A level 236 stygian naga has died.


    A level 240 stygian naga has died.


    A level 241 stygian naga has died.


    You and Ghost have reached level 243!


    For achieving rank 24, you have been awarded 1 additional attribute point and 1 Class point.


    Your sneaking has reached rank 23 and your two weapon fighting rank 19.


    Ghost’s magma maw has reached rank 10, her stygian claws rank 12, her ash armor rank 12, her telepathy rank 10, her death magic rank 8, and her nether manipulation rank 5.


    The battle drew to a close without fanfare. The two nagas died without managing to land any further blows, and with Safyre and Adriel’s help, Anriq and Ghost made quick work of their own foe.


    While I waited for the others to finish mopping up, I scanned the skies. They were clear. The stygian overlord had not made an appearance as yet. That gives us some time, at least, I thought in relief.


    Turning my attention inward, I reviewed the post-battle messages. Ghost and I had advanced four levels, which was about what I’d expected given the pyre wolf’s earlier gains for killing a naga. What I found more startling, though, was the progress of Ghost’s skill. Most I knew had occurred during her training with Sulan, still the degree to which she had improved was impressive.


    “Did you think I was just lazing around while you were gone?” the pyre wolf joked as she drew up alongside me.


    “Of course not,” I murmured. “But maybe I’m a bit jealous. You seemed to have got a lot more done in the two days than I have.” In fact, other than securing Kesh’s help, I had to wonder what I’d really achieved since leaving the tundra. Worse yet, I’d made little to no headway rescuing Saya.


    Ghost’s ears pricked up as she picked up on my surface thoughts. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it? Something bad.”


    “Yes,” I admitted. “But the tale must wait for the others. It’s not one I want to repeat.”


    Ghost didn’t push the issue, for which I was grateful. “Whatever the case, I’m glad you’re back, Prime.”


    “As am I,” I replied, running my hand through her coat. “I missed you.” My gaze drifted to the others. “And everyone else too.” Things were much simpler here. There was no question of who the enemy was, our goals were clear, and even the path to achieving them was relatively straightforward.


    Back in the heart of the Game, everything had been… murkier.


    I sighed. I knew there was no escaping the greater Game, though. One way or the other, I’d have to deal with Loken and his envoy, and rescue Saya. And it was not like we didn’t have problems aplenty in this sector either.


    My gaze fell upon Shael and Anriq once more. Under Safyre’s direction, the pair were hauling the nagas’ corpses to the lich who was…


    I frowned. “What is Adriel doing?” I wondered aloud.


    “Skinning them,” Ghost supplied helpfully.


    I glanced at my familiar. “And why would she be doing that?”


    “For use in the golems’ bodies, of course,” she replied brightly.


    It took me a moment to process that, and when I did my eyes widened. “Adriel has figured it out,” I breathed. “She knows how to rehome the possessed.”


    The pyre wolf bobbed her head. “Yes.”


    The news cheered me. It was at least one bright spot in what had otherwise been a mostly disappointing few days. “Saf,” I said through the farspeaker link, “I have an alchemy stone. It might make collecting the ingredients Adriel wants easier.”


    “Won’t work,” the aetherist replied. “Adriel needs the nagas’ scales more than she needs their reagents, and the alchemy stone won’t collect skin. In fact, using the stone on the nagas will likely destroy the scales.”


    I deflated. “Oh.”


    Across the distance, I saw Safyre turn in my direction, a smile playing on her lips.  “Although… you could make yourself useful and loot the other stygians.”


    I ducked my head sheepishly as I rose to my feet. “Right. Ghost and I are on it.”


    ? ? ?


    “I don’t see why you needed me for this,” Ghost grumbled as she kept pace beside me.


    “Why, did you have somewhere else to be?” I asked innocently as I ducked down and retrieved the alchemy stone from the last corpse. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    You have retrieved an alchemy stone. New ingredients acquired: 100 x lumps of necrotic plasma and 70 x vial of nether residue.


    “I could be training my nether manipulation!”


    “Aren’t you doing that already?”


    “That’s not the point,” Ghost protested.


    I smiled. “No, you’re right. It isn’t. Say rather, I wanted your company.”


    It was the answer Ghost had been looking for all along, and I sensed her brighten immediately. “You’re shameless,” I said, chuckling.


    “There’s nothing wrong with expressing your enjoyment of another’s company,” the pyre wolf retorted.


    It felt like a more pointed remark than the situation warranted and suspecting what she was alluding to, I changed the topic. “How did Anriq do?”


    Ghost rolled her eyes at my evasiveness before replying. “He fought well. He’d make an excellent wolf.”


    I nodded, pleased by her assessment. I already knew from analyze that both Shael and Anriq had advanced significantly during the battle, with the bard netting eight levels and the werewolf six. Safyre, too, had progressed, if not as much as the two lower level players.


    “We’re all done here,” Anriq said suddenly, drawing my attention. Glancing to my left, I saw my four companions standing next to a tall pile of stygian scales.


    Stepping through the aether, I appeared beside Safyre. “What’s all this for?” I asked without preamble.


    Adriel threw me a wry look. “Too lazy to walk?”


    “More like I’m in a rush,” I replied, glancing upward again. “We might have company soon.”


    The lich nodded. “Safyre said so.”


    “You checked the gate?” the aetherist asked, sensing my unease.


    I shook my head. “I was waiting for you and Adriel to finish up before risking an approach. Whatever spell the two nagas cast is still active. Unfortunately, the weaves didn’t dissipate with their deaths.”


    “Damn,” Anriq said softly.


    Safyre frowned. “That does not bode well. Not on top of everything else.”


    “This was not a random encounter then?” I asked, wanting to confirm my suspicions.


    Adriel snorted. “No. This was an ambush. Carefully conceived. And well executed.”


    I sighed, not happy about being proved right.  “What happened? I would have thought you four would know better than to try and take on four elites. Why didn’t you retreat?”


    “It was only one to begin with,” Anriq muttered sourly.


    My gaze flickered in the werewolf’s direction. “Meaning?”


    “Meaning I was careless,” Anriq replied, meeting my gaze unflinchingly. “I was escorting Ghost while she trained her nether manipulation skill when we spotted the naga. It was alone, so instead of retreating immediately back to the tundra like I should’ve, I decided to investigate further. That’s when the rest of the stygians showed themselves.” He hung his head. “I’m sorry, Michael, I let them lure me and Ghost away from the portal.”


    “It’s not all his fault,” Ghost said, speaking up on Anriq’s behalf. “I also failed to smell the stygians hiding in the mists.”


    “The boy is not to blame,” Adriel said, unconsciously echoing Ghost’s sentiment. “I didn’t sense the stygians until too late either.”


    “Me neither,” Safyre agreed.


    Adriel ran a lazy hand through the yellow smog. “It’s this damn mist. It makes hiding all too easy for the stygians. The nagas used that to their advantage with their cloaking spell.”


    I winced. It was one more thing to worry about. “But how did you two wind up here?” I asked, looking expectantly at the two spellcasters. By Anriq’s reckoning, only he and Ghost had been in the sector when the stygians had sprung their ambush.


    “We were checking out the caves,” Safyre replied, “when Adriel heard Ghost’s telepathic cry.”


    The lich nodded. “That was a bit of good fortune we can all be thankful for. Our arrival was the only thing that fouled the nagas’ ambush.”


    Still focused on Safyre’s words, I barely heard her. “Checking out the—” Breaking off, I whipped around to face Anriq. “You found something?”


    The werewolf smiled tentatively, his glum look disappearing. “I did. Two somethings, actually.”


    “Two?” I asked in disbelief.


    “Yes, two separate cave systems,” he confirmed. “The first is small and beneath the riverbed itself. The second is also near the river but extends deeper into the earth. We’ve only just begun exploring its depths.”


    “And you’re sure their entrances can be sealed?” I asked breathlessly.


    “Already done,” Safyre murmured.


    I glanced at her, not daring to voice my next question lest she dash my hopes.


    Her lips quirked upward. No doubt, she sensed my excitement.


    “We dispelled the free-standing nether from inside and caved in all the entrances,” Safyre confirmed. “They’re covered in so many layers of rock now, it will take weeks to dig through.”


    Saying nothing, I waited.


    “And you were, right, Michael,” she finished, “the nether did not return.”


    I rocked back on my heels, elated.  I had suspected, but hadn’t been certain, that solid rock would be proof against the ingress of the invasive mists. It was the river that had given me the idea, the river into which I’d fallen into during my first foray in the sector, and the river that had been blessedly free of nether.


    It was why I’d left the Sylvanain eye with Anriq, and it was why I had tasked him with finding a deep and, ideally, closed cave system.


    Because, of course, we needed a base in sector 18,240.


    Not just to hide the shield generator but also to serve as our shelter until we expelled the void from the sector. Using the tundra itself was impractical, especially once more players joined the Forerunners.


    “What about air?” I asked. “Are the caves—”


    “They’re breathable,” Adriel confirmed.  “Where the air is coming from, we can’t say for certain, but the nether’s taint is not seeping in with it.”


    “Excellent,” I pronounced. “Well done, Anriq. Well done, everyone.”


    There drew smiles all around, temporarily alleviating my companions’ somber demeanors, but predictably, it did not last.


    “You know what the ambush means, right?” Safyre asked, throwing me an intent look.


    I nodded slowly. Unfortunately, I did.


    “Well, I don’t,” Shael said, speaking up for the first time.


    The others looked at him.


    The bard’s face creased into an unhappy frown. “I have no idea what any of this means or even where the hell we are. Or for that matter, what any of this has to do with Saya!”


    Safyre’s brows rose. “Saya?” she asked, looking at me questioningly.


    I grimaced. Obviously, Shael had not shared his tale with the others yet. “I’ll tell you in a bit,” I told her before turning back to the bard. “And you’ll get an explanation too, I promise. Just be patient a little longer. For now, it’s imperative we check on the portal.”


    “Agreed,” Adriel said. Not waiting to see if anyone followed, she marched in the direction of the gate.


    I glanced from the pile of discarded stygian scales to the retreating lich. “What about all this?” I called after her.


    “What about it?” Adriel asked, glancing back. “It’ll keep. I highly doubt the stygians are going to try carrying it off.”


    Muttering under my breath, I hurried to catch up to her.