After an hour of trekking toward Faction city, Chaele and Kodish came across a sign on the road.

Chaele snorted. “‘Free shortcut ahead.’ What kind of idiot would fall for something like that?”

“You’ve gotta have faith in humanity,” Kodish lectured. “Some people are kind and will share secrets with you. Besides, there could be one of those secret missions! They say secret missions are fun—”

Chaele grinned. “And profitable.”

“— and profitable,” Kodish agreed.

They nodded at each other and stepped onto the overgrown trail leading to an old castle. The building was decrepit — one entire side was missing, the rest sported large gaps in the weathered stone. When the trail ended in front of it, another sign awaited.

“What’s it say?” Kodish asked.

Chaele frowned. “‘Secrets inside.’ Alright, maybe there is a secret mission in there after all.”

The foyer was lit with torches on both sides of the hallway. Chaele led the way, with Kodish lumbering behind. They both grabbed torches and peeked into the first large room on the right.

“Be careful, Kodish,” she whispered, pulling out her bow from behind her. “There might be enemies in here.”

They tip-toed into the room, which turned out to be a dining hall. The table was set with rotted food on it. At the head of the table there was a larger chair, fit for an orc. Since the coast was clear, Kodish galloped to it and took a seat. “I’m a king!”

The elf sighed and raised a palm to her face. “Well, don’t eat the food, King.”

Kodish pushed the plate in front of him away and plopped his feet up on the table. “So where are we going to —”

When Kodish went silent, chaele prodded him, “Going to what?”

He frowned. “Uh, Chaele?”

“Yeah?”

He didn’t respond, only pointed back toward the hall’s entryway.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Chaele turned around and saw the crowned ghost Kodish was staring at pick up its arms while bellowing, “You don’t belong here!”

“Get away from it!” Kodish yelled, jumping to his feet.

She lunged forward and spun around, grabbed an arrow from her quiver, and fired dead center into it. The ghost was pushed back slightly, but otherwise looked unharmed. He casually walked forward toward her, pulling out an ethereal sword. She fired another arrow, which only made the ghost mad.

Kodish quickly pushed past her, battle axe drawn back, and he swung for the spirit’s weapon. They traded blows, both parrying each other’s attacks. The ghost grinned as sparks flung from their weapons colliding.

Chaele called out, “Duck!” then fired several arrows back to back. The spirit gasped and collapsed onto his knees, injured, but not dead. Well, not any more dead, anyway.

Kodish picked up his axe to deal the killing blow, but before he could, an arrow crashed into his vest. He grunted, then looked for the source. There were two new ethereal enemies: an archer and a mage. Kodish kicked the ghost on the ground in the face, then charged toward the archer. Chaele traded arrows with fireballs, both dodging the attacks, until she landed a shot through the mage’s eye. He crumpled to the floor.

Kodish had some luck of his own. When she looked over, he was on the floor eating some bread. Next to him was a pile of dust with a cherry bow on top.

“A sparkling bow!” Chaele said, then rushed over to pick it up. “It’s way better than this piece of —”

“Are you sure you want to equip that item?” Kodish asked.

The elf didn’t bother answering and picked the bow up to test it out. She pointed it away from Kodish and strung an arrow. She tried to pull back the string, but it wouldn’t budge. “What a piece of—”

Kodish looked concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Won’t work, string’s all locked up,” Chaele said.

The orc took another bite of bread, then held up a finger. “You probably need more experience to use that kind of bow.”

Chaele chcked the bow and cursed. Sure enough, engraved on the handle was an elegant nine.

“Well?” Kodish asked.

She huffed. “I’ll just stick it in my bag for now.”

Her companion shrugged and stood up. “Let’s go find the shortcut!”

Back in the main hall, they skipped the side rooms and went straight toward the end. A plain wall waited, other than a set of double doors. She cracked one open and peeked inside. When there wasn’t a giant ethereal monster waiting to jump and scare her, she opened it the rest of the way. The room was devoid of anything, except the large green cylinder in the center, which stood about three feet tall. A sign next to it read “Shortcut Here” with a crudely drawn picture of some kind of short mushroom man on it.

“What kind of shortcut is this?” Kodish asked.

She shook her head. “No clue. Let’s get a better look.”

They peered down into the cylinder’s hollow center. The hole went super deep into the ground.

“Nope, no way,” Kodish said.

Chaele rolled her eyes at him. “There’s a ladder!”

Kodish gave her a terrified grimace. “A ladder. On a hole. That goes forever.”

She laughed. “Ethereal things don’t scare you, but this does?”

Kodish shrugged.

“Besides,” Chaele pointed out, “it’s not a hole. It’s a pipe.”

“Oh great,” Kodish said, sarcasm clear. “Even better.”