The attack that followed from the Shade was the standard screeching to which Duncan was totally immune by now. He raised his sword and cursed out loud as the dumb thing rushed him dead on.

Once it reached Duncan’s lightning rod it stopped and wiggled. An arrow flew besides Duncan’s head and to his surprise it struck the Shade.

After about 5 seconds the whole ordeal ended. Duncan picked up the purified shade essence and the arrow which fell on the ground after the Shade dissolved. Soon a familiar sound of footsteps echoed in hallway.

“Prepare yourself for round two,” Duncan yelled at Shaya and stored her arrow in his inventory.

“What’s coming?” she yelled back.

“Guardian skeleton probably,” Duncan replied before he moved a bit back and prepared a water bottle.

Soon he could see the skeletal foot crossing into the light and all the rest of the bony anatomy followed.

When the skeleton was in range Duncan started waving his water bottle at it and backtracking as it followed to get in range of its sword attack.

“What are you doing?” Shaya yelled as she also moved back.

“Foreplay,” Duncan yelled and regretted it right after.

The skeleton raised the sword and swung it down as Duncan moved back just in time to avoid it before launching himself forward and striking it while cursing. An arrow knocked against the skeletons head but other than moving it for a miniscule amount from the impact it looked like it was ineffective.

Duncan pressed the sword into the ribcage of the skeleton and the lightning was sparkling on it. For a split second he thought he messed up as the skeleton was raising his sword again. Luckily for him it stopped midway as the lightning finally connected with the wet bones. It started to tremor as Duncan bleeped. Another arrow clanked and the rebound almost hit Duncan.

“Stop shooting!” he yelled, “I’ve got this!”

“BLEEP! BLEEPer! Come on die you BLEEP!”

Soon the bones crumbled into dust and Duncan took a big breath.

He picked up the purified bone essences and turned to Shaya with the three arrows in his hands.

She looked embarrassed after almost hitting him after the arrow rebounded from the skeleton’s head and said, “I am sorry. I tried to help.”

“It’s OK. Maybe don’t shoot things that can rebound your arrows when I am that close next time,” Duncan said and sighed. So far Shaya proved more a liability than help.

“Here, your arrows,” he offered her, before storing the sword he picked up from the ground.

“Thank you. Weren’t you scared?” she asked as she took the arrows.

“Not nearly as much as the first time,” Duncan replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

They pressed on through the left corridor and it soon took a turn to the right. They could see holes in the wall where the bolts from the trap flew out of. As they turned the corner, they saw another stone wall in the distance with the familiar gem setup beside it.

Duncan quickly pried them from their sockets, before he instructed Shaya once again to move back.

After activating the mechanism for the door, he could see a stairwell going down and he stopped. He closed it again.

“What are you doing?” Shaya asked.

“Let’s go check out the other side first,” he grunted as he moved past her.

“Are you angry at me?” she asked.

Duncan looked at her before replying, “No. I am just not used to someone questioning my every move.”

She stood there quietly before he moved on.

They soon came to the place where the bolts fell on the ground and found some trap tiles. They avoided them and came to another turn. It was left this time.

Duncan cautiously peered around the corner with the torch in front of him. He saw an outline of a stone casket in the distance. Shining the light lower he checked for traps as he went closer. Shaya followed him from behind.

They came to the stone casket and Duncan looked inside. He found some coins in the middle with what seemed to be the remains of a decayed leather pouch. They were silver and bronze and he stored them all.

There was another stone door and gems on the opposite side and Duncan looted them all for himself.

Shaya was holding her tongue so far but she was obviously dissatisfied how this adventure was going. She got no kills and no spoils from it. From her perspective this was all a big waste of time. Duncan could judge that form her facial expressions, on occasions when the light hit her face.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Get on the other side of the casket,” Duncan ordered and she complied.

Duncan checked for holes on either side of the room and the stone floor under his feet, before he pressed the door open.

There was another screech and the Shade that came with it was quickly handled by the two of them.

Duncan picked up the loot and moved on. The corridor was long and had no more surprises as they walked down it. It seemed like they walked for 15 minutes as Shaya suddenly let out a scream behind Duncan and heard her fall.

“What’s wrong?” Duncan yelled as he came beside her side.

She held her head and he could see tears running down her cheeks below her helmet as the light from the torch reflected on the wet skin.

“I can’t take it anymore…” she cried out.

Duncan was at a loss. “Take what?”

“Don’t you feel it? The pressure,” she continued.

“I don’t feel anything,” he said as he looked at her distraught expression.

He pulled off her helmet slowly and looked at her bloodshot eyes as he held her neck.

“It’s gone now,” she suddenly said in amazement.

“Gone?” Duncan asked as he looked around and let go of her neck.

There was instantly another guttural screech. This time it came from Shaya.

Duncan looked around frantically and started cursing while waving his hands around her. His first thought was that it was an invisible entity that attacked Shaya.

“Hold me,” she said with obvious pain in her voice.

Duncan stopped waving and cursing and looked at her. She was raising her hand in the air as her face was turned to the ground and her other hand supported her body.

He touched her hand hesitantly and she let out a satisfied moan.

“It’s gone,” she said right after that.

Duncan wanted to let her hand go and look around but she held on to him so firmly his bones started to hurt.

“What are you doing?” he asked her while gritting his teeth.

“It stops hurting when I touch you,” she said.

“Where does it hurt?” he inquired.

“First there was like a pressure and headache in my head that got stronger with time, then it turned into a pain so strong I could hardly control my body,” she explained.

“I don’t see anything that could cause that,” Duncan said.

He looked around pointing the torch in front of him.

“Did you ever experience this outside the mine?” he asked thinking she has a migraine.

She thought about it and said with a surprised voice, “Yes. But it was nowhere near that intense. It happens when we near the boundaries set by the mayor. We turn around long before it becomes unbearable like here.”

Duncan’s mind processed the new information and quickly came to a theory.

“Why didn’t you stop me if the pressure was building up?” he asked.

“I was feeling useless enough already,” she shyly replied.

“So, you gritted your teeth until you couldn’t anymore?” he asked shaking his head.

“We must have passed underneath the wall into the outside and are under the effects of the mayor’s barrier,” Duncan said and Shaya nodded after she thought about it.

“You might be right, but that doesn’t explain why the pain goes away if you touch me,” she stated.

Duncan thought about it and came to a conclusion.

“Maybe because I am an adventurer and it’s to keep them from using this as a loophole to…” he wanted to say kill NPCs but stopped himself.

“A loophole for what? she asked.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as it works. Are you alright now?” he asked.

“As long as you hold me, I am fine,” Shaya replied with embarrassment looking anywhere but at Duncan.

“Are you up for an experiment?” Duncan inquired.

Shayla looked at him from the ground and warily asked, “What do you mean?”

“I want to check if the boundary has a limit. You will be the detector. Just grab my hand again if it hurts after you let go,” he explained.

“You really think this could work?” she asked after she figured out what he wanted to do.

He nodded and pulled her up from the ground.

They held their hands as they made their way further down the tunnel and Shaya let go for a brief moment every 10 meters or so and gritted her teeth. Then she suddenly said, “It’s gone.”

She grabbed his hand again.

“There is no difference,” she replied with a smile on her face. Then after a while she shyly let go of his hand. Duncan was sure they were both red in the face from embarrassment but under the yellow glow of the torch it was not apparent.

Duncan thought about the implications of this and suddenly said, “Don’t tell anyone about this!”

“I won’t. I am as embarrassed as you are,” Shaya expressed.

Duncan rolled his eyes before he said, “I don’t mean the hand holding part. I mean the skipping barriers thing.”

“Oh! Why, not? This could change the lives for so many people,” she questioned with vigor in her voice.

“Exactly. I don’t want to hold hands with all the people who are under restriction every time they want to go out of it,” Duncan replied and looked at her with a piercing gaze.

“But— “she started before Duncan interrupted her, “No buts. I am not going to chaperone people around town.”

She frowned but eventually nodded. Shaya knew the guards would probably pester Duncan at every turn if this became known to them. He had no obligation to help them anyway and that would only cause strife among their ranks.

After a while she asked, “Can I at least tell Fenris?”

Duncan thought about it for a while before he answered, “Eventually. First let’s see where this leads to.”

They walked the corridor until they came to a stairwell that went upwards. As they climbed it, they came upon a room with a small stairwell up with no exit. Duncan shined a torch around and found the familiar mechanism except it lacked the gems. Someone must have removed them or they were never there to begin with.

After he pressed the central insert the ceiling on top opened up, they heard the sound of birds chirping and green light shone inside from the hole. Carefully walking out they saw a stone platform surrounded by small pillars in the middle of the forest. The light was green because it passed through leaves before it reached them.

The platform was overgrown with roots from nearby trees, which tried to claim the invader. They investigated around it carefully and looked out for danger. Duncan put away his torch and looked around, as Shaya was holding an arrow nocked in her bow as she pranced around the pillars.

Suddenly she whistled to get Duncan’s attention. He came to her side and saw the trigger mechanism embedded in a pillar. After he pressed it, the entrance to the stairwell closed itself and looked like it was never there to begin with. He pressed it again and it was once again opened and the stairwell once again invited them into the darkness.

Duncan let out a breath he was holding before he said, “I was not sure it would open up from this side, luckily it works.”

Shaya nodded looking out vigilantly around the greenery watching out for any movement. They could hear sounds of birds all around but luckily no loud noises to indicate anything big.

“What do you want to do now?” she asked Duncan.

“First, let’s have lunch and I will think about it,” he replied before taking out some ready-made dishes of roasted rat legs. He offered one to her and she took it.

“Roasted horned rabbit?” she asked. Duncan wanted to nod at first but was afraid she would check with Identify and there would be hell to pay so he answered truthfully, “No, it’s rat actually.”

Shaya looked at him, took a deep breath and bit into her portion.