Cassidy was not coping well. She had originally accepted a position in a dungeon to earn a rare quartz class stone. This would be her second, having already been given a scholar stone by her family. Her parents had saved for years in order to purchase one, and they hadn’t hesitated to give it to their talented daughter.

  Having one class was already a blessing, but if she wanted to become an adventurer and be able to repay her family for their sacrifices, then she needed to get three. The dungeon she was being sent into was supposed to last for up to a year, and it ended up being part of an integration tutorial zone.

  That was why she would be able to earn a rare stone. Normally something like this would get you a common or possibly uncommon version. But a class dungeon in a tutorial could have thousands of people going through it at a time and this could cause major soul trauma. Luckily for her, there was something off with this zone.

  For some reason only one person had gone through, ever. She knew this now because the dungeon had terminated her contract already and allowed her to leave. She had still earned her reward, but it had decided her services would no longer be needed. With her exit, she had also regained the single memory of that remarkable man.

  His name had been Alan, and when she had taken his arm, she had felt a connection form between them. In the Network, soulmates were a real thing, however they were still rare. They were so unusual that no one had been able to determine precisely what caused them. Sometimes two beings were just so compatible that their souls recognized it and formed a bond.

  Cassidy herself was unaware of what exactly her soul saw in him. To be certain, he was kind of cute. His body was well toned, that was easy to see due to the raggedy nature of his clothes, but she usually liked her men a little taller. His face was also pleasant to look at, but no more. His eyes, however, were a beautiful blue color. The same deep shade you found in the ocean on a stormy day. Mere physical attraction aside, she had only talked to him briefly.

  At first, she was convinced he was an idiot. Instead of pulling the lever to save her, and summoning a guard to fight, she had literally drowned while he bashed the wall with a rock. Somehow, he had managed to bring her back, but it was not a good first impression.

  Once they started talking, it was her turn to feel like a fool. The term ‘doctor’ was something she had never heard before and it threw her off. Still, her soul had latched on to him and Cassidy knew what that meant. She didn’t know all of the reasons yet, but this man could be very important to her.

  When he had exited the dungeon, she had been spared the trauma that Alan felt because she was placed in stasis while the dungeon reset. Because it was the Network that was in charge of the zone at that point, it had recognized that her services would no longer be needed. Her stasis was then cancelled and she found herself in a black void. This was a normal transition zone when dealing with the Network directly, but she wasn’t ready for it after so little time.

  She was so disoriented from this change, and the new offer by the dungeon that Cassidy was unaware of her soul’s attempts to locate its mate. Instead she was flooded with excitement. Here was a chance for her to earn a third stone. It would only be uncommon, but that would be fine since she had already earned a rare. She didn’t know which class it was for, since she wouldn’t actually receive the stones until she was returned to her homeworld. Luckily there was no chance of a repeat class since these were rewards from the Network.

  Her family was already expecting for her to be gone for at least a year, but it had only been seven days. This next offer was also in the tutorial so it should last for about a year as well. This time she would be part of an upgradable dungeon. These were rare, so it would be a good chance for her to experience what it was like. It also meant that there wouldn’t be multiple instances running at a time, so there shouldn’t be any soul damage. Unfortunately for her, while there was only one instance, there was also too much trauma.

  To start, it was a simple assignment. She was a waitress working in one of the small mining camp’s restaurants. It was an easy duty, the worst she had to deal with were rude customers. However, they were thankfully few and far between. Say what you will about Dwarves, but they had a great appreciation for good food and alcohol, and showed their appreciation for anyone who helped them get it. The few non-dwarves who tried anything with her were quickly handled by the other patrons.

  Then came the day of the raid. People had already been talking of a new danger in the tunnels, but it meant nothing to her. Not only had the dungeon been suppressing certain thoughts, but she was safely ensconced in the town. A day after the first reports of kobolds in the tunnels, there came screams from the streets.

  It was midafternoon by their camp time, so there weren't any guests at the restaurant. She was wiping down a table with a damp rag when she heard the commotion. Initially she had wanted to run to the window to look, but something had caused her to keep wiping. Looking back, it was clearly the dungeon forcing her own impulses down.

  The wooden door was kicked in and a group of the little monsters came in and grabbed Cassidy. A few went into the kitchen and came out with Parina and the chef, Gayorg. Parina was another waitress, but she was taking a break and having a drink with the cook. The three of them were pulled into the street and wrapped in cloth and rope so that they couldn’t escape.

  The next part was a little unclear since she couldn’t see through her bindings. They must have carried her through the town and into the mining shafts. Some time later she was dumped out of her wrappings and into a wooden paddock. There were already some dwarves in there and they caught her before she hit the ground.

  For the next hour, groups would appear and toss down a few more prisoners. In the end there were thirty-nine of them. Some were injured, but all of them were shaken up. The wooden posts surrounding them were not so closely fitted that they couldn’t look out, but there was only a gap of at most a centimeter between them. There was no chance of escaping by squeezing through. Before being dropped in, the creatures had done a quick search for any spatial storage items the captives might have had, so they couldn’t fight their way out either.

  They spent just over a day and a half in the sorry jail. The village around them barely deserved the name and probably wouldn’t earn an array from the Network, even if they were outside of a dungeon. All of the inhabitants lived in tents, most of which were falling apart around them. The wall surrounding the town looked like a line of rocks someone had let trail out as they walked in a circle.

  There was one exception, a drow that seemed to be in charge. His name was Mertar and all of the kobolds looked to him for instructions. When one of the smaller creatures killed a beast person who tried to jump out of the pen, it was Mertar who ran him through. They overheard him saying something about needing the prisoners alive.

  While he may not have wanted the prisoners to die, he didn’t seem to care what condition they were in. After the beast person was killed another prisoner soon followed as a result of an injury they took during their capture. He hadn’t told anyone that he had been stabbed in the gut and had eventually bled out.

  As a result, they were taken one at a time into a larger and better maintained tent, and examined by a kobold who was wearing some kind of fancy necklace. He was most likely some kind of priest or shaman, because he examined them and then healed those with serious wounds. Broken bones didn’t interest him, but anything that might prove fatal was cured.

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  Then came the moment when Mertar ordered them to leave. The morale of the prisoners, which was already poor, plummeted. Any hope of rescue would disappear if they were taken even farther away. Then came the march itself.

  It took them almost a day to make the journey, but that was in part due to how slow the prisoners could walk. Cassidy, Parina, and Gayorg were lucky because they had been taken so quickly that they hadn’t had time to resist. Other’s had bruised and broken bodies and required a lot of support to walk.

  They took frequent breaks as well, since they hadn’t been fed the entire time and their stamina was quickly depleted. The elf leading the way was frustrated, but he didn’t urge them on any faster. The worst moment occurred when they stopped by a pool for water. Gayorg and another prisoner were chosen to refill the waterskins since they were still in good shape.

  While Gayorg was bent over filling a canteen, a pair of dark grey tentacles erupted from the water and grabbed him around the waist. He screamed as they contracted and started to pull him into the water. The dwarf who was helping him grabbed his legs and tried to pull him back. Two more prisoners rushed over and helped as well. Cassidy had started to go help, but her friend Parina clutched her tight in fear and she stayed put.

  A third tentacle slipped out of the water and wrapped around his torso. Gayorg’s screams doubled in volume before cutting off as his body was ripped apart. His would-be rescuers were left holding onto his legs as the rest of him was pulled under. When the body disappeared, a pair of kobolds came over and took the legs. They became a snack for their captors on the rest of the march.

  The condition of all of the prisoners deteriorated throughout the long trek. They weren’t given any food and only a few sips of water. It was a surprising disregard for their condition, since Mertar had previously wanted them alive. Either something had changed, or maybe they didn’t plan on them needing to live for too long.

  Upon arriving at the large kobold town they were shoved into small cages. Finally they were given a little to eat. It was greasy pieces of barely cooked meat in a brown sauce. You could barely call it food, but they needed the sustenance. One poor human was unable to choke it down and was beaten until he was unconscious after he threw it up.

  They had an audience for this. Twelve gnomes were already in the cages when they arrived. They didn’t seem that malnourished so they were either being better treated, or they had also recently been captured. They were a silent group and said nothing to any of the new prisoners. It was only about an hour before things got even worse for Cassidy.

  So far she had been doing ok. As a human she couldn’t see as well in the tunnels, but the kobolds had brought some special glowing rocks with them. Her longer legs let her keep the pace easier, and she also required less food than the heavy dwarves. She was still starving, but she was relatively healthy.

  It was after they had all had their disgusting stew that Mertar went into the stone building next door to the prison area. When he came out a few minutes later he was joined by another drow. This one was slightly taller and dressed in fancy clothes rather than armor. Cassidy’s class talent, Quick Read, boosted her identify talent so she could see that he was much more dangerous. There was also a sensation he gave off that she couldn’t place.

  He walked back and forth in front of the prisoners, carving into them with his gaze. When he came to Cassidy and Parina, a malicious smile spread across his face. They were in adjacent cells since they had stuck together since their capture. He snapped a comment to his subordinate, who at first seemed to hesitate.

  Cassidy watched as the smaller elf tried to argue against the orders, but then the taller drow, Oshae, reached out and placed his hand on Mertar’s shoulder. Oshae’s hand gripped him firmly and the younger drow began to shake, and then suddenly he was moving forward and ordering the kobolds to get the two women out of their cells. Mertar had clearly not wanted to follow the commands of the other drow initially, but somehow Oshae had forced him into it.

  Cassidy and Parina were taken into the stone house and sat at a table. Oshae came in and then placed some food, real food, in front of them. Cassidy hesitated, but Parina dug right in. After seeing her friend eating she soon joined her. Their bodies needed these nutrients, and it tasted fantastic.

  The entire time they ate the large drow stood over them, watching. When they finished, he placed a hand on each of their shoulders. He then went on to explain what was about to happen. The prisoners had been collected for a ritual. They would be sacrificed as part of this ritual, their souls being used to corrupt something. He thought they were too pretty to be killed, and if the women were willing he would spare them from that fate.

  All that they would have to do was agree to join his harem. Revolted, Cassidy shook her head and Parina shouted her denial. His hand tightened on their shoulders, holding them down, but Cassidy could also feel some kind of energy trying to snake its way into her. Both of the friends managed to resist, so he went with plan B and chained them up in the bedroom. If they wouldn’t go ‘willingly’ then he would enjoy subduing them by force instead. He was a sick, twisted, monster.

  The next two days were too difficult for her to even think about. It was hard to say which was worse, the time spent chained to the bed, or when she was chained to the wall and had to listen to her friend’s screams instead. Through it all, Oshae never stopped bragging.

  This bastard of an elf sure was full of himself. After hearing his plans, he maybe had a right to be. The strange sensation that Cassidy had read off of him was the dissonance between him and the dungeon. He was a diamond classer who had signed on for this dungeon, but with a secret plan of his own. Once here, he had somehow managed to break out of the dungeon’s control.

  The original ritual that the kobolds, led by the drow, were going to perform, was a simple summoning of some foul creature. Oshae had usurped their plans and instead they were going to use the sacrifice to corrupt something he had brought with him. When he returned to his world he would be able to use this item to gain great power. He wanted to show it to them, but apparently there was an accomplice who currently had the item.

  Since he was already outside of the dungeon’s control, when he saw the two women, he had decided to have a little fun for himself while he waited for the ritual to be ready. The dungeon had tried to prevent this by making Mertar disobey his orders, but somehow the older elf had managed to control him. Whatever he did must be the same as what he tried to do with the women.

  Most of his words initially flowed over Cassidy and Parina since the dungeon was trying to shield them from this information. However, at some point Cassidy was broken out of the dungeon’s control as well. The best she could figure, it was because of the incredible trauma to her soul. It retreated inside of her and her aura faded until it was a bare wisp of energy.

  That was near the end of day one. For the second day she had become more and more unresponsive. The drow on the other hand was some kind of alchemist and had some herbs he kept taking to give him stamina. Cassidy was an apprentice alchemist herself, but she was mentally checked out and didn’t even try to identify them.

  By the time the human had come into the room and plunged his knife into the sick elf’s brain, Cassidy was completely shut down. Her eyes and ears registered what was happening, but her brain wasn’t taking any more inputs. It wasn’t until her friend Parina led her out of that hellhole and into the semilight of the town that she started to return to herself. The next few hours saw her brain starting to turn on again. Her soul was still shut off and her aura was weak, but she started to understand what was happening around her.

  In the beginning she was simply carried along next to her friend. She knew they were away from the enemy town and on the way back to the camp, but the details escaped her. The sounds of battle came from behind her as they trudged on. The first thing she noticed when her thoughts started working again was how swiftly they were moving.

  To be fair, they all had received healing and food from the man her mind now recognized as Alan, the same man who had ‘saved’ her in the other dungeon. However, the speed they were making through the tunnels was remarkable compared to how slowly they moved on the way down. It wasn’t just their buoyed spirits or sustenance in their body. Something about that man was driving them along. If she didn’t know any better she would have said he had some kind of Army Array boosting their speed.

  That was impossible though, not only would she have an interface if she was part of one, but a person didn’t have enough energy to run one until they had achieved at least an opal class. A quartz aura just didn’t have the juice to connect to the Network for one.

  Cassidy could feel something in the air, however. There was a feeling running through the former prisoners, a sense that with that man guarding their backs, they would truly make it home. That collective hope was giving them new legs.

  When they met up with the fighters who were following behind Alan and Thadrick, that hope blossomed and allowed them to fly. Home was soon to be theirs, but then it all suddenly came to a halt as their progress was blocked by a force ahead of them. They were trapped!