The bridge rocked to-and-fro. My knuckles turned white as they grasped the braided railing. What once was a sword at Taro’s side, emerged with a clawed grasp like a demon from the pits of Hell. We saw him unclasp his scabbard and throw the forgotten mimic into the black abyss. We looked over the swaying edge—wood splinters erupted from beneath the bridge. The monster had caught itself before falling into the deep black and shattered through the planks, destroying our path back to the light.

The fierce cries of the mimic and the undulating of the ropes carried the rest of the party along the bridge in a ferocious panic. Taro fell onto his back and was unable to stand himself. With wide eyes, I watched the mighty spellcaster form a spike of sand from his gauntlets. Red sands and arcane blue particulates enshrouded his entire arm. A thunderous crack echoed from the abyss as his bolt flew from his being. And missed.

The mimic stood proud on all fours along the ropes. Its flesh twisted. Its color shimmered. Its maw of pearl-like teeth in an ocean of black salivated as it loomed over the hybrid. I knew not why it didn’t feast upon Taro then and there. Either the mimic knew his armor wouldn’t digest or it saw easier prey ahead to gorge on. It left him be—but not the boards he laid upon. The wood shattered beneath Taro with a pounce from the mimic. He fell to his doom like a brick in water while the mimic caught itself on the ropes with its dangling limbs. We sprinted as fast as we could while the vile creature climbed the underside of the bridge. Each wooden plank it gripped was one that would crack and splinter.

I saw no red notification from the [System] announcing Taro’s demise, but his [Health] was so little that I couldn’t see a single sliver of life left. What perplexed me was that even after his supposed death, his [Mana] points dropped from 60 to 6 in an instant. And while the creature clung to the bridge and used the wood as handholds, a flashing bolt of crimson red energy erupted from the depths. Like a flare, it illuminated the entirety of the cavern before seeking and striking through the mimic’s chest. It howled in pain and tried to pull itself up, leaking a fowl black ooze. Regardless of its spirit to carry on, the pain was too much and its claws let loose the bridge, falling to the chasm beneath.

Our [Stamina] depleted. Our hearts were as heavy as our breaths as we stood at the edge of the darkness for a sign of Taro or the mimic. All was silent except the creaking of the destroyed bridge.

“He must still be alive,” Briar muttered.

“I don’t see any [HP] on him,” Ethan said.

Mell slapped the upside of the orc’s head, almost pushing him over the edge before pulling him back. “It would’ve said he [Disbanded] if he died, numbskull!”

How does he still live? “Is he still on the [Map]?” I asked.

Briar huffed, “It still says he’s in the dungeon.”

“Try to [Message] him!” I ordered. Luckily, in our frantic state, no one bothered to question why I still had no [Mana] to send him one of my own. Every hybrid had [MP] to spend on messages, how much it cost to send one…

[INSUFFICIENT MANA]

I would never know.

Ethan and Mell’s [Mana] dipped to 0 points, but it wasn’t like they ever used magic to begin with. Briar’s points rested at 4 out of 20 after sending the [Message], still being drained by the dim light orb floating above us.

“Anything?” I asked.

The hybrids shook their heads while Gadaan pressed onward. The path back west seemed to have been the other side of the room full of crumbled pillars. It was hard not to think that if the hallway hadn't collapsed or if we had dug a way through it, then Taro would still be with us. For all we knew, he was bleeding out and wishing to be sent to the Arena or he was splattered across the stone, never to reanimate.

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Gadaan took pity on us and allowed everyone to rest after our near-death encounter. The fire for fame and fortune still blazed in his heart but the rest of us wanted to get the fuck out of here ASAP. But with the bridge left broken, we had to march into the unknown to find our escape.

* * *

An hour passed in the chamber to the east. While we rested and watched our [Stamina] rise, Briar’s light diminished. The beasts didn’t complain of the dark, but we did. The twins made their grievances quite known while I had to crawl along the ground with only the light of flashing sparks from my sickle to find any flammable material to burn. I came across a rotten caved-in barrel that was suitable enough to shut up the siblings.

We sat against the confines of stone walls while two halls of continual darkness tempted those eager for more adventure.

“You got enough [Mana] yet to cast one of those lights yet, beast?” Ethan asked.

“I do… but… shouldn’t I try and [Message] Taro more?”

Ethan scoffed, “Forget him! He was too high-mighty and stoic for his own good!”

Briar looked at me and Gadaan. The leader of our short expedition grew too calloused after years of wandering the world. I wanted to help Taro as much as I could. I owed him my life and this direwolf pelt on my back, but we had no means of rescue. No rope, no magic, and no emergency services to call. I looked at the young fur-beast in their chestnut eyes and somberly nodded that it was okay for them to carry on.

Soon enough, the blue magelight grew from their paws and floated above. Ethan smiled with joy while Gadaan smirked an eager grin. Mell could not have cared less of the dungeon, only that her brother remained safe. She stuck to him like glue while everyone followed Gadaan. I sat up from the stone and followed with aching muscles.

Like the gods above wanted us to follow a certain path, glimmering silver pieces lined the hall to the chamber as far east as we could go. Ethan ran ahead of our dungeon leader to scoop up as many as he could in his shirt. However, the silver he failed to see was the sharp spike that protruded from the wall. We heard the quiet click of a pressure plate before Ethan bellowed in pain and tears.

The spike jutted from the wall and sliced his arm. He cried not from pain, but for the coins that fell through his torn tunic. His health dropped by 2 points. A flesh wound. Mell tore off the ragged part of his shirt and tied it over his arm. I was afraid of more traps ahead, but what I should’ve been worried about were those left behind.

I could tell something was amiss when Gadaan and Briar both turned around with flickering ears. It was no tumbling boulder, but a small camouflaged crossbow hidden above the arch of the doorway that revealed itself. It loaded a bolt automatically and with a loud ka-thunk it flew down the hall.

Briar pushed me aside while the rest of the party crouched low. Tufts of fluffy yellow fur floated in the air, but we were okay. We heard the bolt scrape against the ground in the next chamber, followed by silence.

“Thank you,” I said. The adrenaline pumped through me but I felt exhausted.

“Sure,” Briar mumbled, feeling their patchy tail.

I took two more cautious steps before the [System] jumpscared me. My mind read that Taro [Disbanded], however, the message wasn’t red and didn’t tell of his name at all. It was a calm electronic blue, showing me a notification I was relieved to see.

Attribute Leveled-Up!

[Dexterity] — LVL 1 -> LVL 2

Now I really am thankful, I thought. Another level-up was another closer to catching up with everyone else. Maybe if I let Briar blindfold me and guide me through an obstacle course, then I can grind through faster. While I pondered ways to game the [System], the rest of the party kept on the lookout for any more traps and safely guided me to the end of the hall.

The chamber we entered was the most beautiful I’d seen. Ethan was already rushing ahead but I embraced the uncanny beauty of such a derelict dungeon. Eight pillars of marble rose to the glass ceiling, standing taut, standing firm. The floor was a similar marble with gold engraving while the walls were a deep navy blue. In the past, I could imagine this room being some type of observatory or a house of astronomy. Now, though, it was buried by the sands above, no light of the stars or sun was visible to study.

Shelves of scrolls lined the walls like the archives before, but what stuck out to me was the rotten chest that sat in the middle of the pillars. We had no luck with chests thus far; one would have thought that we would have been more cautious this time around. But like Selara that had come prior, Ethan dived his hands into a devouring creature.