His thoughts crumbled, and he was only distantly aware of himself seizing on the floor, knocking and breaking the corpses around and under him.

A moment later, he was back into himself, and with a pounding headache to boot.

“Are you okay?” Jul asked him

Her hands rushed over him, trying to remove whatever it was that had trapped him.

“Wha-What happened?” he stammered.

His heart was going like crazy and everything was still spasming.

“Something attacked us!” she said. “It threw something at you, some kind of wires, and then they lit up blue! You took damage!”

He checked his HP and saw that she was right. He was down to 193.

“I-I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything.”

The tips of his fingers tingled, and there was a strange smell in the air, coming from the wires that trapped him.

“Hold on!”

She grabbed a handful of the wires and started swaying at them with two knives.

“It’s really strong,” she said, as she slowly cut through. “How are you feeling?”

“My head feels like it's going to explode… But I think I’m alright.”

With a snap, the wires suddenly broke in two in her hand, and the two of them pushed the wires away from him.

“How do you stop something like that?” Nar asked, feeling the wires with his hand.

Jul patted his shoulder. “Come look at the thing.”

She helped him up and guided him to their enemy.

His first thought was that it was a guardian, but it immediately became obvious that it was something else.

“It was right there, but I didn’t see it,” Jul said. “I think it was invisible. Like me.”

Nar poked it with his sword. When nothing happened, he kneeled next to it to have a closer look.

A bulbous body, six sharp legs, and what was probably a head. It was smooth and the body was warm to the touch, though the legs themselves were cold. The whole thing was probably about half his size.

“It has a mouth,” Jul said, between horrified and disgusted. “What is this thing?”

It did indeed seem to have a mouth. It was from it that the wires came out of.

“What did it say on the report?”

“Oh. There was none,” she said, suddenly realizing it.

“No experience?”

“Nothing.”

No kill report. No experience. Invisible and with an attack we can’t avoid. Crystal. You never make it easy.

A series of pings sounded in his mind.

“It’s Kur,” Jul said. “They must have seen you take damage. I’ll tell them we’re okay, and that we’re heading back.”

Nar nodded. “Hopefully, we won’t find another of these things on the way back.”

“Yeah…”

Nar stood up, and considered the broken thing that had attacked them.

“Let’s bring it to the others,” Nar said. “I think they should see it.”

Jul nodded. “I really hope it’s the only one.”

Nar considered the corpses that surrounded them.

He doubted that.

He doubted that very much.

*********

Nar dumped the thing at Kur’s feet. It was surprisingly light.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is that?” he said, taking a step back. “And what happened, we saw your HP go down.”

“It attacked us,” Jul said. “And I couldn’t see it.”

“You what?” Mul asked.

“Me neither,” Nar said. “And it was right in front of us. I think it has the same skill as Jul.”

“[Stealth]?” Kur asked.

Jul nodded.

“Are you telling me this place is infested with these invisible things?” Mul asked. “That’s just great. Thank You, Crystal. Thank You!”

“Mul!”

“What else is It going to do?” Mul asked, exasperated, waving his hands towards the ceiling. “Throw a giant machine at us? Oh wait? It’s already fucking done that!”

“Please don’t say that,” Tuk said. “Oh, Crystal forgive us, sinners. We…”

“Enough, enough,” Kur said, waving them all to silence.

“It had no kill report and no experience either,” Jul said.

“I take it back,” Mul muttered. “It got worse”

“And it threw these wires at me, from its mouth,” Nar explained, pointing at the ugly thing. “I couldn’t do anything. They wrapped around me, and next thing I knew, I was out, twitching on the floor. There was nothing I could do.”

“Oh, Crystal who lieth within, in the most sacred of places,” Tuk whispered. “The Inside-Nexus, the…”

“Tuk, stopped it,” Gad said. “And what do you mean you were knocked out? Did you get a status effect?”

“I don’t know. It all happened so fast. I couldn’t even think!”

“There was something,” Jul said. “But it disappeared just as I checked his status.”

“So, there was something,” Gad said, rubbing her chin.

Cen kneeled down next to the thing and examined it.

“This is going to complicate things,” Kur said.

Mul grunted, biting down his tongue to keep quiet.

“How long were you out?” Gad asked.

“A few seconds,” Jul replied for Nar. “It stopped doing whatever it was before I got to it.”

“So we don’t even know for how long it can do it. It probably just stopped to fight you,” Kur said, looking down at the thing while Cen tinkered with it.

“Or if it just meant to knock you out, or kill you,” Gad added. “Or maybe even to capture you.”

Tuk sighed heavily. He was probably furiously praying in his mind.

Rel came forward, and helped Cen with whatever it was that she was doing to the thing.

“Thanks,” Cen said. “I think it needs two pairs of hands. On 3?

“What are you doing?” Mul asked, finally realizing what his sister was doing. “Don’t touch that thing!”

“Relax. It’s dead. 1. 2. 3. I just want to… Woah.”

A bright, light blue light shone from inside the thing, brightening their faces.

“What is that?” Nar whispered.

The light was soft. Comforting even. It made him feel happy. At ease.

“I don’t know, but there’s something shining in there…” Cen said, in a dreamy voice.

She reached a hand inside. “Ugh… I can’t get it.”

“Wait,” Gad said, stopping her. “Let me do it.”

“Oh… Okay?” Cen said, looking up in surprise.

She moved to give Gad the space, and the tank kneeled down, leaning towards the floor to have a better look inside the thing that had attacked them.

“Oh, I see it,” she said.

She reached in, slowly.

“Hold on, it’s stuck. Maybe if I… Aha!”

She took her hand out, cautiously, and with it, came the source of the light.

“Oh, my Crystal!” Tuk whispered.

It was a little blue, shining tube, about the length of Nar’s hand. It glowed with a blue light that had hints of blue-gray.

Mul reached a hand for it. “Is that…”

“Yes,” Rel whispered. “I remember seeing those things in the pile. My Crystal…”

“They were all broken though,” Gad said. “This one isn’t.”

Nar had no idea what they were talking about. He had never been in the pile. He had skipped it. But there was only one thing that ended up on the pile.

“Aetherium,” Kur whispered.

“And aether…” Cen said.

Nar swallowed hard. His mind had gone blank.

“It’s real,” Mul said. “Holy fucking shit… It’s real real!”

“I can’t believe it,” Cen said. “It really was real.”

They stepped forward, eager, gathering up around Gad.

The System had confirmed it to them, but that was nothing compared to seeing it shining in their eyes, casting grim shadows across their faces. All they saw was the aether, the bright, softly, blue and grayish glowing aether.

It’s right here… Nar thought, his mind struggling to come up with any semblance of coherence. It’s right… My… It’s… Real… Here…

“Gad! Put it back! Quick!” Kur hissed.

“Why?” Nar asked, staring at Kur as though he had lost his mind.

“It’s aetherium!” Kur said. “Have you forgotten it's poisonous?”

“Oh…” Gad said, her eyes widening.

“Put it back!”

They all stumbled back and Gad dropped down, and shoved the glowing tube back inside the thing.

“Close it!” Kur said. “We don’t know how safe that thing is! It could be damaged! Everyone stay away from it.”

“But it's aether!” Tuk protested.

“And? What are you going to do?” Kur asked him. “Lick it? Swallow it? Wake up! This is not how we gain [Aether]! It has to come through the System!”

Nar blinked at his words and his brain resumed proper function.

Kur was right.

He noticed how his hands had curled into fists and forced them to relax.

“Come on, stay away from that thing. Let’s go this way!”

Kur moved them away from the broken thing, and still somewhat reluctantly, they walked further down the gray arrow path.

Eventually, Kur stopped.

“Kur?” Gad called him.

Kur paced back and forth, covering his mouth and frowning deeply.

“I made a mistake. We’re not supposed to be here,” he said, stopping. “This place. The bodies. And now this? Invisible magic wielding enemies?”

“We can’t go back now,” Cen said. “The yellow arrows will be gone.”

“I’m sorry,” Kur said, his expression grim.

“We’re here now,” Nar said. “No point in regretting about this now.”

“He’s right,” Rel added. “And we all agreed to come in here, Kur. This was not your decision alone.”

“It was still my suggestion...”

“Come on, let’s not panic,” Gad said. “We don’t know how long we’ll be in here, or how many of those things are there. At least now we know they’re here. We will be more careful. We’ll be prepared.”

“We can’t see them, though?” Jul said.

“Like I said, we'll be more careful,” Gad said. “We’re not blind to the danger anymore.”

Kur stared at the gray arrow at their feet. “So, we keep going?”

“We keep going,” Gad said, nodding. “The only way forward is forward. It has never been easy, and we shouldn’t expect it to. Ending in sight or not.”

Kur passed a hand over his face, looking away from them. He took a deep breath and straightened his back.

“You’re right,” he said, turning back around to face them. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I… I panicked.”

“This one’s not on you,” Mul said.

Kur snorted. “Thanks.”

“But if we die, I’m sticking to you in the Waiting Dark. For all eternity,” the brawler added.

“Lovely,” Kur muttered, as a few chuckles made the rounds around the party. “Alright, alright. Let’s just keep going. Keep your eyes open! Pay attention to everything. They could be anywhere.”