Since the beginning of the Apocalypse, I had been playing the game on my enemies’ terms. Caught unaware and unsuspecting, running from threats I should have turned and faced. There comes a time when a man has to take the gloves off and go bare knuckle. That was something my old man would have said.

And though I hate the bastard to this day for what he did to our family, I am still very much his son. My hand smokes from the sand spike I just fired off into the middle of the gang of dwarves. I had missed the one I had been aiming for but judging by the sounds of panic, I still had my edge of surprise.

I leaped forward and slashed at the wrist of the dwarf in front of me. Maybe it was the magic of the blades, but my dagger met little resistance as it sheered through bone. The warrior fell back against the wall, teeth bared in pain. I spun, bringing up my second dagger to block an attack I had felt coming.

A short sword bounced off my blades and jarred my arm. The dwarf wielding it snarled at me as he swung again and I was forced to side into his guard. My daggers hummed their deadly song in the air as I stabbed forward and into the meat of his bicep. He dropped the sword with a howl and I kicked it hastily away.

By now the other dwarves had mostly recovered. One warrior flailed, clawing at his face as Mimi dropped from the ceiling. Powerful pincers the size of my forefinger extended from her mouth. As she drove them into the flesh of his face the warrior screamed and dropped the lantern. The cavern went dim. Now was my chance.

I growled, lifting my daggers in my hands so the ethereal glow of my sand magic blazed a dark golden bloom around me.

One of the dwarves now stood in the center of the tunnel, his grip slack on a glowing axe clutched tightly in his fist. His eyes were wide and fearful. A look I’d seen men give my father a thousand times.

“He’s… he’s a demon.” Whispered the warrior. Somehow the tunnel magnified his voice, giving it an eerie echo. Behind him, a few of the remaining dwarves had gathered. Some looked hostile, weapons drawn and ready for my blood. Others looked frightened. I could use that.

“Mimi,” I called tilting my head. The Void Weaver’s black eyes glittered as she twisted towards me. With a soft snicking sound she released her victim and he fell to the ground, twitching. She must have a fast-acting venom to drop a warrior many times her size that quickly, and who knew it was fatal? I made a note of that even as she skittered towards me and up my leg. She crawled across my lap and perched on my shoulder, her forelegs held out in front of her in a defensive stance.

The dwarf before me took a step back, eyes flickering between my glowing blades and the Void Weaver now perched on my shoulder like some strange bird of prey. Then he turned and ran. The thin line of warriors broke like the tide and ran, boots echoing as they pounded back down the cavern and into the darkness.

“cowards,” hissed a voice beside me. The dwarf I had cut leaned against the cavern wall, his eyes glazed with pain. Despite the drip of blood between his fingers, he faced me like a man and it was something worth respecting. I turned towards him and cracked my neck.

“Are you the leader?” I asked, meeting his gaze. The veteran did not flinch. Instead, he straightened and nodded his head once. I grinned.

“We need to talk.”

His throat bobbed.

“Who…. Who are you?”

I raised a brow.

“He’s human,” hissed a voice not far away. The dwarf whose arm I’d slashed was holding his bloody stump. He’d torn a strip from his shirt and used it to bind the wound, but that strip was quickly becoming soaked through.

“If he’s mortal then he can be killed,” he growled, trying and failing to rise to his knees.

“Keep your peace Ram,” muttered the leader, his tired eyes sliding between me and his fallen warrior. So, he had sense. I could work with that.

“Who I am doesn’t matter,” I said, tilting my head towards the tunnel where his comrades had run.

“What matters here is that you and yours came after Dane And I want to know why.”

My blades buzzed in my hands. In the corner of my vision I could see my mana depleting by the minute, and I knew I was running out of time. Still, I needed answers, and I’d be damned before I left without them.

“You?” the warrior's eyes swept over me in confusion. “What interest would a human have in Dane Callihan?”

I shifted my weight, raising my daggers and making the veteran grimace as the humming blades slid closer.

“Don’t,” grunted the dwarf kneeling. “They’ll kill you, Thormac. And with good cause. The business of the Clan stays within the Clan. That is our law.”

“I didn’t ask you handy,” I snapped, slashing one of my blades toward him and making him duck back. “I asked your friend here. Thormac, is it? Listen I’m no expert but judging by his wounds I’d say your pal here has less than an hour to live unless you can get him some kind of treatment. Now I don’t know about you, but blood loss isn’t the worst death. He’ll fatigue, sure, but by the end, he’ll be too weak to even move. Not so bad… if you don’t factor in the Razor Hounds, that is.”

The words were cruel, and coming out of my mouth they sounded cold too. I braced my feet shoulder width and rolled my shoulders like I was itching for a fight. Thormac looked pained.

“Don’t listen to him,” grunted Ram. But his voice was unsteady. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he glared up at me with dark eyes. I ignored him.

“So,” I asked, impatient. “What’s it going to be? You give me the information I want and I let you go. You don’t? Then as far as I’m concerned you’re just another couple of corpses.”

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The veteran’s shoulders hunched and he cursed in a language I didn’t recognize.

“I don’t know who you are human,” he growled. “Or what your involvement is with Dane Callihan. But you should know the bastard is bad news, always has been.”

A chill prickled at the back of my neck that had nothing to do with the stagnant air in the tunnel. I stepped closer, and the glow of my blades made Thormac’s rough face look like a ghost.

“What do you mean?” I asked, as I frowned.

The warrior’s eyebrows drew together in disbelief.

“You mean you don’t know?”

When I remained silent he shook his head.

“Dane is an outlaw, stranger. He and his clan are not welcome in the Sanctum and haven’t been for years.”

I grimaced even as a sense of unease slid through me. Russo you moron, the hell have you gotten yourself into?

“Why?” I asked the word barely more than a growl. The exhaustion was setting in and I watched as the last of my mana began to circle the drain. I was running out of time.

“Why?” Thormac repeated. His brows lifted in confusion. “Forgive me, stranger, but how is it you don’t know? I don’t know what your involvement with the Calahn Clan is but you should know their reputation is a dark one.”

“hah,” the dwarf leaning against the cave wall tilted his head and spat against the stone. I watched the red-flecked spit splatter and curled my lip. Charming.

“That’s an understatement, make no mistake. The Calahan’s are a bunch of lying thieving bastards and anyone who associates with them willingly is much the same. The High Priest himself has deemed them unworthy of residing inside Sanctum walls even if the court of Clans is unwilling to prosecute.”

I snorted and the sound echoed off the walls. The smile of the dwarf faded, and his eyes narrowed to slits.

“Find that funny, do you?”

I cocked my head.

“Funny? No. It’s just, those are the type of accusations they used to sling at my old man. I think I’m starting to get the picture here.”

I flexed my hands and let the tendril of magic hold my blades in place thin. The golden light of the daggers winked and went out, shrouding the tunnel in semi-darkness. Thormac let out a sound of alarm but I was already turning away and heading back up the way I had come.

This has given me a lot to think about. The Apocolypse, or whatever it might be was a collision of worlds alright – worlds that had no business coming together in the first place. Now there was magic, beasts, and new rules that hadn’t existed before. Humanity was being put to the test and it was a test we were destined to fail unless mankind could somehow muster itself long enough to rally.

“So,” I whispered as I slid through the tunnels by the dim light of the crystal formations. “The Dwarves have a mafia huh? Not so different from us after all.”

Mimi let out a chirp from my shoulder and I wondered not for the first time how much of what I said was understood. This was a new development, but it didn’t change my current objective. I needed to find Dane and Pam before they wandered too deeply into Sanctum territory. What’s more, I needed to figure out what the hell happened to my other party members.

I scrubbed a hand over my face and felt the skin snag on new stubble. Finally, a plan was forming. But without rest, I would be all but useless. I needed to make the decision now – would I travel to the city or take my chances recuperating here in the tunnels? On one hand, going through these so-called wards would land me in a new place, and I’d have no idea what would be waiting for me. On the other, these tunnels had already proved dangerous.

My decision to let Thormac and his man go might have seemed the right move in the moment, but the farther I drew from the fight the more the aches, cuts, and bruises I had amassed began to show their teeth. I needed time to recuperate, and chances were I couldn’t risk staying In these tunnels to be discovered by foresworn or Razor Hounds. That left only one option.

The stone steps that I had last seen my companions on came into view as I rounded the corner. A trail of fresh blood led me up the stairs and through a narrow archway several flights up. I ducked through and Mimi let out a sound as the soft purple glow of light hit her. My jaw dropped.

The room itself was large and rounded, and the walls were smooth as if they were made by the tools of some ancient architect. At the center was a platform upon which sat an obelisk. At its center was a purple orb that seemed as if it was…

“It’s moving,” I breathed to Mimi. Her black and white body quivered as she shifted her weight on my shoulder. I glanced around the room and back to the orb.

“This has to be it, right? The big fuck off obelisk and the glowing magical.. whatever that is?”

The jumping spider didn’t respond and I sighed. Approaching the floating orb was.. tentative at best. The last time I had jumped through a portal things had gotten complicated and I’d ended up unconscious on the floor of some unknown tunnel. It was a risk, but one I needed to take.

“Alright,” I said, working myself up to it. “Alright.”

I rolled my shoulders and took in a deep breath. And another. A few minutes passed and I cursed myself.

“C’mon Russo,” I muttered. “If your Uncle could see you now he’d give you a whole speech on the value of not wasting time.”

My throat bobbed and I titled my head towards Mimi.

“Hold unto your legs,” I grumbled and she cooed in response. I could see the purple glow of magic reflected in her six orb-like eyes. Then I took another breath and stepped forward, hand outstretched.