The three men, weary from a long cold trek, arrived at the granite outcropping exhausted and hungry. The wind now howled against the cliffside walls and dry snow swirled around the adventurers feet. Wind eroded stones towered above the men. Exposed joints reveal stress points in the cliff face. Two large stone faces parted to reveal a narrow channel receding away from the outcropping. Charlie tucked himself against the channel to protect his core from the biting winds. Warmth swirled around his feet and seemed to be coming from somewhere in the depths of the stone.

" West, Sam. It's warm here." He shouted over the winds.

The two other men worked their way into the narrow passage. They rubbed their bare hands together and blew onto them in an attempt to drive away the numbness in their fingers.

" Where do you think the warm air is coming from?" Charlie asked.

"It's possible there is a cave structure further in. The way forward looks much more narrow" West observed. " We should try to reach its source. If we remain exposed to the elements we risk losing rest and strength."

The men chose to advance deeper into the narrowing channel. Light snowflakes drifted down through the stress points in the cliff wall, but melted immediately. Sampson looked up along the cliff and could see a sliver of the dusk sky, dark and covered by dusty pink clouds. He was thankful for the warmth wherever it came from. He was uncertain what they would find when they arrived at their destination.

More monsters he thought, more interesting ways to die. Maybe a dungeon with the most horrible of creatures. Countless medusae, or flesh eating worms, acid spitting zombies. He felt his thoughts race away from him and then he remembered what happened in the corridor between the Dome of Discovery and Kelly's Hollow.

Sampson, think of something else he told himself, don't manifest horrors again for you and your team. So he thought of a warm tropical oasis, filled with freshwater lakes and tropical fruits. A place with fragrant plumeria and absolutely no monsters at all.

If I am a Rule Maker Cleric then I must have the powers to change our fate. He inched along the narrow basalt channel and continued to force himself to think of the good.

Ahead of him West and Charlie talked about their journey, and the urgency to find clothing that would protect them from the cold environment. They talked about having to return to the snowscape at daybreak.

Minutes turned into what felt like hours before the party came to a widening in the channel. It opened into a large subterranean chamber lit by bioluminescent plants. Palm trees grew along a lakebed, the tree's fronds glowed soft pink and yellows. Flowering vines climbed up the smooth walls of the cave and weaved around stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

"Would you look at this?" Charlie exclaimed. " It must be at least seventy degrees here."

"Incredible," Sampson whispered, knowing this place was a scene straight from his imagination. Knowing it was a test to see if the game heard his thoughts.

He wondered to himself, when would the medusa, worms and zombies appear? Those were the first things that came to his mind when he started to manifest. He wondered if he should tell the others this place was his creation. Maybe, he decided he should just roll with it.

"Be careful everyone," Sampson heard West say. " This level has more surprises than I'm used to, this oasis should not be here.

Charlie was starting to set up camp near the lakeshore. He carefully spread his bedroll on the soft ground and was now using his miner's hammer to clear a space for a fire pit. His tinderbox lay next to a tuft of dried moss.

" C'mon down," Charlie said, seeing Sampson and West standing near the entrance to the oasis.

Charlie struck a match from his tinderbox, when it ignited the bioluminescence blinked out momentarily. The dried moss and lichens Charlie collected burned brilliantly and hot. Soon the gathered twigs were alights as well. Charlie placed his earthenware bowl in his mess kit on the coals and heated a dried soup. He carefully measured water from his water skin into the bowl of dehydrated carrots, onions, and what he thought was dried meat.

Sampson cautiously walked around the lakeshore to where Charlie sat. Always aware that at any time his monsters might materialize. He grew more nervous with every step, always wishing to end the game, or that he had not signed up. No amount of money was worth what they had already been through or even worth what was yet to come.

" There you are Sam, took you long enough," Charlie chuckled. "I like this place."

"Yea, ist not too bad," Sampson said.

"Pull a seat up you two, break out your stews and let's relax for the night. And tell some spooky stories, maybe?" Charlie chuckled as he stirred his soup.

Sampson sat across from Charlie and prepared his meal. West busied himself with a flower he plucked from the base of a nearby palm tree.

" In all my adventures here I have never seen anything like this," West puzzled over the flower. He twirled the flower between his fingers. The delicate petals floated gracefully radiating pink then yellow bands of light.

"Well who wants to go first, who wants to start the dinner entertainment," West heard Charlie ask.

Neither Charlie nor West answered immediately, so Charlie decided to assign the first story to Sampson.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Why don't you start Sammy. I'm sure you can MANIFEST something," Charlie teased.

Sampson wasn't interested but he gave in.

" Have you ever heard of the Mothman?" Sampson started. " Well In 1940, when the first Tacoma Narrows bridge opened, the same year it collapsed in the Tacoma Narrows. In the days leading up to the collapse people reported seeing a horrible creature. Some said it was a Mothman trying to warn of impending doom. Others said it was a joke. Anyway the bridge fell and it became known as the galloping gertie.

" Boring." Charlie growled, as he took the Eye of Frosken from his backpack and rolled it in his hands.

"Whatever," Sampson replied.

The eye reflected a pale pink in the bioluminescence, the turquoise core was darker now. Charlie tossed it in the direction of Sampson who fumbled to catch it. Sampson then handed it to West.

" I don't need this thing. " He said.

West held the eye for a moment, the core started to spin erratically revealing the image of Lexi crossing a snow covered plain. Wherever she was, it was nearing twilight. She methodically moved with calculated steps. She clutched her short swords holding it defensively in front of her. She seemed to be searching to fields ahead of her for some unseen danger.

" I can see Lexi, she's in the snow fields," West said to the others.

Charlie and Sampson rushed to where West was sitting and looked into the Eye of Frosken.

"She is on the defensive," Charlie said.

"From what?" Sampson questioned.

" Likely Sleet spiders, they hunt at this time of the day. And they inhabit the fields." West added.

The men stared into the eye watching the eventual drama unfold, helpless to do anything.

***

Lexi observed the sun slowly slip below the horizon. She tried to remember what the program said about the hunting habits of the spiders in this area. It was lost to her when she watched them hunt from high atop the tree. Lexi witnessed a pack of four or five spiders, she really wasn't sure of their numbers as they took down a small wolf. Never had she seen spiders work as a team, coordinating their efforts. They reminded her of wolves hunting lambs or injured fawns. One of the sleet spiders was an alpha and issued commands to the others. The scene horrified her, as the spiders moved silently over the snow covered ground. Their movements were not graceful or quick like house spiders but more robotic and jittery. They surrounded the wolf, there was no way out for it. They rapidly closed ranks on the canine. It was then that Lexi became aware of the size and lethality of the spiders. They towered over the wolf, the alpha spider approached its victim, trapping the wolf between its long forward legs. It softly stroked the wolf with its pedipalps, sensing the fear in its prey. When the alpha spider was convinced the wolf was trapped it plunged its giant mandibles into the wolves thick furred neck instantly snapping it in two. The other spiders pounced on the body almost like hyenas shredding the carcass to the bones. When they finished all that remained was a bloody stain.

Lexi had since come across several other stains in the snow, from her calculations she was down wind of the predators. She moved slowly listening for anything unusual. She knew the pack that killed the wolf was probably not the only pack on the hunt.

"Guide map please," She whispered.

Instantly the guide map appeared in her vision screen. The snow field was void of spiders, no NPC's, no indication of her team, nothing. That did not give her solace. Something didn't feel right.

"Is this map correct? No sleet spiders anywhere on the snow field?" she asked the system.

A feminine prompt whispered back to her.

THE GUIDE MAP IS CORRECT. NO SLEET SPIDERS. YOU ARE FREE TO TRAVEL UNFETTERED

Lexi wasn't sure why she didn't trust the system, she had a gut feeling something was about to happen. It was the same feeling she had before discovering the mucus blobs.

She listened intently for anything, but heard only silence.

She continued to press forward toward the only landmark on the horizon. A wall of black rock several thousand feet high.

Cold wind buffeted her with each step she took, then she heard it. Behind her a clicking, chattering and almost a whirling sound. At first she thought it was a cicada, with its distinct buzzsaw call. The only problem. Cicadas thrived in the heat. Then she remembered the spiders just before they encircled the wolf.

"Oh God, " She said aloud. " Guide map!"

The map flickered to life once again on her vision screen. There was nothing.

Lexi pivoted, holding her short sword steady, She scanned the snow behind her and saw nothing. Then she understood.

"System, these things can cloak, so the prey can't see them, is this correct?"

The prompt replied.

YES

"Show me where they are now!" Lexi demanded.

I CAN'T DO THAT LEXI. IT IS BEYOND MY PROGRAMMING.

Lexi knew there was no sense arguing with the system. She needed to save herself. The alpha spider would attack first and if she could kill it the others would likely disband in confusion.

The buzzing was on top of her now. The alpha had to be right in front of her. Lexi kicked the dry snow in the direction she thought the alpha spider to be. The wind helped push the cloud of snow in the direction of her target. Tiny ice particles stuck to the surface of the spider. Lexi was dwarfed by its size. This was not the spìder she had seen from the safety of the tree. She kicked another cloud of snow and this time it covered the thorax and tail of her foe.

She darted under the spider and it reacted with surprise. The soft patch, near the spinnerette. Where is it? When she finally caught a glimpse of the spider's weakness she felt something pierce her left shoulder. She spun around and hacked her sword at the alphas claw. She missed.

The spider was right above her now, the thorax inches from her head. It chattered, the sound made her stomach twist. Was it calling the others? Were they already there? Lexi was well aware she would not be able to defend herself against four or five of these things. She needed to find the spider's soft spot now.

She drew her right arm back and thrust it forward hoping her sword would pierce the thorax armor. The sword merely ricocheted off the spider's thick plates. Lexi winced, feeling pain coursing through her left shoulder from the shock.

The spider turned again, this time its mandibles hovered above her.

" Sorry but not sorry you Son of a B," Lexi fell to the ground and rolled across the snow, until she found herself under the predators tail.

" There you are!" The soft patch, the achilles heel she was looking for revealed itself again.

Now Lexi wasted no time and drove her sword into the unprotected skin.

The alpha screamed, surprised its prey was now the predator.

Lexi pulled her sword from the spider and it atomized into a fine dust.

A feminine prompt announced, upon the spiders disappearance

CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE ALPHA SLEET SPIDER. FOR THIS YOU WILL YOUR STRENGTH WILL INCREASE TO 13 YOUR HIT POINTS WILL INCREASE TO 234. YOU WILL BE REUNITED WITH YOUR TEAM AS A REWARD FOR THIS PHASE OF THE LEVEL.

MAY FORTUNE FIND YOU.

The voice faded. The system was supposed to show her the opponent but it refused putting her at a disadvantage. Why? She questioned.

Then she felt her body heat rise, and knew what was coming next.