For the first time in years, Serena thinks about the Namalion heist. When her team accepted the mission, they thought it’d be an in-and-out thing. Distract the guards, sneak-in, and profit. Desperate for food in their bellies, they needed the coin and wanted to ruin a rich person’s day. They didn’t care if they walked into the middle of some moneybags’ pissing contest.

That’s getting too far into the weeds though. Where was she going with this? Oh, the stupid number of traps they had to work around. As with the heist, the group has someone to spot the dangerous parts to walk on. Unfortunately, there are a lot of them. Serena bites back a curse as Elle has to redirect them away from an exploding booby-trap.

She finds it hard enough to keep her ears and eyes constantly pricked for danger with so many buildings around them, but it’s another thing to keep an eye on the entire group. Sanu and Thermal can’t move fast and stealthily, so they end up sneaking around at a snail’s pace. Bless her heart, Elle is slightly better, but Serena can’t help but be worried about the rift-diver’s aura. She must be steadily draining it by sensing the space around them.

With the tree’s blue light shining from their left, they make their way towards the nearest wall, hoping to find an exit of any kind. As they approach the wall, Serena notices that they’re gradually losing their cover as fewer buildings shielded them.

Elle stops. Pointing to a shop, she whispers, “Someone’s watching us from behind that corner.”

The hairs on the back of her neck rise. She turns her head but only sees an empty street stretching into darkness. Thermal freezes. “A person is following us? Are they watching us?”

“I think so… They’re not moving.” Elle frowns, squinting into the darkness. “Hmm, I remember that one of our theories talked about Bleck’s group being taken by an undead being. Not sure if we want to confront them or not.”

Sanu shakes his head. “No way, someone benign wouldn’t be following us around without saying anything. We should go and figure out what’s going on.”

Since they don’t want to yell, the group exchanges glances and slowly makes their way towards the figure. Once they walk about ten paces, Elle informs them that the person has moved farther back onto campus. If they follow, the group will probably be led on a wild-goose chase or lured into a trap. They reluctantly back away and return the edge of the campus.

The pavement suddenly ends as if the campus had been plopped down on the cavern. With the high ceiling, the blue light from the tree can’t reach the tallest edges of the rocky walls, leaving no hint of a reachable exit. About twenty-five paces of rough ground stands between them and the walls. Serena whispers, “Let’s stick to the buildings and walk around. I don’t us to be completely in the open.”

As they move farther from the tree, Elle starts to slow down, focused on the ground. When Sanu taps her on the shoulder impatiently, she flinches and tells them, “There’s a tunnel beneath us close by.” She gestures towards a chapel. “Entrance is over there.”

The grey shingles of the chapel’s roof can be seen clearly above the lecture halls and residences. Like the Temple of Eurimas, the chapel looks to be one of the tallest buildings in the city, serving as a local landmark. Even from this distance, Serena can tell that its construction probably costs more than what’s she earned her whole life.

Elle whips around to her left, raising her javelin. “Wolves over there.”

Serena tugs at her arm, moving quicker towards the chapel. “Let’s jog as quiet as we can.” She sets the pace, feet light as a breeze. Elle manages to keep up with her, lithe legs almost gliding across the pavement. Serena thinks the rift-diver must run regularly judging from her grace. Thermal follows not too far behind, his breaths growing heavy.

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She hears Sanu curse and then a loud thud. Serena looks back to see him on the ground with a hook around his leg. Its metal claws dig into his skin which glows faintly green as his aura strains to protect him. Attached to the hook, a steel chain leads back to a man with unnaturally long limbs.

He stands hunched, eyes glowing like a cat in the dark. Greasy, black hair hang tangled over his shoulders. In one hand, he holds the chain. In the other, he bares claws sharper than any bear in the wild. Even from here, Serena can smell the sickly-sweet scent of the undead on him. The man grins, showing his gums and huge teeth.

She throws a knife at him and dashes toward Sanu. He ducks to the side and yanks on his chain. Sanu yelps as his face hits every bump on the street.

Thermal shoots searing rays at him. One manages to glance off the stranger’s shoulder. The man blocks the rest with his claws.

Elle lifts her javelin. It disappears and reappears, flying out of the portal she summoned. It ricochets off the man’s aura. He stumbles back from the force. The chain slackens for a moment in his grasp. Sanu twists around and tries to break the chain. Sparks fly from his axe.

Five wolves charge out of the darkness, ignoring Sanu on the ground. Thermal throws more magic rays at them. Two catch them on their snouts. Some scorch their flanks while others go wide.

The stranger dashes forward and tackles Sanu. Instead of just slashing at the healer, the man grabs Sanu’s throat and bites down on his shoulder. Sanu’s aura glows bright green; he kicks at the man.

Serena gathers her aura into a ball and creates a solid clone of herself. She commands it to fire arrows at the wolves while she leaps at the stranger. The man refuses to let go of Sanu even as she hacks away at his aura. He holds onto the healer’s body with a supernaturally tight grip.

Elle’s javelin pierces straight through one of the wolves. She stabs another one through the eye with enhanced arm strength, killing it instantly. “Serena, we need to run!”

Serena doesn’t abandon her teammates. Not even when Kilene was stupid enough to mouth off at a gang leader. Not even when Temult stole the Reverent Chalice of Kindroke which they were warned not to touch. She slashes the stranger’s arms; her eyes widen at the increasing toughness of his aura. Why aren’t her attacks lowering it?

Thermal’s chanting gets louder, and three of the wolves burst into flames. He coughs, his voice clearly strained. “Serena!”

Sanu finally goes limp; the green glow of his aura disappears. The man lets go of the healer’s throat and lunges towards Serena. Years of trained reflexes kick into action; she dodges and rolls away from them. He stumbles and rises again; his claws reach towards her.

Serena glances at Sanu behind him. Can she grab the healer and run? She tries to dash around the stranger. He grabs her arm with frightening speed. Serena struggles against him but can’t get out of his grip. The man bites down on her arm.

Her aura drains out of her into his mouth. She feels herself get weaker and weaker. Serena uses her free arm to stab at him. He catches her other arm too. The man stinks of death, death, death.

Her heart thunders in her chest. No way, he can eat aura? How the hell are they going to survive this? She needs to tell Thermal and Elle to run.

The man’s grip suddenly slackens. Serena feels herself pulled out of his grasp; she stumbles into Elle’s arms. The rift-diver drags her away and mutters, “What the fuck?! What the fuck!”

The man recovers from whatever stopped him, snarling at the two. He charges forward again, but Thermal hits him with a searing ray. With most of the wolves dead, the mage starts running towards the chapel again. “We should leave!”

Serena shudders. Sorry, Sanu. She grabs Elle and pulls her forward into a sprint. The man tries to swipe at them again, but Elle drops her bowling ball on him. With each passing street block, the distance between them grows. By the time they slam the door behind them in chapel, they can’t see him anymore.

Elle leans against the wall beside Serena, gasping for breath. “At least that guy is slow. Can’t win at everything, right?”