No one else had been able to see the path at first, but Wyatt was able to share it, like Regan could with her Navigator screen.

It came from his Analyzer skill, though it wasn’t dependent on mode or permutation. Even if he wasn’t using the skill at all, the path was still there.

He wasn’t sure how he knew what was allowing him to see it. It was intuitive, like so many of the other changes that had been made to them.

“What do you think it means?” Jack asked.

“Quest?” Brandon suggested.

“We should follow it,” Emma said, an odd tone to her voice.

Wyatt frowned at her. “Why?”

She didn't answer for a long moment, then looked at him, snapping out of it. “It’s a fucking glowing path. What else would it be for? And Checky hasn't misled us so far.”

The little creature seemed like it had been able to see the path even before Wyatt shared it, and had gesticulated wildly, indicating they should follow it.

Well, that Wyatt should, at least. When Jasmine had taken a step toward it the monster had leapt in front of her and waved its arms frantically.

Which didn’t give Wyatt a good feeling about what he’d find at the end of it.

“Okay,” Wyatt said, refraining from clapping to get everyone’s attention. “I’ll follow it and—”

“I’m coming with you,” Bailey interrupted.

Wyatt wondered why she wanted to go with him, but she had that look she got sometimes. Arguing with her would just leave him frustrated. And he didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t come. She wasn’t annoying to be with like some people. She didn’t always try to fill every silence.

“Right. Bailey and I will follow it to see what’s at the end of the rainbow. I think Lena and Patrick can hold things down here. Any objections?”

“You’re just going to leave us?” Faith asked.

“Lena and Patrick will be here. Emma too. And Carlos is a crack shot with that crossbow.”

Carlos beamed.

“Don’t go stroking his ego,” Maria said. “Goes straight to his head.” She tilted her own. “Then again, it could do with being a bit bigger.”

“Hey!” he complained. “And I practiced for years. Of course I’m good with it.”

“Your head? Not that I’ve seen. Either of them.”

Carlos glared at his wife, who only grinned back.

“The shrine is fully charged,” Wyatt went on. “If monsters come, the rest of you stay near the sacellum while Emma, Lena, and Patrick handle them. Carlos can shoot any if they get close.”

“I’m still bloody concussed,” Patrick complained.

“I’ve already healed you,” Camila said. “You’re fine.”

Patrick grumbled something under his breath.

Wyatt could still see the yellow brain icon on Patrick, but didn’t point this out.

“It will also give us the chance to test the range of Regan’s skill and the bag of holding,” Wyatt said.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Which you’re taking with you,” Kevin groused.

Wyatt ignored him. “A few of you should start counting in your head as soon as we leave, try putting things into and out of the bag, then let me know how many seconds you were able to do so when we get back. I’ll keep count too.”

They’d gone eight-hundred steps last time, so they’d go at least a thousand this time. Unless the path led them to monsters before that.

No one objected, so Wyatt smiled at Bailey. “Let’s see how deep this rabbit hole goes.”

Wyatt had shown her The Matrix on their third date, and it had become one of her favorite movies. But for some reason quoting it now made her glare at him, then stalk off, following the glowing path.

Wyatt shrugged, then looked at the others. “Start counting in three, two, one…”

He headed off, following after Bailey.

🞠

The glowing path out of the clearing led in the same direction as the space elevator or whatever that spiral in the sky was.

It was too far away to reach in any reasonable amount of time.

Or so it seemed. But maybe it was like the opposite of the pyramid, appearing farther away than it really was, rather than closer.

Maybe that’s what this path was leading them to.

When Wyatt looked at the spiral, he got a similar sensation as he did with monster corpses: like there was something there, an urge to do… something.

With the monsters, it had been their orbs.

With this? He didn’t know what it was.

“Worried about ambushes?” Bailey asked as he glanced up through the jungle canopy again. It was the first time she’d spoken since leaving the team.

“No. But yes. The spiral. I can see it through the trees.”

She looked up. “So you can. Pondering what it might be?”

Even Wyatt could tell her tone was sarcastic. Why, though, he had no idea, so he simply nodded.

She sighed from beside him.

He checked the bag of holding interface. Still no change. He had stopped seeing its contents change two-hundred and thirty seconds after leaving the clearing.

But the path led away from the clearing in a meandering line through the jungle, so he couldn’t say exactly how far that was.

The monster list from Regan’s Navigator skill had blinked away after only twenty-nine seconds, and the path had been much straighter at first, which put the range right around a hundred and thirty feet.

Or perhaps 128, the same as the range of his Debuffer skill. Debuffer was D-Grade whereas Bailey’s skill was—he assumed—E-Grade. So did that mean range didn’t increase as skills ranked up, or did Debuffer start out with a lower range? Perhaps sixty-four feet?

He wondered about the powers of two. Lots of things seemed to be using it, like their time remaining and the number of monsters, but not everything. Rarity, for instance. Quintessence and mutagen capacity for another.

They walked in silence, following the meandering glowing path through the jungle.

“Where do you think this is leading us?” Bailey asked after another few minutes of walking.

Wyatt thought about how the pyramid had been designed: the hidden room, the hidden treasure, the whole place collapsing after leaving the area with the key to Quetzalcoatl’s chamber.

Was this leading them to another boss fight? Would there be a way past it without fighting like there had been for Quetzalcoatl?

“Wyatt?”

He shrugged. “Probably somewhere dangerous.”

🞠

When they reached the end of the path a few minutes later, he was proven right.

The path ended not at the spiral in the sky, but terminated at a large field: barren loamish soil ringed by dead trees.

Barren in plant life, anyway.

Standing on the field, facing them, was a horde of ahuitzotl.

Like they’d been waiting for just this moment.

Bailey took in a hitching breath from beside him. Most people would have panicked, but she just let out a muttered, “Shit.”

It was why he’d liked her. The two of them had met in a nasty bike crash on campus, and her calm demeaner in the situation despite the blood flowing from her brow, lip, and leg had immediately intrigued him.

That and her looks.

Wyatt nodded in agreement with her sentiment.

Thanks to the reactive mode of Perceive, which he’d activated the moment he’d seen the monsters, he didn’t even have to look at the monsters’ nameplates to know their levels, nor how many there were. Twenty-nine, mostly level 3 and 4. But two weren’t, and large flashing reticles drew his attention to these.

Not that he would have missed them without it. They were bigger than the others, the size of a grizzly instead of a black bear, though less bulky than those animals.

The humans and monsters stood, staring at one another.

“I think this is too many for us alone,” Wyatt whispered. “We should probably try to run. I’ll use my mantle to get us out of here. You ready?”

She gave an unenthusiastic shrug. “I guess.” Her eyes flashed with purple light, and then everything about her changed.

Wyatt thought he could actually feel it this time. Like a different person was standing next to him.

Her entire demeanor morphed, becoming aggressive, hostile. She let out an actual growl, then bolted off toward the monsters.

Wyatt sighed. Well, at least she didn’t try to murder me.