“I can’t believe someone already cleared the Source Boss.”

“I can. We were held in that stupid group challenge for a whole month! A third of The Incubator has already passed!”

“Don’t exaggerate Mika, its been two weeks since we got out, so barely three months have passed in total. We still have plenty of time left, and now we don’t even have to worry about the first boss. I’m sure there will be even better stuff in the next dimension, and now we have a free ticket.”

Mika rolled her eyes before crossing her arms over a thick breastplate.

“Yeah I guess… But are you sure we’re even going the right way Jas? We’ll never get to the next dimension if we can’t find the jump point.”

Jas tucked a strand of brown hair behind her caramel colored ear. She pulled a small book from her waistband and threw a glance around the dark woods they were currently traversing.

“I’m pretty sure we are. That fat guy I talked to seemed to think it was the truth.” She said with a note of certainty.

Mika blew out a heavy sigh and shifted in her heavy, dark armor.

“Just say you tortured him! Why do you always have to make it sound all uninteresting and lame? I suppose you’re going to say you also gave him a nice little pat on the head too? You practically popped his head like a zit!” She animatedly explained.

Jas just gave her a shrug and clicked her tongue.

“I’m allowed to call it whatever I want. He’s dead I’m alive. The living get to tell the story.” She boldly claimed.

“You always say that too! Every single time I bring it up! Just say you killed him like any self-respecting shaper wou-”

Jas’s hand shot in front of her sister’s face, cutting her off. Mika was about to complain further, but the other girl quickly pointed at something on a nearby tree. She reached for the broadsword strapped to her back, but the shorter sister waved her off, moving toward the abnormality. Mika followed, soon discovering why Jas had stopped her.

The giant trunk of the tree was covered in what looked like animal scratches.

The phenomenon wasn’t too uncommon, as many monsters roamed the woods, hunting. The weird thing about these marks were that they seemed more deliberate than random. Deep grooves were carved into the trunk in a foreign pattern. As Jas inspected the grooves, she identified that it was some sort of language, but as to which one was unknown to her.

She silently signaled to her sister, telling her to stay quiet and follow her. The two sisters trekked further into the woods, finding a series of other marked trees, as well as some stumps that were clearly cleaved through purposefully. Minutes passed, but they still couldn’t find any source of the marks, nor any clues to where the fallen trees had gone.

Finally, the two approached the wood line where the dim light of the evening streamed through the thinning trees. They halted on the edge, not yet emerging from the forest.

“Is that the jump point?” Mika mouthed.

“I think so.” Jas replied.

They were both looking at a large cliff face that had been hidden from view due to the thick canopy. There was a rather small entrance just sitting indiscriminately at the side of the small clearing, barely protruding from the rocky surface.

The entrance was indistinguishable from other challenges, so the two sisters were still unsure if they had reached the right spot. After another moment of inspecting the surroundings, the two shapers shared a nod, readying their weapons before leaving the tree line.

Mika activated one of her search abilities, only to find that there was no life forms hiding in the area.

“Alright, its clear.” She said while visibly relaxing.

Jas relaxed slightly as well, but didn’t lose her vigilance. Her sister’s detection ability had reached tier four recently, so she had a good level of trust in her findings.

“You think someone marked the trees like that to point people in the way of the jump point?” Mika asked after seeing Jas relax.

“Not sure. I don’t get why someone would do that, but I’m pretty sure this is the spot. The dead guy said the jump point was inside a cave.” Jas stated.

The two did not instantly head towards the entrance though, as the whole reason they had lasted so long in The Incubator was because of their caution and communication. So instead, they begun examining the area, checking for any clues or possible traps.

Although they had only placed in the top twenty of the group challenge, the two were no slouches when it came to combat either. The main reason they fell behind in the end was because duels could only be taken one on one. The sisters were five times more efficient when they were paired together, so the volatile change in placement at the end came down to a matter of a challenge that didn’t correlate to their strengths.

As they finally reached a point of measurable safety, the two met back up in front of the entrance. By now the evening light was all but gone, so the two sisters ignited a lamp that one of them had taken from their caches.

“I think we’re in the clear. Challenge areas can’t be screwed with on the inside, and I don’t see anything out here.” Jas confirmed.

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The marks and missing trees still bothered her to an extent, but at this point, anything that happened in the woods was not their concern unless they decided to return to the first dimension for some reason in the future. Just to be one hundred percent safe though, Jas told her sister to stay put while she scouted the cave. Mika grumbled impatiently but didn’t say anything.

Withdrawing another lamp from her cache, Jas left the other with Mika and skulked into the cave. After only a few minutes of walking, the cavern expanded to reveal a large metal platform sitting under a ceiling of sparkling pink and green crystals. As she made her way over to the platform, she gazed at the pretty ceiling that reminded her of the glorious jewel fields from her home.

Mika’s going to like this. She thought absently.

The only issue was the smell. It seemed that whatever boss had been in the cavern beforehand had truly called the cave home, as there was large piles of excrement and foul smelling puddles around the rocky floor.

Eventually, she reached the platform, but was puzzled to find an absence of the familiar shimmer of a portal. The platform itself was completely smooth, save a square area in the center that was wrought of thick logs.

Wait a minute.

Jas crouched over the logs, focusing her senses toward the mismatched area. Soon enough, she let out a sigh of annoyance as she realized what had happened.

“Null’s sake, this is just ridiculous.” She muttered.

It turned out that the platform was some kind of chute, and the jump point was most likely waiting at the bottom, beneath the large pile of timber. Who or whatever had been carving up trees in the woods seemed to have filled up the chute in an effort to stop others from using the jump point.

“What a waste of energy.” Jas criticized.

Mika can smash this to bits, I’ll just let her handle this. She thought before turning on her heel, away from the pit.

She was sure there were no other surprises, as the timber was unperturbed and she didn’t sense any traces of energy left on them. Her confidence swelling, Jas made her way back to the cave entrance, thinking about what to expect in the next dimension.

“Hey Mika! It looks like some dumbass blocked the entrance! Come here and help me out!” She hollered.

She waited a few moments, but heard no answer.

Ugh, what the hell is that girl doing?

Jas turned the corner to where Mika was supposed to be stationed, only to find a hunched over figure.

“Dammit Mika, are you seriously slacking off right now?” Jas questioned with annoyance.

It was too dark to see her sister, and the lamp she left behind was no where to be found, so Jas hefted her own and shone it toward the figure.

In the place her sister was supposed to be resting, there instead sat a dirty animal, covered in splatters of black goo and dirt. The creature seemed to be crouched over something, although Jas still couldn’t see what because of its position in front of her line of sight.

That’s when the smell hit her. The air reeked with the scent of fresh blood.

Suddenly, as the light hit the figure, it twisted around to face Jas. The color drained from Jas’s face as she finally got a good look at the thing sitting beneath the animal.

It was Mika.

Her sister’s body was totally ravaged, with huge holes laced throughout her chest. A lump of darkness festered on her thigh, the entire leg below it completely missing. Her eyes had also been gouged out, leaving behind nothing but a look of frozen horror on Mika’s face.

“No…” She muttered, tears threatening to burst from her eyes.

How? The only monsters around here are tiers twos and the occasional tier three!

Jas instinctively drew her staff and fought through the tears to analyze the creature that seemed to have murdered her sister. It looked to be some sort of hound, as she could finally see that the creature had caked silver fur, and pointy ears. It’s fangs were also crude and twisted, and to add to its grisly visage, the eyes were bloodshot and glazed as if the creature were already dead.

“Repulsive creature!” She couldn’t help but shout in disgust.

She began to chant, determined to destroy the horrible monster that sat before her.

“Secrets of all that is pure and holy, rain down upon this most repugnant ge-”

“That was easier than I thought.”

Jas’s chant was cut short as a low voice cut through the air like a knife.

“You know, in books they really make the main character’s first kill a huge event.”

Jas took an involuntary step backward, her previous rage stolen away.

The monster can talk! She shrieked in fear. No… That’s not a monster.

The figure raised itself off the ground, standing on two legs with a slight slouch in its posture. Finally, Jas could see that the fur she had seen before was nothing more than some sort of hooded cloak, and below the snout was the face of man that looked slightly younger than herself. His sharp features were speckled in crimson blood, further skewed by the wicked grin that stretched across his face. The young shaper seemed to be talking to himself, his hidden eyes not even focused on the remaining sister.

“Where’s the wave of remorse? Or the cold reflection upon my old world’s morals?”

As the man continued to mutter to himself, Jas finally regained some of her wits. Flicking her eyes towards an item on her belt, she slowly began reaching for a grey cylinder that quite possibly held her salvation. She didn’t know how powerful the newcomer was, but the fact he had been able to beat Mika told Jas he must be a tier four. As long as he was a tier four though, she was confident that the item she had would surely kill him.

As her fingers brushed against the cool steel of the treasure, Jas glanced back up at the man, only to find that he was gone.

She let out a terrified gasp and spun around in circles, searching the dark for her sister’s murderer. Her fear felt almost paralyzing, so much so that Jas couldn’t even formulate a proper defensive strategy or activate any of her abilities. Death loomed over her like a godly fist, leaving her feeling completely exposed and vulnerable.

Then, as if a shotgun had been shoved against her stomach, Jas’s innards exploded outward, showering the cavern in gore. The attack had been so abrupt that her mind couldn’t even catch up with the horrible agony that ripped through her body.

Her eyes bulged outward as the blood vessels burst, filling the milk white of her sclera with crimson red. Her body shuddered, and she looked down to find a clawed hand protruding from her abdomen. In itself, it was not a fatal blow, but the shock of the attack overruled any counter that Jas might have been able to offer. She watched in mute horror as the void black claws tipped with white withdrew from her body, leaving a similarly sized hole that Mika’s body was riddled with.

Jas’s body involuntarily released a gasp, but it instead came out as a strange gurgle. Her hand shakily rose toward her throat, discovering a thin, black blade sticking out from just above her collarbone. She hadn’t even felt the ruthless stab to the neck, but she knew it was no illusion, as she could feel the life draining from her body.

Shortly after, a strong hand grabbed her by the hair. She screamed internally, her survival instincts finally kicking in. Random abilities were thrown around, blasting holes in the side of the cavern. Jas squirmed around under the grip of the unknown assailant, attempting to find any way to make him release her. Finally, she remembered the cylinder on her hip, and with renewed hope, she fumbled around with her belt, trying to feel for the item.

But her efforts were for naught, as the mumbling man yanked her head forward, ripping out the black blade and burying it into the back of her head. Jas’s weight drooped forward, her body going slack. The clawed hand released her hair, causing her body to slap against the cavern floor in a wet mess.

“Still nothing, huh? I guess I’m just not the remorseful type.”