“Stop making so much noise, you oaf,” Betsy whispered harshly while scanning the surrounding bushes nervously.

“Relax, Betsy, there is no one around,” Jimmy responded with a bit of exasperation in his voice. “Chad would not send us to scout the area if there was any real danger.”

“Oh? And why is that, Mr. Know-it-all?”

“Haven’t you realized?” Jimmy responded with a bit of a smirk. “They need to level us up for some reason. Or did you think that they did all this out of the goodness of their heart?”

“All this?”

“Yeah, I mean, like teaching us stuff every day. And giving us equipment, and those mana potions. That must cost a fortune!”

“Maybe they are just nice…,” Betsy said weakly.

“Yeah, right. Especially Dak’lo, huh?” Jimmy chuckled.

Betsy shook her head in disgust. “Shit, don’t remind me of that guy. What a creep! I still can’t believe that Amy likes him.”

“Oh, she does?”

Jimmy suddenly looked less than happy.

Betsy studied his face for a moment before giggling a bit. “Really? Amy? You do know that she is into dominant men, right?”

“Well, so what?” Jimmy shot back defensively. “I can be quite dominant too.”

Betsy burst out laughing. “Jimmy, not sure how to break that to you, bu-“

“Shhhh,” Jimmy suddenly whispered, motioning urgently to Betsy to quiet down. “There is something out there… did you see those birds over there take off?”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Betsy muttered quietly, sweat forming on here suddenly pale face. “What should we do?”

“Don’t ask me… you are aqua-woman with a knack for the outdoors… I am a librarian for god sake,” Jimmy grumbled while shooting worried glances at the other side of the open field. If something was coming, they would, at least, see it early.

Betsy visibly tried to calm herself down. “Ok, maybe it is just a cat… and if not, we’ll deal with it once we know. Let’s get some cover and watch from here. And then we can report to the others.”

A few moments later, a brutish looking humanoid with grey skin stepped out of the cover of the trees, eyeing the open field and the small creek running through the middle. A few seconds later, it was joined by many more figures, until a veritable army of lightly armored creatures was visible. Soon there were hundreds of them, and more appeared by the minute.

Some of the late-arrivals were carrying huge bags on their backs, in some cases bulky enough, and presumably heavy enough as well, that it required two or even three of the heavily muscled creatures to carry them.

And soon it became apparent what was in those bags – long sheets of canvas, that, together with the poles carried by others quickly transformed the formerly peaceful field into a poorly organized tent city.

“Who… or what are those?” Betsy whispered.

“According to my skill, they are called gars…” Jimmy whispered back. “But that doesn’t really tell us much. They look dangerous, though.”

Betsy stared for another moment at the mass of gars working at a feverish pace to construct some kind of nomad-like village. The tents were big enough to house at least a dozen, if not twenty gars at a time, and there were already fifty or more of them set up on the flat terrain. “Let’s go back and warn the others.”

------------------------------------------------

Stepping through the portal had been a weird experience, and not one I necessarily had enjoyed. The glimmering surface had felt a bit like a giant soap bubble, and the surface tension had required a modicum of effort to overcome. And once I had broken through, it was as if I had stepped into a cool mist before suddenly stepping into a completely different surrounding –an early evening Summer day on a bare mountaintop.

The slight breeze was like a refreshing kiss on my sun-deprived skin, briefly washing away my weariness. A green-gray salamander, with an oddly shimmering skin, was soaking up the warmth provided by the last rays of the sun, before scuttling off into some crevice when I got closer.

I had fucking made it! All that time down in the dungeon, I had forced myself to keep on going, telling myself that it was just a matter of time until I would find an exit. But the constant fighting, slinking around in the shadows, afraid to finally encounter someone or something that would be too strong for me, and all the horrific injuries I had suffered had made me increasingly more doubtful.

And now… I couldn’t really believe that I was out in the open, could feel the sun, the wind, smell the earth.

My legs started to tremble, and I had to sit down. It was a bit overwhelming to feel the constant worry and stress ebb away.

A slight smile played across my lips, and I just took a few deep breaths, enjoying the moment.

And there was water!

Just some puddles that had formed in the slight depressions of the granite surface… but I wasn’t picky. I needed water. And I had gone through worse than drink something with a little moss in it, or some dirt. Even though the water was lukewarm, it went a long way to soothe my parched throat.

Once I had slaked my thirst, I took stock of my surroundings.

I wasn’t an expert on the topography of the Adirondacks, but it looked very much like I was on one of the high peaks in that national park. Flora and fauna matched that, as well as the season. And if it was the Adirondacks… then chances were that I was on Algonquin Peak. I wasn’t positive, but there were only a handful of mountains that had bare tops and were much higher than the surrounding mountains.

And Algonquin Peak was close to Lake Placid and presumably within the dome of the teleported area that had surrounded the city.

If that was correct… all I needed to do was go downhill, find the trailhead and then follow the road to the next settlement, which likely was Lake Placid. And there might be some shelters on the way, or at least some parked cars on the trailhead that would give me a relatively safe place to sleep.

I eyed the sun critically, trying to figure out if there was enough time.

I certainly did not want to be caught out on the mountain in the dark. Not that seeing was going to be that problematic with my night vision capabilities. But who knew what kind of monsters might be prowling around during the night.

Then again… what were my alternatives? I could conceivably go back through the portal if that was even possible, but that came with its own risks. There was no guarantee that nothing would ascend from the second level of the dungeon, or, equally likely, something would break through the barred door to the bedroom. And if that happened, I might be in a worse position. Plus, I really didn’t want to go back there.

Or I could camp out on the mountain top. But that made me even more vulnerable.

So the best thing was to just get my ass going.

I had about two hours before the sun would fully set, I figured, which might just be enough.

Before leaving, I just needed to do one more thing…

With a quick few steps, I approached the portal. Teleportation magic, or a wormhole… or however this thing worked. It was about the coolest pieces of magic I had seen so far. And if I somehow could copy the effect… I’d be unstoppable. Well, perhaps not unstoppable, that crucially depended on how much time a spell like that would take to cast. But even if it took a while, it would, at the very least, be extremely convenient for travel.

As I stepped closer, runes around the outer part of the arch framing the portal started to glow in a sinister red light. Electricity began to arc through the central plane, and the portal exuded an aura of danger and menace.

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Shit. To make out any details, I needed to get much closer. From this distance, I could see that the types of mana going into the artifact were white, yellow, red, green, turquoise, purple, and black, but I wasn’t close enough to understand any of the inner workings, or see more of how the mana interacted.

I hesitantly took another step, leery of getting shocked now that I finally had escaped the clutches of the dungeon. Luckily, the ominous red pulsing light dimmed almost immediately as I approached. And then the runes turned to a bright white and the almost palpable aura of danger slowly subsided.

Perhaps it was some type of defense mechanism so that not just anyone could enter the dungeon through this portal. Just to make sure, I picked up the coin I had tossed through the portal before and threw it back into the dungeon. No electrical discharge, no explosions, no firestorm… just a coin clinking on stone and spinning in a lazy circle on the dark floor of the portal-chamber.

Up close, I could see the different types of mana continuously move from one construct to another, never staying the same. It looked as if there was some repetition in there, some pattern, but it would take some serious studying to even establish that much with any certainty. And the constructs… to say that this was way over my head was an understatement. I imagined that this was what quantum mechanics might be to the layperson.

Maybe if I knew anything at all about runes, it would be easier. But this was like trying to understand complex mathematical equations without ever having seen math before.

Not that it really mattered at this point, because I didn’t have half of the mana that was apparently required to teleport stuff. But maybe in the future….

But before that, I needed to get to safety. And then… get some rest and train. I was tired of being weak and slow. Some proper, high protein diet, and plenty of running, lifting, and swimming and I’d be in great shape in no time flat.

Determined, I turned around and began to half walk, half slide down the steep trail, occasionally slipping on the loose gravel or stumbling over the stones sticking out from the path. Luckily, there was only one path down the mountaintop, so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

Overall, the path looked well maintained, and I could even see signs that provided information about individual plants or animals that one presumably could observe on Algonquin Peak, confirming that my initial guess had been spot on.

Which came as a big relief.

I now had a clear target and was working with known parameters.

And truth be told, I was almost enjoying myself. After a week in the dungeon, it was such a pleasure to be out in the open again. And just the fact that I was walking, albeit slowly and unsteadily, drove home how much things had changed for me from just a few days ago.

Reminiscing about all the good things and bad things that had happened to me during the last few days, I almost didn’t notice the bodies until I was right on top of them.

Mostly it was just bones and pieces of torn clothes, strewn around the path haphazardly.

Hikers, based on the equipment. Caught out on the mountain during the transition, I figured, and unlucky enough to run into a monster right away.

I had to swallow to keep down the bile.

Those poor suckers hadn’t had a chance – caught out in the open, with no weapons, no protection…

There was no indication of what had killed them. At least none that I could make out. Perhaps an experienced tracker might have been able to piece things together, but I was a city boy through and through.

And this also drove home that I was not out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively.

Nervously, I glanced around, slightly paranoid now that there might be monsters all around, just waiting for an opportune moment to attack me. Of course, if there had been…. they could have already ambushed me easily.

I quickly bent down, rummaging through the few backpacks I could find within easy reach.

There was food, mostly trail mixes, cereal bars, and some spoiled sandwiches, bottles with water, and extra clothes - a vest here, a light jacket there.

I picked a sturdy backpack and quickly stuffed it with some of the more useful stuff, all the while having a strange prickly sensation between my shoulder blades as if someone, or something, was watching me.

Perhaps it was just paranoia. But it made me nervous. Real nervous.

I continued rushing down the mountain, nearly falling a few times, but miraculously managed to stay on my feet.

My eyes constantly moved around, trying to catch any movement, any sign that I was being followed. But there was nothing.

Gradually, I began to relax. Perhaps I had imagined things after all. I slowed down a bit and even took out a cereal bar and greedily started to munch on it.

It was so fucking good!

Only then I realized how terrible most of the food in the dungeon really had been. Most everything apart from those juicy, delectable fruits had been forgettable. The leaves and roots in the cave probably had been the low point.

The high-calorie food immediately provided a noticeable energy boost to my body, visibly brightening my outlook on things. I even was beginning to enjoy the beautiful nature around me again, studiously ignoring the occasional human remains I was passing.

Which was, of course, when the feeling of being watched returned.

It is a weird thing, how one notices something like that. Science can’t really explain it. Just a weird itch on the brain, something that tickles at the edge of the senses. And in this case, it was an intense feeling. Someone or something was staring at me.

And not in a good way either.

It raised the hair on my arms and legs and gave me goosebumps.

I tried to not let on that I had noticed that I was being stalked and surreptitiously looked around. Alas, I did not see anything apart from trees and scrubs, and stones. Lots of those, providing perfect hiding spots.

Nonchalantly, I loosened my sword in its scabbard and swept my eyes from left to right and back, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever or whoever was watching me.

And eventually, I did, or at least the shadow of it.

It was fairly small, about child-sized, or the size of a large dog. And it did not move very fast, but… it was really hard to see. When I spotted it from the corner of my eye, it almost seemed to fade away into the shadows.

Some camouflage ability? Something based on shadow mana, just like my own skills?

I activated Mana Vision… and wished for a moment that I had not.

Rather than a solitary creature tracking me, I could now easily make out a swarm of them, all around me, hiding in the shadows cast by the many trees, stones, and bushes all around me. There were dozens of them, easily.

They had not attacked yet, but they were getting closer.

And as the sun was setting, the shadows cast by the trees, bushes, and large boulders were getting longer and darker. Which somehow seemed to solidify those creatures. A shiver ran down my spine, and I started to run. As well as I could, anyway. It probably was more like a fast stumbling, but I tried.

I could just feel that these creatures were bad news.

There had to be something I could do…. light a fire? Maybe. But unless the fire was a raging inferno, it was going to cast its own shadows so perhaps not do all the much against those being. And, even worse, it might also attract all kinds of other unwanted attention.

I could also try to get into a lake somewhere… but I was a bit dubious on whether that would do any good. And even if it kept the shades away, the water up here was too cold to be submerged in for a long time. I would die of hypothermia fairly quickly. Plus, I had no fucking clue where to find a lake to jump into.

Maybe I was overreacting. Perhaps they weren’t even dangerous. But my gut instinct told me that I didn’t want to be touched by them.

So the easiest, and, arguably, least heroic solution was to run away and hope to lose them. Perhaps they were merely territorial, and once I got far enough away, they would lose interest in me.

Fear gave me renewed vigor, and I made good progress down the mountain. But the sun was setting faster than I made headway and eventually, it got dark, almost eerily so. Ink-like. And the moment the last sun-rays disappeared, and the world around me descended into a pitch-black maze of trees and bushes, I could feel a freezing-cold touch on my neck. A feeling comparable to leaving an ice-pack left for too long on naked skin.

It was painful.

And my skin and flesh turned numb.

I spun around and saw a dark shade in front of me, a vaguely human-shaped blob of swirling shadows visible to my mana vision, with fingers of darkness stretched out, caressing my body. Almost sensually. And wherever it touched me, I could feel the ice-burn, sapping my warmth and energy.

Shivering, I pulled my sword and hacked through the ghost-like being in one fluid motion.

It did not even try to dodge my stroke. But instead of the shade disappearing or falling to the ground and dissolve, I felt only the slightest bit of resistance as my sword split the specter from the right shoulder area all the way down to the crotch. And the shadows making up the body of the creature flowed around my blade and merged back together once the sword had passed.

As I stared in some consternation at the total lack of effect, more shades approached from all sides, greedy fingers stretched out to feast on my warm body.

Fuck! That was not going well.

Time to go for my ace.

I didn’t have a fire or a flashlight, but I had red mana. And I already had once gotten my sword to burn, so why not again. Surely, a fire-sword cutting right through them would have some impact…

No time like the present to try.

I grabbed all the red mana I could from my mana cycle and pushed it into the blade, just like I had done before. Right away, I could see the metal in the blade begin to almost ripple as the temperature started to rise rapidly. And then the sword began to shine in a dull red glow.

Which was probably as good as it was going to get.

I was pretty sure it wasn’t ever going to be shining brightly, like a filament in a light bulb, unless I had a metric ton of mana and didn’t care about ruining the blade. But I was hoping that what I did manage was enough to cause some damage.

As I raised the blade in front of me, I could feel the scorching heat emitted by the sword, strangely enough leaving my hand unharmed. The handle of the weapon felt warm, but not enough to be uncomfortable.

And the shades seemed to shrink back slightly.

Emboldened, I lunged at one of the shades, impaling it with my sword. Immediately, I could see the inky substance that made up the body of the shadow-creature swirl around like crazy, distorting the shape of the shade and causing… discomfort? I wasn’t sure what the impact exactly was, but the shade seemed less mobile or perhaps just weakened.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough to kill it. It was just floating in the air, perhaps moving somewhat more sluggishly than before.

And a few of the other shades used the opportunity to attack me from behind and the side, causing the burning freeze to spread to more and more parts of my body. Teeth chattering, I realized with trepidation that the shades were all around me, forming an almost solid sphere of drifting black shapes, blotting out whatever little moonlight there was coming through the dense cloud cover.

Maybe I could dive through them, insubstantial as they were… but just the thought of putting my head into one of the shades made me shiver.

Instead, I turned around rapidly, trying to cover all sides and angles with my softly glowing sword, hacking and slashing like a madman. But I realized quickly that it was not going to be enough. At best, I could hold them at bay, but my stamina just wasn’t there, and there were too many of them.

But what if…?

I activated Shadow Skin. Immediately, black mana poured forth and shrouded my skin in swirling shadows, similar to how the shades appeared in my mana vision. Instantly, the specters lost interest and began to slowly drift away.

Relieved, I stumbled away, down the path. And then I began to run. I could maintain the shadow skin for quite a while by now, but not for multiple hours. So it was imperative to get some distance between those things and myself.