“How could a Dimensional Bleed be here for this long without us knowing?” Glenn demanded, as they stalked slowly toward the tower. “It has to be hundreds of years old, you can all feel it.”

“The Forgotten City has been around for longer than that,” Maggie replied.

“Yes, but we know about the City,” Glenn shot back. “There’s a permanent settlement of Hunters there just to keep the demon numbers down. How does this one stay here for this long, with a village just down the mountain?”

“I share your bewilderment,” Cara said, seeming to materialize next to them. “I’ve been up here countless times since I was a girl. I’ve never seen this tower, nor heard about it in stories. It should be in the stories.”

“What exactly is a Dimensional Bleed?” Ethan asked from the back. He’d been holding back the question to avoid looking more suspicious in front of the archer, but his frustration was growing.

“They’re called by many names,” Valanor said quickly, clearly covering for him. “We speak of the phenomena where the other worlds tear into this one through unstable rifts. Chunks of Potentia or Terra that find their way into our world. It’s important to find them and seal any rifts inside as quickly as possible.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “Wait, if there were rifts in that tower, they wouldn’t be dangerous, would they?”

Glenn turned around, giving him an odd look. “Are you mad? How many more demons do you need to face before you consider them dangerous?”

“But there wouldn’t be demons in a…a ‘Bleed’ from Terra.” The whole group stopped then, and Ethan realized what he’d just done.

“What makes you think that structure is from Terra?” Cara asked.

Valanor’s eyes bored into him.Yup. Shit. Time to improvise. Valanor loves it when I improvise. “I’ve seen pictures of similar structures in Terranova. Wouldn’t hurt for you guys to crack a book sometimes.” Cara nodded as if it didn’t matter, and continued on. Valanor somehow glared louder. It was impressive.

The group began moving again. “Either way, no demons, right?” Ethan asked.

“Perhaps not,” Valanor agreed. “But something is definitely wrong here. Those fulven either gained an ability they shouldn’t have, or…”

“Or?” Ethan prompted.

“Or there’s something else in that tower,” he finished, and a slight chill went down Ethan’s spine.

Glenn asked the question Ethan hadn’t wanted to. “Are we really still moving forward? This is well beyond the scope of the notice, and there’s other ways to find fulven.”

Valanor paused, considering his words. “Long term, an unknown Bleed cannot be allowed to remain within the kingdom. Right now, we simply don’t know enough to give an accurate report. I’d rather not send the next group of Hunters into an unknown danger, and I don’t want to leave that same danger to possibly doom the village below.”

He turned and looked directly at Ethan. “What do you say? We may find nothing, we may find you a Bond. Or…we may drastically shorten your year.”

Ethan grinned, “What kind of year would that be, knowing we left this behind?” Valanor nodded and almost smiled. Almost.

Aligned in their purpose, the group continued through the forest for another hour. Despite thinning out on the slopes, it had grown dense and lush as they neared the Bleed. They saw no more fulven, which was more disturbing than it was a relief. Every log and rock could have been an enemy, and they began prodding them with spears as they passed.

As they neared their destination, Ethan asked a question that should have occurred to him earlier. “Cara, you said that you’ve been to the den before, is this where you saw it, or are we following a different trail?”

The archer looked uncomfortable, but spoke at last. “I’m not sure. I’d swear this was the same path. All my instincts tell me it is, but my eyes disagree. That tower simply wasn’t there.”

“But you guys are sure it didn’t appear recently?”

She shook her head. “A Bleed appearing is supposed to be a momentous sight. Not only does a massive rift appear, but this one…” She pointed up at the slash in the mountain. “I think this one is what tore apart the mountain. If my village was around when it happened, it likely would have been destroyed by the landslide.”

“More mysteries,” Glenn said, sounding irritated.

“I can see a clearing up ahead,” Valanor said. “The tower is on the other side. Let’s take a moment. I’d rather not walk into another ambush.”

“I can scout ahead,” Cara supplied.

“They got past your senses before,” Maggie pointed out, receiving a glare from the Hunter.

“I don’t think scouting will gain us much under the circumstances,” Valanor said. “We can send a Familiar or two forward and see if we can bait the enemy out, but I suspect our best bet is simply to make ourselves as prepared as possible.”

He stood up tall, examining the clearing. “There,” he said, indicating a small rise with bounders on each side halfway to the tower. “If we’re attacked, we retreat to that rise. It’s the most defensible location I see.” The rest nodded, and he gestured for Ethan to come closer.

Valanor handed him a small, rune-carved stone. “A common Bond Stone,” he said. “That represents a Bond that one of our knights won’t get. Don’t waste it. If we can isolate a fulven, we’ll handle weakening it, and tell you when to use the stone.”

“Understood,” Ethan replied, remembering the rarity of the stones. He also recalled he had a few more in his survival kit. I guess I can donate them or something, he thought absently.

“Alright, we move. No one gets too far ahead,” Valanor said while looking at Cara, who just rolled her eyes. With that they geared up, and moved forward. Maggie’s blue bird familiar swooped through the clearing ahead as they approached, with Talia the jaguar stalking on the ground. Nothing happened.

“Time for the real test,” Valanor said, then advanced into the clearing, steel spear raised. They moved slowly, every member of the party pointing weapons. They stared down every stone and shrubbery with suspicion as they neared the tower. Valanor tossed a few spears into the ground near the raised area he’d identified earlier, preparing it for a hasty retreat.

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When they’d made it halfway and the only sound was the wind whistling around the mountain, Glenn spoke. “I don’t like this, Valanor. I feel like we’re being watched.”

“I feel like we’re being toyed with,” Maggie muttered, and Ethan had to agree. He looked upward, following the tower’s rise with his eyes. This close he could see more detail, from carvings to hanging lanterns, and wondered how it was possible it could be so old yet so preserved.

Looking higher, he was impressed with the immensity of the mountain, and the unusual cut that rose up for a thousand feet or more. Part of him felt the old urge to scale it, to pit his strength and skill against the ancient uncaring stone. And yet, there was an ominous feeling connected to the peak.

Staring at the strange darkness where the edges of the massive crevice met, he had a sense of wrongness. Some part of him knew what he was looking at didn’t belong, though he couldn’t express why or how. All he was sure of was that the feeling grew worse the closer they got to the pagoda.

It felt like hours before they reached the other side of the clearing, though it must have only been minutes. Ahead of them was a narrow pathway lined with wooden boards, leading to the twin doors of the tower. On either side of the path appeared to be gardens that had long overgrown, leaving a chest-high mass of coiling vines, flowers, and other vegetation. It was far too dense to walk in, and the whole group eyed it suspiciously.

“We’re all thinking that’s a mass of fulven, right?” Ethan asked, receiving immediate agreement.

“Spears,” Valanor replied, and as one they moved forward and began stabbing at the plants. The plants reacted like…plants. Leaves fell, vines snapped, and nothing more. As if rehearsed, each of them backed away as one, and began looking around for an ambush. Still, nothing happened, but the strain was clearly affecting them all.

“So…we knock?” Ethan asked.

Valanor looked at each member of the group, assessing them in turn. “We’d be fools to pretend there isn’t more going on here, but I’m also loath to turn back simply because of a feeling. We can always choose not to enter, but I think we should at least look inside.” Every member of the group nodded, save for Ethan who grinned.

“Why are you so happy?” Glenn asked.

“People don’t tell stories about the haunted tower they almost went in,” Ethan answered. Glenn seemed like he was about to argue, then shrugged and grinned back.

The group squeezed together, still fearing an ambush. Valanor took the lead as always, with Glenn walking backward, his large sword poised. In the middle, Cara’s bow was drawn, and Ethan had glowing daggers in either hand. Maggie’s owl circled above them looking for danger, while the woman herself was between the two ranged fighters, ready to protect either one.

They inched their way toward the tower, up the slight incline. The tower, in turn, seemed to await their arrival, looming over them. Finally they came to a stop, right before the path of wood and earth gave way to the stone foundation. Ethan looked from the stone to Valanor, trying to understand the delay.

“What’s happening?” he whispered.

“Don’t you feel it?” the shield knight answered.

“We can’t go any further,” Maggie said, reaching a hand out as if to test that.

Glenn and Cara turned to look, but also didn’t move. Trying to understand what they were talking about, Ethan squeezed around the knights–careful not to get too close to the evil garden–and proceeded to walk up to the door without any difficulty.

“Weird,” he said, examining the door. “They open outward but don’t have any handles.” He turned back to the group, still frozen on the path. “You really can’t go any further? I don’t get it.” Ethan waved his hands through the empty air in front of the shield knight. “Am I missing something?”

In answer, Valanor took a few steps back then tried charging forward. When he neared the stone he slowed so suddenly that he fell to one knee. “Ethan! Get back here, I don’t know what’s–” he cut off as they all felt a change. Valanor surged to his feet, warhammer poised, and the rest of the group twisted and whirled, searching for the danger.

The world was silent, but the feeling of imminent attack only grew stronger. Ethan began to move back to the group, but froze. “Cara, your hair!” Everyone turned to look as every black hair on the elven woman’s head began to rise. Howls suddenly echoed all around them, and the group’s anxiety finally reached its peak.

“Where are they!?” Glenn screamed. As if a dam had burst, the world changed. In an instant the gardens were simply gone, and in their place were two deep pits. The path they’d walked was revealed to be a single ridge of stone with steep drops on either side, and at the bottom: fulven. Dozens of fulven, all sprinting in circles, dust rising beneath their feet, and electricity building on their bodies.

“BACK!” Valanor called. But it was too late.

In each pit, the fulven unleashed their attacks together in a single, massive blast. The enormous wave of energy crashed into the stone ridge from both directions, shattering it at its base. Ethan rushed forward, hand extended, but the group plunged downward in an eruption of shattered rock.

He reached the edge of the tower’s foundation, and stared down, desperate to help, but not knowing how. A cloud of dust rose up, obscuring everything. Ethan could see bursts of yellow light flaring through, and heard indistinct sounds, but he couldn’t tell what was going on.

“Maggie, wind!” Valanor’s deep voice roared, and a moment later a powerful gust blasted out, clearing the dust and revealing the chaos. The Dusk rank shield knight was up, of course, standing in the center of a ring of debris. It looked like he’d cleared it with the warhammer slam ability of his.

Glenn was on the ground behind him, clutching his leg with one hand, and holding a short sword with the other. Maggie was standing over him, her axes already bloody. Cara appeared to have managed the best, as she rode her jaguar Familiar around the perimeter of what was now a single giant pit, firing a continuous stream of arrows.

The fulven were everywhere, and they just kept coming. Holes and cracks in the stone let out a continuous stream of them, and soon the knights were completely surrounded, fighting for their lives. Ethan took in the whole sight in a matter of heartbeats, then went to work, helping wherever he could.

Charged knives rained down. He didn’t even bother aiming for the fulven, simply picking a dense area of yellow and hurling his explosive traps into the center. The beasts were knocked back, seared and slamming into one another, letting out pained howls as Flare made its deadly power known.

Ethan even considered letting Revan loose, certain the Guardian could wreak some havoc of its own. He only held back for fear of the proud beast being overwhelmed, cutting off Ethan’s access to the devastation he was currently casting down.

For a time, it almost seemed to be going too well. The monsters were so densely packed that it was like fish in a barrel, with Cara’s arrows and Valanor’s taunts forcing them into even tighter clusters. The easy wins came to a sudden end when he heard paws on stone behind him.

Whipping around, he saw three fulven running toward him along the thin stretch of stone that extended past the building’s walls before giving way to the pit. Ethan reflexively tossed a single charged dagger in their direction, feeling the mana tied to his Flare Bond fading.

He channeled Dimension in case he needed a hasty escape, then turned. He figured he should have no problem scaling the tower and getting to some semblance of safety. Unfortunately he was confronted by five more of the lightning beasts coming from the other direction. Running out of options, he summoned Deevee, commanding it to race to the other side of the pit.

The hydra wasted no time, but only reached the edge of the foundation before whirling around and disappearing, as if terrified. “Oh come on, you two,” he said with undisguised disappointment. He brought his spear out next, knowing he’d be too easy a target if he tried to climb down to his party. Not to mention the liability he’d be if he succeeded.

The fulven were quick though, and soon he was jumping back toward the tower’s door, brandishing his spear at the group of monsters that had cornered him. A quick channeling and summon brought Revan to stand next to him, but he knew it was too much to ask of the mighty beast to fight eight of the Dawn rank monsters, essentially on his own.

“Thanks for giving me a chance, buddy,” he said to his Familiar. Ethan hated himself for accepting defeat while there was breath left in his body, but knew this was a fight that he couldn’t win. Maybe if I quickly swap back to Dimension, then chuck a rift anchor into the pit? If there’s even a chance–

A loud creaking behind him drew his attention, and he glanced back to see the tower doors opening of their own accord. The inside was a black void. He turned back to the fulven slowly stalking toward him, clearly wary of the growling Revan. Ethan looked at the monsters, then back to the open doors. Finally he grinned.

“Sorry guys,” he said to the beasts, “people don’t tell stories about the haunted tower they almost went in.”

Ethan turned, and dashed away into the darkness.