The duo trudged forward in the darkness that was illuminated by the yellow tint of the two torch lights which showed dust particles flowing in the air like a miasma. The dwarf showed no sign of stopping or even coughing.

Duncan followed the best he could and hoped the dwarf knew what he was doing. For at least some protection and filter, he pulled the shirt collar over his nose, exposing his belly. He looked funny and the dwarf wanted to comment but instead just shook his head and went on.

The yellowish gray with intermittent streaks of black was soon joined by streaks of orange in the glowing torches as they walked down the shaft. The orange was getting more prominent the deeper they went. After an especially prominent patch, they entered a shaft on the right.

The whole wall was now orange with streaks of gray instead.

“That’s exposed iron ore,” the dwarf commented.

“We should go a bit deeper here to get better quality. This rock is all porous and orange even on the inside. It’s iron but not good iron,” Bolgar explained.

“I know. It’s an iron oxide or rust,” Duncan nodded.

“Iron what? Ah, yeah same thing as what happens to swords if left in the water too long, I guess,” Bolgar nodded in acknowledgment.

They marched on and soon came to a dark patch on the ground which turned out to be a collapsed floor. There was a dark corridor visible from the top which didn’t look natural with the straight lines and Bolgar got excited. The excitement in this case was not good.

“We should leave immediately! Go, GO!” he gestured with his hands as if trying to show Duncan to hurry.

“What’s wrong?” Duncan asked as he started walking back carrying his pickaxe and torch.

“Go faster. I heard there are crypts on the floor below with ghosts, specters, and wraiths. I think the hole leads into one,” he said while trying to keep pace with Duncan. The short legs of the dwarven kind were a detriment when there was a need for speed.

Suddenly the light behind Duncan went out and he could hear Bolgar stumble and fall. There was no yelp of pain and as he looked back all he could see was a shadow rushing towards him devouring light.

His first instinct was to drop the pickaxe and start running. Duncan would be ashamed later of leaving Bolgar to fend for himself but it was the only natural reaction. It didn’t help him get away though.

The darkness enveloped him and his head felt like he was hit repeatedly with a brick. It didn’t knock him out like it did Bolgar though. The pain he felt was overwhelming and his natural instincts kicked in as he stumbled to the ground.

“-BLEEP-! -BLEEP-. Mother-BLEEP-er!” he yelled and soon a screech of pain was heard and the pain in his head lessened.

“-BLEEP- you. Mother-BLEEP-er!” The entity screeched and tried to exit Duncan’s body as it was struggling with the electricity trying to punish Duncan.

Suddenly the dark entity's survival instincts apparently kicked in as it tried to leave Duncan's vicinity.

“-BLEEP- you. -BLEEP-hole you are staying,” Duncan yelled as he grabbed and wrapped his hands around the entity, not letting it leave him. It struggled and Duncan kept swearing at it until it all became quiet.

“Thank god I didn’t faint this time. I guess we shared the punishment and my resistance was better than theirs,” Duncan mused as he crawled around coughing and looking for the torch on the ground. He had to get Bolgar and get out of here as soon as possible.

To do that in the pitch black he needed light first. He found it after a couple of meters. Finding the flint in his backpack he quickly used his dagger with it to turn the torch alight again. He saw Bolgar do it the same way as they were coming in, and every time, they ran out of fuel so far.

He looked at the shaft and could not distinguish which way they came from. Noticing the updraft on the torch he went towards the wind. Soon he found his pickaxe which he stored in his inventory. With a dagger in one hand and the torch in the other, he moved on and soon found Bolgar eating dirt on the ground.

Turning him around he quickly lowered his ear to his chest and a hand near his nose and waited for any sign of life. The dwarf's heart was beating strong and an exhale of breath soon followed.

He put away Bolgar’s pickaxe into his inventory also and didn’t bother picking up the torch since like the dwarf said they were plentiful. Picking up the dwarf turned out to be a problem.

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It turns out that dwarfs at their diminutive height weighed a lot more than they seemed.

“Bolgar, are your bones made out of iron?” Duncan yelled as he tried slapping him awake. It didn’t work. Then he tried pouring water on him with the same success.

“-BLEEP- you Bolgar; this always works in the movies,” he yelled frustrated and looking in the direction where the former entity attacked them from. He could barely lift him with both hands and drag his legs going backward, but the trouble was he had no way to hold the torch that way.

He took off his backpack, emptied its contents onto the ground, and then into his inventory. He put some of the lightweight porous iron rock debris inside. Duncan tied the bottom end of the torch with one of the shoulder straps and the dwarf leg to the other one.

The light was enough to see where he was going and the torch was far away not to burn the dwarf as he dragged him to safety.

It took him what seemed like forever to drag the unconscious dwarf up the gentle slope which now seemed like a never-ending mountain. Duncan needed to take several breaks. Luckily, he had some water and rations in his backpack and he could get some much-needed sustenance. If he didn’t have any he would be screwed, since all their rations and water were in the dwarf’s inventory which he had no way to access.

Finally getting out and he admired the setting black hole sun as he dropped Bolgar on the grass. After his breathing normalized he rushed towards the bar. Wazsh was at his usual place behind the counter with Elland gently sipping on his wine as Duncan smashed through the door. They both looked at him in amazement as he was gathering his breath again.

“Bolgar. Bolgar is unconscious,” he finally managed to get out.

“Well, if he Is still breathing that’s a good sign. Elland here will fix him right up,” Wazsh said as he put a glass on a shelf, looking unconcerned as if this was not his first rodeo.

Elland nodded and sighed.

“Take me to him and explain what happened,” he gestured to Duncan who was still at the door catching his breath.

“A black shadow attacked us,” Duncan said as he led the way to the mine.

“A black shadow you say. Interesting. Check your log,” Elland replied.

Duncan had completely forgotten the Log function even existed as he checked it. He scrolled down for a while until he got the latest events into view all the while hurrying towards the mine entrance and stumbling a couple of times as a result. Elland was floating on his toes beside him waiting for the result.

“It says Shade level 13,” Duncan replied as he finally found what he was looking for.

[Killed Shade - Level 13 ]

Followed by quite a few level-ups.

“Level 13 Shade. What level are you?” Elland asked suddenly.

“I am level 9 now. I was level 5 at the time. Why are you asking?” Duncan replied.

“You killed it?” Elland asked in shock.

Elland shook his head and looked at Duncan.

“Shades are nasty beings. They are incorporeal so you can’t hurt them with weapons unless they are magical. They have a mental attack to incapacitate you and then they slowly drain your life energy to feed themselves until you die. They also turn your blood into poison that keeps you unconscious once you are down,” Elland elaborated.

Duncan remembered the Shades in the game he played but they didn’t seem anything special at the time.

“How did you manage to kill it? Do you know magic?” Elland asked.

Duncan was embarrassed but he replied, “I can electrify my body.”

“Electrify? Never heard of it,” Elland replied in amazement.

“I can run lightning through my body?” Duncan tried again with different terminology.

“Ahhh. That would work,” Elland nodded as they closed into the mine.

“Lightning would neutralize the Death energy and hurt the shade a lot. Besides the light and fire spells it’s the best magic to use on them. Your mental resistances must be quite high though to stay awake during the initial attack,” Elland explained further.

Soon they were standing above Bolgar who was still dozing off with some dark veins showing on his forehead.

“That’s the death energy poisoning his body. He will be fine,” Elland said before fishing out a potion and pouring it into the dwarf’s mouth.

Bolgar took a big gasp and then started retching.

“It’s burning. Water. Water!” he yelled on all fours.

“It’s just a side effect of the medicine,” Elland told Duncan before he offered an opened water bottle to Bolgar and the dwarf gulped the water down. He still gasped for air but he was coming to his senses.

“I thought we were dead for sure. How did you get out and bring help?” he finally said after a while.

“He was the help. Duncan dragged your sorry ass to the entrance and came running to the bar,” Elland explained.

Bolgar looked at Duncan in amazement.

“You two were beyond lucky. He is so uniquely suited to fight ghosts and other apparitions as you on the contrary are not. You with all your brawn and no brain. Let’s get back to the bar. I have a glass of wine waiting on me and you are buying the next one,” Elland said before he turned away hurrying back, leaving poor Bolgar at a loss.

He looked after the now-leaving Elland before turning toward Duncan.

“Thank you. Thank you for saving me,” Bolgar said half teary-eyed.

“Actually. I ran at first when you went down,” Duncan admitted, scratching the back of his head.

After a short pause, Bolgar replied.

“Doesn’t matter. You came back. I would have probably run too, the other way around,” Bolgar said with a laugh.

“Let’s get some beer. I have a debt to pay,” he yelled at Duncan as he sprinted for the bar.

“Yeah. Let’s!” Duncan said as he smiled and rushed after him.