Gabby followed Nora into the loo. I stepped up, unstoppering my flask and readying it.

“Before you go, take this,” the Witch of Evermore said, thrusting out her hand.

I hesitated for a short moment before taking the gift she offered. It was a small oval-shaped mirror nestled in a frame of carved wood so dark it was almost black. The depictions looked a lot like Frank in a variety of positions; some of the ravens were in flight and others had their beaks open wide in silent screams. My reflection stared back at me. My face was gaunt and filthy with deep smudges beneath my bloodshot eyes. My hair was a wild tangled mess that only served to highlight the sadly sparse threads atop my crown. It was not a pretty picture.

“A little self-care would keep you from pulling faces like that, you know?” Kendrick said.

Ignoring him I flicked my gaze up to meet Cassie’s blazing purple eyes. “Why do I need this?”

She smiled and shrugged. “Just in case. Now hurry, before the others leave you behind.”

I stepped up and dumped my potion into the small puddle of water clustering at the bottom of the bowl. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or confused that the witch had proper plumbing in the heart of a swamp cradled in the far-flung outback. Typically a drop dunny was the best you would expect in the middle of nowhere. Even at the farm, only the house proper had a flushing loo.

The water turned green and I jumped. My feet were sucked down. The rattling of metal chains filled my ears as Cassie and her farmhouse disappeared. The last thing I saw before the blinding light stole my vision was Kendrick rushing forward with his arm outstretched.

New Achievement: Dunny Diver

Who so eagerly dives feet first in a reservoir made exclusively for the vilest excretions of the human race? Have you no dignity or sense of smell? Congratulations, now all who develop the skill to read your achievements will know just how foul you are.

I would have been offended by the achievement if it hadn’t just confirmed one of my long-standing suspicions. Developing my Identify skill would lead to greater and greater knowledge, right down to something as meaningless as arbitrary achievements. I longed to read the achievements assigned to my clan members if for no other reason than for a good laugh.

What lay beneath was not what I’d expected. In fact, I’d had two ideas in mind and neither were true. I’d been tossing up between the cramped maze of tunnels above the Outsider's hideout or the cavernous tunnels the Sewer Hag called home. There was comfort in the familiarity of zones you’d been thrust into before and only fear in the green-hued and pixelated tunnel I was stuck in. The light along the walls flickered and shifted in no discernable order, revealing splatterings of ones and zeros and vast expanses of never-ending code that made no sense to me.

Nora and Gabby floated up ahead of me. Their hair was thrown back in streams behind them that made it look as if they were rushing down the tunnel and yet like me they were frozen in place. A weight tugged on my wrist, yanking my arm backward in a way that made my back pinch uncomfortably.

“Where are we?” I bellowed, hoping the others would hear me over the ever-present static drone.

Nora turned her head toward me and said, “I don’t know, nothing is happening.”

“Wonderful,” I mumbled.

I could see Gabby was poised for danger, her crossbow loaded and held out ahead of her. She sported two quivers now, each with different bolts. One was strapped to her thigh and the other attached to her belt. Both were stuffed to capacity. Nora yanked her axe from its holder on her back, her hand tightening around the shaft as her eyes flicked all around, looking for danger. The crease on her brow deepened with every moment we spent suspended in the green pixelated world.

The weight on my wrist grew heavier. I swore and struggled to turn to see what had it trapped. A golden band circled the joint, glimmering and pulsating in unison with the walls of the tunnel we were trapped in. A strand of golden thread shot from the band, disappearing from view back the way we’d come. I frowned, wondering if Cassie had cast a spell to keep me connected to the outside world. Maybe that was the entire reason she’d handed me a mirror; she had just needed to get close enough to me to cast her subtle magic.

A loud banging reminiscent of a heavy door slamming shut had me spinning back around. Nora let out her war cry boosting my skills and filling me with energy and the sudden need for violence.

“At the ready!” Nora bellowed as a solid force pushed us forward.

The digits and the color of the walls turned into a blur as they flashed past us. For a short time, I kept pace with Nora and Gabby and then the band keeping me tethered somewhere behind me began slowing me down.

“Wait,” I cried.

My words were eaten by the buzz filling the tunnel, whisking them away before the others even had a chance to hear them. Gabby disappeared from view first. Before Nora vanished she turned her head, her eyes blazing with unbridled bloodlust. The look changed almost instantly as her face slackened and her mouth dropped open. She flung an arm out toward me and then she was gone.

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

I howled and forced my body to turn before digging my fingernails into my wrist in an attempt to shake off the band that kept me trapped. Blood bubbled to the surface and still, the band held firm.

“Let me go!”

The band flared and grew larger, climbing further up my arm until it looked like a cuff in defiance of my scream. With a thump a gaping black hole filled with silvery sparks opened up ahead of me and I was flung right into it without so much as a chance to resist.

I slammed into a wall of stone. Chips and dust billowed from it filling my mouth and nose. I gagged and hacked as I crawled forward. I eyed my health bar but it had barely lowered. The hit left me bruised and wondering if I’d broken a rib but according to the game, I was fine. You’ve probably noticed by now but the game is a good-for-nothing liar.

The dust settled and I was left in the gloom of a stone chamber. Behind me, a foul stench emanated from an enormous line of holes sawn through a hefty plank of aged wood sitting atop a raised platform of stone. Thick stacks of paper scrawled with words I couldn’t understand sat beside each hole, their pages flapping in the small breeze winding its way into the chamber through a high thin window blocked by evenly spaced metal bars.

The band on my wrist glowed brighter and the stink of burned hair filled my nose before pain radiated from the thing. I yelped and pressed my back against the slimy wall as I dug at the band, trying again to make it let go. The thread that was attached to it disappeared into the depths of one of the foul-smelling holes.

“What the fuck is happening?” I ground out between clenched teeth.

My skin turned red and angry around the band. Sweat ran in streams down the sides of my head. Sharp stabbing pain ran up my arm and down into the center of my chest. I howled and writhed, throwing myself across the ground. My health began to drain, slowly but steadily. An effect icon appeared beside the bar but it flickered and changed shape every other second as if it couldn’t decide what was happening to me.

Tendrils of shadowy black smoke climbed from the darkened hole, stretching out for the ceiling before branching out in all directions. I dropped the hand trying to detach the band and drew my sword, swinging with my Fatigue bolstered strength at the thread holding me trapped. My blade struck the thread. The metal hissed angrily and turned red sending thick black smoke right into my face. The metal slid through the thread leaving it unharmed and intact before burying itself deep into the stone floor.

A tendril reached me, stroking my face before slipping down and pressing against my aching chest. The pain that filled me disappeared as if it had never been there. A soothing melody filled my head. I slumped on the ground, breathing heavily as my whole body turned to jelly.

The black tendrils spun and twisted until they formed the shape of a man. His edges were indistinct and every so often a tiny wisp of the smoke he was made of detached from him and floated in the air before it disappeared. Even with the wisps slowly escaping from the main mass the shape didn’t seem to shrink.

“Who, no, what are you?” I croaked.

The man shape lifted its arm and turned it as it inspected its hand from all angles. A band that matched my own circled the creature's wrist, the thread connecting us more firmly than a set of cuffs would have.

“Interesting. I was wondering how our dear Goddess would keep us bonded in separate realms. I have to say, this was not at all what I expected.”

I cringed at the familiar voice. Why of all the shadows it could have been did it have to be his? “Kendrick?”

The shadow turned its featureless face toward me. There was no smile there but I could hear it in his voice. “Hi there sweetheart, that was a wild ride.”

“Why are you here?”

Kendrick’s shadow held up his wrist and shook it about. “I promised our Goddess that I would help you get where you need to be and to ensure that I do she bound us together. Cassie might be one hell of a potion-brewer but even her gifts are nothing compared to a Goddess’ power.” He let out an exaggerated sigh before continuing. “Still, after so many years, I am a little insulted that our fine Lady felt the need to go to these extremes. You would think she doesn’t trust me.”

“Nobody trusts you,” I snapped back as I climbed to my feet. “Not even Jitta and I’m pretty sure she’s in love with you.”

“Ahh, but who can blame her? I am one hell of a catch. I’m afraid she’s barking up the wrong tree, though.”

“Yeah, no shit,” I mumbled as I dusted off my pants.

I turned in a circle, ensuring the room was as bare as I’d initially thought. I was right, it was nothing but an enormous lavatory. I eyed the stinking holes with another layer of disgust. The sheer lack of privacy was enough to turn my stomach. Even as an old farmhand, I didn’t like pooping with company so close we could knock knees. There was something very wrong about that.

“Come on, we have to find the others,” I said.

I marched toward the door, using my Blindsense to check the hall outside was clear before taking that final step.

“Hang on, aren’t you forgetting something?” Kendrick asked me.

I turned on him, my brows dipped low as my muddled mind tried to make sense of what he meant. Kendrick sighed and bent to grip the hilt of my sword, pulling it from its place in the ground like some ancient hero proclaiming himself a king. He marched over and handed me the blade without a word.

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

“I love this. Going on missions with Sasye and Captain Fluffers all the time leaves me with no one to talk to.”

“Take a page from their book and shut up would you? We’re trying to be stealthy.”

Kendrick snorted and muttered, “Lead the way, Superstar.”

From the end of the hall, I could sense the presence of other beings. My Blindsense didn’t offer me a color to judge their intentions, leaving me, well… blind. Is that irony? I can never tell the difference between that and coincidence.

We crept closer and suddenly the string of guttural noises formed themselves into words I could understand.

“I bet fifty korens on team Tor.”

“You’re a fool, Grack. Team Deld has the upper hand.”

“Yeah, you think so? Well, how about you put your money where your mouth is.”