Four of us travel to Gene's old shadow lair in Gene's realm. Our method of transportation is flight. Clone Gene carries me as a wyvern, Bones flies himself, and Gene flies Lana and Remny. We conquer mountains in seconds, only slowing down when we reach the lair.

The cavern is precisely as I remember it — dark. Our travel through the low light is still fast. I again ride on the back of Clone Gene in wolf form, and Lana and Remny ride on regular Gene. Bones is unsummoned. I'll summon him once we reach the nexus. My companion didn't like the idea. He even tried creating some bone mounts, only for them to crumble seconds later. He says it's a shadow interference problem.

Gene navigates through the winding tunnels at dangerous speeds. We pass through the ransacked village and arrive at the nexus without a problem. Gene inspects the nexus and then has me create a portal.

With little affair, our party of five — a light cleric, death bard, shadow shaman, shadow rogue, and a drifter — step into the Greater Shadow Realm. Clone Gene leads us through the portal in her wolf form. From here on out, she will remain in her beast form to conceal her identity. I don't think it will work. Draxxo smelled my association with his ex as soon as he saw me. Of course, he could have been putting on an act and got lucky with his inference or perception guesses. Gene is confident, and that is enough.

"This is not good," Gene says as I enter the new realm. We are not in a dusky landscape covered in a shadow haze. The sky is clear for one, and the land is bright — almost sparkling. Neither are we in a crater or surrounded by mountains. We are on a farm and near a small town. One by one, the rest of our party arrives, each displaying amazement; Remny looks dreadful, much like her grandma.

"Granny, I thought you checked the nexus."

"I did. Nothing was out of place. It looked fine." Gene looks around, quickly coming to a decision. "Everyone back through the portal. We must leave now." We all turn to leave, following the wolf's command. Lana is closest to the shadow nexus. Her hand reaches up as if to part the path before her. The portal collapses.

"Shit." I'm not sure if it's Gene or Remny who curses under their breath. Both look to be the culprit.

"What's going on?" Asks Bones. "What's wrong? We are here, aren't we? Where's Draxxo?"

"Quiet," Remny snaps.

"No one is to speak his name here, not even whisper it. Jim, can you link us?" I do as Gene requests. The tension around us is thick. As Gene lowers her profile to hide within the crop, we all do the same without further questions. A breath later, we are in Gene's shadow, and she is leading us through the crops away from the town. It takes another three miles before we cross some rolling hills and find the cover of trees.

We can talk here. Gene breaks our communication silence. Her wolf eyes investigate the forest thoroughly, her nose sniffing, and her ears are alert. Gene keeps her body low to the ground, even in her shadow. We are not in the Greater Shadow Realm. We are not even in the neighboring realm. Somehow we ended up in Mithland.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Mithland, says Lana. Her thought tinges with a blend of wonder as if the word itself is full of mysteries. I thought it was just a place of legend. Speculation to explain the arrival of bugbears. Are we in their home realm? Lana is great. I appreciate her questions, but I don't think she knows who she's asking. I debate pulling up a chair, but decide on information extraction instead.

The Greater Shadow Realm, called Shadow here, is connected to three other realms: The Forsaken, Wilds, and Mithland. The four realms have always been at war, seeking power, land, and resources. Shadow became the weakest as it could not establish connections to our world, Helm, like the others.

First, the goblins in the Forsaken realm gained passage to the new world. This was only an accident, as a group of mistreated goblins sought a way to escape their people's cruelty. Not allowed into the homelands of bugbears or kobolds, the destitute goblins began tampering with portals. Eventually, they found anchors between worlds connected through threads of mana.

In the new world, they discovered they could not die — at least not in that realm. They kept the knowledge to themselves and began to flourish. Eventually, they created their own anchor point and bound their souls to it. The goblins were free of the Forsaken and had an entire continent to plunder — for a time.

Eventually, the Forsaken caught on to the goblins that abandoned them and began to look for ways to bring them back under their rule. The free goblins feared becoming less than slaves to their own people and sought aid from the Wilds in exchange for their secrets. The kobolds were eager to join forces and eventually ended with their own dungeon in Helm. Between the growing power of the goblins and kobolds, the Forsaken were forced to abandon their pursuit.

Though they were not actively seeking the destruction of the goblins and kobolds, they were doing all they could to cause problems. Secrets were shared with the bugbears, who could brute-force their way into Helm using the resources given to them through a mysterious source.

With dungeons and resources backing them, heroes of the horde began to rise in Helm. The heroes would then return home to support their people. The cruelty and power of the Forsaken allowed them to grow; likewise, heroes gave the Wilds and Mithland a chance to prosper. While it avoided much of the conflict, Shadow became too weak and is now the picking grounds of the three great powers.

Despite its weakness, Shadow fought its oppressors with desperation and ferocity. They swung big, sacrificing their resources and powerful cultivators for security, even taking out rulers in other realms. They became a common enemy, but their realm's defenses proved impenetrable due to the nature of their unique mana. Though he was just the inheritor of his realm, all other realms consider Draxxonicus to be the reason for the peril.

Gene's version included a lot more words and stories. She included battles, alliances, betrayals, and everything else that could be useful. The main thing is that Shadow is weak but safe for now. Draxxo is hated because his family's sacrifices have caused significant loss to all the other realms. If Draxxo leaves Shadow, he will be executed. In fact, no one can safely leave Shadow.

So, do you think the bugbears were trying to establish a new connection to their homeworld? Asks Lana.

Perhaps, Gene responds. Our raid on the horde might have been more vital to our survival than we understood. Still, it bothers me that I didn't notice tampering with the nexus.

So what does that mean for us? Asks Bones.

Expect to be hunted, says Gene. We will not be safe until we reach the Shadow realm. Prepare for the worst, and then make haste. We need to cross through Mithland and The Wilds, and let us hope we do not encounter Forsaken.