger problems. My mouth was dry and I couldn’t recall the last time I’d drank water. The pounding in my head might be a sign of dehydration, and if that was the case I only had a day at most. I needed to find a way out of this cave.

After a moment the skuttling returned, only this time it was ahead of me. The jumping spider materialized out of the darkness and ran straight for me, looping around my feet and coming to a stop before me, holding something in its jaws.

I frowned.

“What you got…”

It dropped the thing it was holding and it didn’t take me long to realize what I was looking at.

“There…” I said weakly as I stared at the half-decomposed human hand. The flesh was pale and bloodless, and the fingers looked as if the flesh had been mostly gnawed off by a set of powerful jaws. I swallowed and peered into the darkness.

“All right,” I whispered, licking my lips.

“I may have uh, jumped the gun a bit. We can backtrack, and explore other options.” I was about to turn when a sound from deep within the tunnel made me freeze in my tracks. At my feet, the tiny spider’s white and black fur stood on end.

I took a step back, then another. From deep within the darkness, something large stirred.