The first one that came at Cole nearly made a corpse of him. The man’s sword ripped through the air and threatened to split Cole in half. In a microsecond, Cole noticed the attack, and his instincts pushed him to dodge. He sidestepped the attack but even though he evaded that one, another was already aimed at him.

The man turned the sword horizontally and swung at Cole’s torso. There was a clang as metal clashed metal. A body floated in front of Cole and then proceeded to fight his attacker. Cole soon saw that it was Marlok. Cole was grateful that the warrior came to his aid, but in the grander scheme of things, it didn’t get rid of the major problem; the swarm of warriors coming. This was evident by the fact that the moment Marlok got rid of one warrior, another one took his place in the attack. But this time Cole was the first one to make a move.

Cole swung left, then right, and then struck the warrior’s shoulder. There was no grunt or wince. It was as if Cole didn’t even touch him. Before the man could retaliate, Cole drew back and hacked at the man’s shoulder again. The second blow was on target but not as deep as before since the man’s forearm smacked the handle at an angle. Cole felt a sharp pain as something slid into his stomach. The man’s blade was a third of the way in, and he was inching it deeper and deeper.

A hand pulled Cole back, and he cried out more from the pain of the sword leaving than going in.

“Stay close.” It was Daniel’s voice, but Cole didn’t see him.

There was just the tight grip of his hand and the pain in his stomach. There was muttering followed by a wave of white light that stopped an inch beyond Cole’s nose. It took on the shape of a dome, blinked twice, and then disappeared. Daniel pulled Cole in the other direction now as they ran through the tattered hut. With one hand pulling Cole and the other brandishing a bloody sword, Daniel tried to navigate the chaos that awaited them. More warriors came at them but flew back against a white barrier that materialized upon contact.

Daniel stopped to observe the environment as if he had all the time in the world. Cole was worried about how they would escape such a large army. He tried scanning for an exit too but couldn’t see much beyond the armored bodies and the rock formations in the distance. Daniel was looking in the same direction but then shifted his focus to the South.

“This way!” Daniel bolted with Cole trailing.

The barrier helped to clear a path for them. No matter how many warriors were in the way or what attacks they used, the barrier repelled each one. At one point it didn’t materialize but by that time they were at the edge of the camp. Daniel sliced open a stray warrior, and then led them into a dark tunnel.

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“What’s this?” Cole asked.

“I’m as puzzled as the boy,” Marlok said.

“They’ve been using tunnel systems to navigate the area.” A torch woke in Daniel’s hand.

“And when did you figure that out?”

“While we were waiting for the sun to set, I was examining the layout and the troop movements. Most of the warriors generally avoided this area except for two who went and never returned.”

“What if we stumble across them now?”

“I’ll take care of them.”

They never came across those warriors. They didn’t come across much for quite some time as they trekked through the sand and dirt. They only came across hostile entities when the ground beneath them changed from just dirt to black goo. In the darkness of night, it was hard to see them. Cole couldn’t make out what they were exactly. They moved with a creepy, slimy, slowness. Cole killed a few, but Daniel destroyed most of them when he took point. It wasn’t long before they came to a huge temple. Cole hoped that its integrity was preserved, but he could hardly tell the color of the temple beneath all the black slime.

The goo here flexed and moved as if aware of their presence. The closer they got, the more it shifted and wormed. Each beat and squirm constricted the beams and walls. It got so bad that rubble trickled from the entrance. Marlok halted everyone in their tracks as he observed the malady.

“Zuna’s magic is strong here. We must be careful from this point on,” he said.

Cole’s eyes shifted across the edifice. “Assuming that this slime runs throughout the temple, going in as is will compromise the integrity of the building causing it to collapse.”

“So what’re you thinking?” Daniel asked.

“Either there’s another way to get in or this quest was set up for me to fail.” Cole turned to Daniel. “How about those tunnels? Do you think there would be any here?”

“Doubt it, but we have to check for alternate entrances.”

“Only a stealthy burglar could navigate this puzzle,” Marlok interjected.

“My thoughts exactly, Marlok. We should’ve brought Syrian with us.” Cole shot Daniel a glare.

“Again,” Daniel said, “she’s a bandit, not a thief, and definitely not a burglar.”

“Regardless of who she is, she might have some sort of skill to get us in there. She’s in your custody, under your rule, there’s no way she can refuse your orders. You wouldn’t be asking her to help, you’d be making her.”

Daniel shook his head. “That’s not how it works. I’ll find another way in.”

He veered off to the right, seemingly examining the surroundings for vulnerabilities. Cole had a different idea of how to get in. He had thought about it earlier when they were infiltrating the camp but decided against it. Asking for help wasn’t his strong suit, even getting Daniel to tag along was an ache to his pride. But given the weight the quest carried, Cole determined that this was an exception to his number one rule.

He pulled up his control panel, scrolled through his recent contacts, and then selected Frank from the list of three. From Frank’s profile page, Cole ordered his services and waited for the status to change from “Pending” to “Accepted.” He wasn’t entirely sure if it was even going to change. Cole hadn’t seen Frank log in for a few weeks, so there was no guarantee that he was in the game. If they had added each other to their respective friends lists, then he would’ve been able to see his online status. But they didn't get that far. Cole didn’t go that far. Now part of him wondered if he should’ve.