Consciousness returned slowly to Irwin, starting with a rock poking in his shoulder and a slight pain in his back from how he lay, half propped up. Something was wrong. He'd slept! And not just for a few minutes or even an hour.

His mind cleared up, and despite the fact that he'd been lying on the rough ground, he felt much better than before. Not great by any means, but better. Besides the pain in his back and soreness in his arms and legs, his lips were parched. He should probably be afraid and worried about Imps, but the calm, whispering voices nearby showed nothing was wrong.

The faint sulfurous stink of Imps still hung everywhere, so they were still inside, and he considered getting up. Then the conversation registered, and he pretended to be asleep a little longer.

"No, I told you five minutes ago, let him sleep until he wakes. As long as no Imps come, we are fine here. There is no reason to rush this."

Greldo sounds exasperated, Irwin thought, curious to see who had asked. He tried to recall, but he hadn't been paying attention before.

"How can he even sleep in this horrible heat? He's even lying a few feet from one of those stupid cracks! Are we sure he isn't, like, unconscious?" Olban replied, sounding annoyed.

"I checked an hour ago, and he was fine. A bit hot, but that's no surprise," Twintin whispered.

Wait, she touched me while I slept? Irwin thought.

He must have been exhausted or perhaps partially unconscious? Usually, he would wake up if someone even entered his room, let alone touched him.

"But… we've been here for a really long time," Olban whined again, his whispered voice rising and falling. "Just because those Imps didn't come when he said, doesn't mean they won't come soon! We need to plan what to do, someplace to hide!"

There was no response, but Irwin didn't move. He had no good answer, but he agreed, though not with the hiding part. He thought about what Lady Yrinta had said. If they showed they had reached their limit, they were to be sent back to their room. Though trying to kill more imps and search for the Linchpin was one way of dying, finding a place to hide this time and after that another five or six times was barely any less dangerous.

As he let his mind wander, he felt the memories of dying trying to resurface and draw him in. He quickly pushed them down, not interested in spending whatever little time he had to deal with those now.

Perhaps 'never' would be a fine time for that.

Willing himself to relax, he focused on the other stuff that had happened. Now that he wasn't under constant threat, he noticed a few things. First, his flame didn't need to be on his finger, and it grew from killing those Imps. Second, those Imps had seemed incredibly sure that the fire wouldn't harm them, but instead, the flame easily killed them, seeming to dissolve or eat them.

Besides that, based on how much damage the others had gotten from it, the Imp blood was either hot or toxic. He, however, had felt nothing. Was that another benefit of his card? If it was, how many benefits did it have?

I wonder how large the flame can become, he thought. If it could become large enough for him to use as a spear, he could kill the Imps with far less risk of getting hurt.

As he lay on the ground, a plan began forming in his mind, and finally, when it crystallized, he knew it was time. Taking a deep breath, he got up, looking around. The others were lying away from the single exit while Greldo sat near it, peeking outside.

"Finally awake?" Olban whispered, wiping his gleaming, sweaty head. "How can you sleep in this heat?"

Irwin ignored him and looked at Greldo. "Did you sleep? How long was I out?"

"I did, and I have no idea. Shorter than a day, that's for sure."

"No Imps came?"

"They kept walking in and out of that side entrance, but none came here yet. I don't think we will stay this lucky, though."

"Alright, then, I think it's time to come up with a plan that will let us kill as many Imps as we can without dying."

There was a scared gasp from Twintin, and Rachel put a hand on her, smiling reassuringly.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Olban asked.

Irwin swallowed as he saw the others looking at him expectantly -hard with a mouth dry as dust- before laying out his plan.

"We search the tunnels and find a chamber that doesn't end in a dead-end, like this one. There has to be one, with so many paths in that maze," he said, pointing at the tunnel. "When we find one, we go inside and make enough noise to attract some Imps. We ambush them, grab their weapons, and hide in another tunnel so we don't get cornered. If a few come to see, we kill those. If there are too many, we remain in hiding or move further away until we get clear."

"Simple, yet effective," Greldo said. "I like it."

Olban seemed hesitant, but neither Rachel nor Twintin seemed to mind.

So, with nobody against it, they headed into the main tunnel, scouting the dozen or so tunnels leading away from it.

Eventually, tired and hungry, they found themselves huddled in one of the tunnels.

Over half of the side tunnels led to simple caves like the one they had appeared in, but the one they were in now connected with others, creating a winding maze with only a few tunnels leading to dead ends. Two of those ended up in the massive cavern Irwin had seen during his second time here, but there were enough routes that it made for an excellent place to flee.

"Alright, ready?" Irwin said, looking around, hoping someone else would offer to shout. Nobody did, so he crawled into their target tunnel, his legs heavy and painful.

This better not go wrong, he thought as he took a breath.

"Argh," he shouted, cringing at how stupid it sounded.

The giggling and laughter coming from the back of the tunnel stopped instantly, and Irwin swallowed, his throat dry like sand.

It took almost a minute before three Imps snuck around the corner. As soon as they saw him hanging out at the end, they stopped, eyes wide.

Irwin faked being stunned, which proved way too easy, and turned around, heading back into the room. He raised three fingers at Greldo, who nodded.

He steeled himself and looked back around the corner to find the Imps halfway toward him. He must have made some noise because two of them snapped their yellow eyes on him, and he jerked his head back.

He jumped next to Greldo and held his breath as he heard the footsteps close in. Even though it was his plan, and he'd killed a half dozen of the Imps by now, he still felt his heart skip a beat when the Imps giggled in an insane and high pitch.

"Don't hiiiiiide," one of them squealed.

Irwin didn't answer, but he saw Twintin shake like a leaf. The others looked nearly as scared, well, except for Daubutim, who was dully staring at the entrance, his carded club and his simple wooden shield raised.

As soon as one appeared, the tall youth stepped forward and smashed its head while everyone except for Twintin jumped on the others.

A minute later, Irwin stood, a hand-long flame above his clenched fist, staring at the three piles of ash and soot. They were all that was left of the Imps.

"We can do this," he whispered before looking at Greldo. "We can do this!" he said again, somewhat louder.

"Let's show these Imps what we are worth," Greldo added with a grin.

"If too many come, we are going to get swarmed," Rachel whispered. "Imps sometimes come in groups."

Irwin nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself.

"You are right. Let's wait a few minutes, then try again."

How long they continued their trick before the Imps realized what was happening was hard to tell, though Irwin guessed it was over an hour before a group of a dozen Imps began prowling the tunnels to find them.

Their group hid, moving from tunnel to tunnel until the Imps left again. The fact that Irwin had burned all of the bodies probably helped. By this time, he'd killed over a dozen Imps, and his flame had turned into a raging flame as long as his arm. The heat from it was intense, and the others couldn't remain within five feet of him, but one touch and an Imp turned to ash.

They repeated their trick four more times, and by the end, even Twintin had managed to get a kill, although it had come at the cost of a long laceration on her arm. Not that the rest had gotten away unharmed.

"I wonder how much longer we can stay here," Irwin whispered wearily.

He was sitting with his back against the wall, trying to catch his breath while holding his flame away from his body. It hovered above his hand, hungrily wafting around as if searching for something.

"It didn't grow again," Greldo said from a safe distance away, inspecting the flame.

Irwin nodded, slightly annoyed by the fact that the others were quietly standing there, waiting for him to catch his breath. Even Greldo, who was almost as scrawny as him, and Twintin seemed able to keep up. It was just him holding everyone up, like always.

"Give me a few more minu-" Irwin began as the world around him jolted, and he saw a flash of the room outside the portal before he slammed into the ground.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The flame on his hand was gone as he pushed himself up and looked around at the others. Only Greldo was on the ground. The rest had managed to retain their footing.

"So…" a soft voice said, and Irwin froze as he looked around to see Jonathan examine them one at a time.

"You," the sorcerer said as he pointed at Rachel, "must have some very good skills to keep them alive through an entire rotation this easily. You didn't find the Linchpin, but you managed to clear out a pretty sizable chunk of enemies. I'm impressed, though I guess it makes sense for someone who managed to survive where the rest of her group died."

Rachel was looking at him with wide eyes, but before she could say anything, Irwin coughed. He had wondered how to explain their success, and this had been one of the things he had come up with.

Jonathan suggesting it himself was an incredible stroke of luck.

"Yes, Jonathan, she is amazing. We couldn't have managed without her," he said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Rachel blinked, then shrugged, just looking at the ground. Irwin saw her ears turning red, and he had no idea why, but it was only helping their cause. Greldo and Olban quickly agreed. Jonathan was looking around, and Irwin feared he suspected something, so he cleared his throat.

"Jonathan, why don't we get hungry in there? We've been inside there for so many hours now," he asked.

He already knew the answer because Rachel had told them, but he hoped it would distract the sorcerer.

Jonathan turned to him and scowled. "I told you before. These rooms were created by crafters from the fifth tower. It's epic level or beyond!"

"Incredible," Irwin muttered, only half meaning it. He could see right away that Jonathan had no idea why they didn't need any food, but he wasn't going to call him out on it.

"Thanks," he said instead.

Jonathan just snorted. "You don't look one bit winded, but I'll give you ten more minutes of rest before you can go in again. You and you," he pointed at Irwin, then Greldo," have four more attempts, while the rest have five."

Nobody answered, but Jonathan didn't seem to care as he was nodding at the door with a sly smile.

He's planning something, Irwin thought, shivering at the thought of what Jonathan could be up to.

He quickly lowered to the ground, leaning against the wall beside Greldo. They sat quietly, resting and waiting until Jonathan had had enough and pointed at the portal. Irwin got up, faking reluctance. In reality, he was almost looking forward to seeing how far they could come without him sleeping away most of their time. The only worry he had -besides the risk of dying- was what Jonathan was up to.

I wonder if we can find the Linchpin, he thought. If they could do that, they would definitely be allowed back to their rooms.

To his surprise, the next attempt went roughly similar to the one before. The others were tired and afraid, so they spent most of their time resting. They did find out that Twintin had a knack for crawling around unseen and unheard, and although shivering in fear, she'd become the one to scout ahead to relieve Irwin and his lack of endurance.

They were sent in again almost right away, as Jonathan had seemed less impressed with them.

Irwin didn't really care. Although he wanted to find the Linchpin, the ease with which they were staying out of the Imp's hands made the others only interested in hiding. He couldn't blame them, and he wasn't that curious.

So, they went through the motions again, ending up with a lengthy rest in a well-hidden corner of the tunnel maze.

When they exited on that run, Jonathan had been frowning and asked why they hadn't made any progress compared to the previous attempt. They lied and said they were having a hard time finding the Linchpin. Jonathan hadn't cared and told them they had better show more progress, or he'd toss them in one at a time until they did. They were supposed to show what they were capable of, not waste time.

Although his words had come out harmless enough, the dangerous glare caused them to reevaluate. When they went in again, they tried harder, resting less and attempting to clear the Imps from the tunnel system.

Everything continued as effortlessly as it had the previous three attempts.

That was until they reached a large, torch-lit cave that seemed to indicate the end of the tunnel system.

"There's a dozen in there," Twintin whispered as she crawled back, her face pale as a sheet and tears running down her face. "And… and…" she wiped her face with her smeared sleeve. "They are cutting into two of those green demons. That's why they are laughing."

She knelt on the ground, tears running down her face as she hugged herself.

Irwin shared a worried look with Greldo while Rachel crouched beside the much smaller girl, stroking her hair and whispering soothing words.

"Did you see anything else? A bigger Imp, or something… something that could be the Linchpin?" Irwin asked lamely.

Twintin shook her head, tears still streaming down her face again, then she turned to Rachel, hugging her tight.

The bigger girl held her and looked at Irwin as if he'd done something wrong. Having no idea what, Irwin still mouthed sorry before turning to the others.

Daubutim was silently staring at him with his dull eyes, quietly waiting until someone would actively ask him something or tell him what to do. Irwin still couldn't get rid of the feeling that the boy was more than met the eye, but he hadn't caught him on anything yet. The best he had to go of was that he sometimes acted a little too quickly when Irwin asked something.

Olban was rolling his right shoulder, grimacing every so often, and seemingly totally uninterested in Twintin's plight. It had taken a few rests before he'd stopped brooding, but he had refused to answer any questions on what had happened when he'd been the last to return.

"This should be the final room, so if the Linchpin isn't here, we will have to go to the main chamber," Irwin said.

"I don't think it will be here," Olban piped, his voice cracking at the final word, and he scowled, trying to clear his throat.

"It would be too easy," he added as the others looked at him. "Think about it. Rachel has told us that initiates usually get a few weeks of introductions and training before they are allowed into one of these. Also, they normally don't force them inside at this breakneck pace. Normally, we would have had the time to think about what we had seen, plan for a day or more, and ask questions. Maybe look things up?"

"He's right," Greldo whispered with a sad sigh. "It sucks, but they need to replace a group of initiates with half a year of experience within days… it wouldn't surprise me if they are finding more children as we speak."

Irwin tried to imagine the sorcerers returning to the towns and cities to get more people and wondered how they would react. Would they agree? He couldn't imagine the people in Malorin accepting this, but what could they do? If the sorcerers sent their most powerful carded, they could simply take whomever they wanted.

"Do you think we are doing better than the others?" he asked, looking at Rachel.

She shrugged, stroking Twintin's hair. "I don't know. When I was in the other training portal, we never got this far. We got ambushed inside a swamp and killed within half an hour."

The others stared at her. She'd not said much about her time before, except for the lessons and the things she'd learned.

"I guess they weren't Imps?" Greldo said.

"No... something called Nyzir," Rachel said as she looked at the ground and shivered. "I didn't get a good look, but the books say they are pale, cold-blooded shadow beings."

"Lovely," Greldo muttered.

They were all lost in their own thoughts for a bit until the laughter coming from the room grew in intensity.

"Let's go clear that room," Irwin said as he shivered and raised his hand.

A maxed-out flame hovered above it, and he wished again that he could throw it, but no matter what he'd tried, it just didn't want to move from his hand.

He snuck towards the entrance, and a quick look inside showed Twintin had been right. Almost a dozen Imps stood around some racks in the middle of a room. Two green Demons, similar to the one he had seen before, were tied up, wads of some fabric stuffed in their mouth and dangling from chains. Imps walked around them, slicing into them with their daggers or beating them with the blunt end while laughing insanely.

"The left one has a testicle left," one of the Imps hissed.

The green Demon's eyes widened as he moaned through the cloth, and the Imps squealed in delight.

Irwin felt his skin grow cold, and he almost vomited, barely holding it back. Twelve Imps were more than they had attacked so far, but there was no option to leave them. It was obvious now that Jonathan wanted to see constant progress, and he was pretty sure that the threat of being thrown in here alone wasn't a joke. Even then, the image of himself strapped to one of those racks almost made him turn and run.

We can do this, he thought as he clenched his teeth.

They had killed a group of six Imps before without much trouble. Their plan should work in these narrow tunnels even if there were twice that many.

Irwin looked back and motioned the others to get ready, and as soon as everyone was in their positions, he licked his lips.

"Hey, leave him alone," he shouted before stepping back and running down the tunnel.

"Another one! Get it!" a voice piped behind him as the giggling stopped.

Irwin dashed around the corner, took two steps, and entered a narrow corridor. Daubutim and Rachel were waiting in a crevice opposite him, while Greldo and Olban were a bit further down the corridor. Twintin was hiding somewhere in the back.

Irwin waited as the footsteps rushed towards him. After some Imps ran past him without looking, he stabbed his flame at the nearest one. His flame nearly reached the other side of the corridor, and four Imps ran in before they could stop, turning to ash instantly.

Something moved in the corner of his eye, and Irwin looked up to see one of the other Imps had doubled back. It was jumping for him. He struggled to turn just as Daubutim's club slammed into the screaming Imp's head, cracking it like a walnut and knocking it sideways into Irwin's flame.

Too close, Irwin thought as he jumped into the corridor.

There were three Imps to his left and a screaming group on the other side. Daubutim and Rachel stood on one side, while Greldo and Olban stood on the other, using their daggers and shields to hold back the Imps that were now clustered far too close together in the narrow tunnel.

Irwin knew immediately this wasn't the right thing to do. There were far too many Imps to do it like they had before.

He turned to the three Imps on the left that had been sneaking closer and jabbed his wobbly, fuming flame forward. One of the Imps had underestimated how long it was, and Irwin jabbed its arm, causing it to turn to ash within moments. Without stopping, he ran forward after the two others that were trying to scramble back. Whatever they had expected, being chased by a malnourished human child with a dangerous flame hadn't been it, and they tripped over themselves.

Irwin ashed them both before turning around just in time to see Rachel catching a dagger on her shield. She grunted from the effort as her shield was slammed into her chest.

Irwin ran forward just as Daubutim struck at the Imp in a frenzy.

"Out of the way," Irwin shouted.

Rachel and Daubutim jumped to the sides, letting him pass. With his flame stretched forward like a lance, he stabbed it into the nearest of the Imps.

We can do this, Irwin thought as he saw the Imp turn to ash.

A pained cry from Greldo made him look behind the mass of Imps to see his friend stumble back with a dagger lodged in his leg. Irwin jumped forward, waving his flame at the clustered Imps, while Daubutim and Rachel stepped out after him.

We should have split them up or found a room with more than one entrance, Irwin thought in panic as he saw Greldo and Olban stumble back.

Luckily, clustered as they were, the Imps were getting in each other's way so much that they kept tripping and shoving. With only a touch being lethal to them, it took only seconds before the final one fell to ash.

The group didn't even look at them and gathered around Greldo, who was clutching the dagger stabbed in his leg, muttering incoherently.

"It hit an artery," Daubutim said dully, causing Irwin to look up in surprise. The boy was staring at Greldo's leg and shrugged. "He has half a minute left."

"Can we do something?" Irwin hissed.

"I don't know. The teacher never told me," Daubutim said.

"It's fine. He will be back with Jonathan, and he won't even have to wait that long," Olban said.

Irwin knew Olban was right, but as he saw Greldo's face turn white and his eyes kept looking around in terror, he wished he could do something. Instead, he could only hold Greldo's hand until it turned limp.

Staring at the dead, unmoving body, Irwin shivered. He should have had a better plan...

With tightly clenched fists, he got up. The others were standing behind him, all looking mostly unharmed, though he saw a bit of Imp blood on their shields.

Way too close, he thought.

"Let's go and see if those green Demons know where the Linchpin is," he said wearily.