- You know I know the tourney’s going on but I don’t think any of us are really paying attention anymore. @ IARLILK (Unverified)

  - Oh come on, you can’t say that. These Fourthers have been sweating and training for years. These guys will be future Dragonslayers. @ Reticular (Unverified)

  - Yeah but like after what Artigan did and with the Witch Tyrant getting… you know. The tournament just feels kinda, anticlimactic? @ IARLILK (Unverified)

  –

  Two and a half days ago…

  Tar’el and Artigan stayed in a small den in the middle of the city. Tar’el called it a den because the space was incredibly cramped with practically nothing that could even charitably be called furniture. No real beds either. From what Tar’el had seen, the Unwanted seemed to sleep in an upright fetal position, their legs coming up to their heads, arms wrapped around their knees.

  Artigan had finally untied Tar’el and took the robes as comfortable blankets while he left Tar’el on the cold hard ground.

  After an hour of silence he wondered if Artigan was asleep.

  If he was, could he kill Artigan?

  When he turned his head to look at Artigan, he saw that the blacklist had his long black robes wrapped around him. There was a constant… fidgeting motion underneath it.

  Tar’el hurriedly looked away, embarrassed at what he’d seen.

  Surely he isn’t…

  –

  The next day.

  Artigan argued with Rax, he met the old leader of the Unwanted in his workshop then walked away in an angry huff. He then yelled at Shara and the air, saying he didn’t need a minder, Rax could just point him towards monsters to kill.

  Before Artigan left, he made fun of Tar’el then slapped him on the shoulder. Throwing the black, robes over him. Artigan told Tar’el that they were a seventh realm creation by the Witch Tyrant and they would keep him safe.

  Tar’el wasn’t sure he wanted it after having seen what Artigan had been doing in them the night before.

  By the time he was about to voice his objection, Artigan had already left Tar’el and Shara behind. Screeching coming from whichever direction he had run off to.

  There was a weird weight to the robes that hadn’t been there before. When Tar’el felt around, he found in one of the pockets, a phone. His heart beat as he realized Artigan had left his phone in there. He hurriedly looked around then turned on the phone.

  No password.

  Though it had been last closed on a notepad app. In it was an incredibly long message.

  Artigan: If you want to save these people, then you’re going to have to step up and do it yourself. Rax refuses to let me out of his sight so it’s got to be you. It’s okay if you hate me, just understand that Rax wants every one of the Unwanted elves dead.

  The first step: Go with Shara and tell her you want to go back and explore the cave system we were at yesterday. Show her the first video on the phone.

  It is very important that you don’t show it to her inside the city. She might freak out.

  I know you don’t like me but it’s up to you to prioritize what’s more important. Screwing me over or saving these people. It’s going to be your choice, not mine.

  Tar’el didn’t know what to think. By the time he looked up, Shara was gone. Chasing after Artigan who was causing screams to echo out from the city.

  That was when Tar’el realized that he was alone in a city where most of the inhabitants saw him as food. He started sprinting after her.

  …

  “I do not understand. There is nothing to check here, yes?”

  “It wasn’t like Artigan was in the mood for you to hang around him anyway. I wanted to get out of the city and the enchanted walls. The magic there unnerves me, you know?”

  That line had come from Artigan’s instructions labeled: If you can’t come up with something, here’s some lines to use.

  Shara was just silent. Tar’el was realizing that her wariness to Artigan did not extend to him at all. She didn’t think he was a threat to her whatsoever.

  Tar’el let his guard down too. He didn’t realize then that it would almost cost him his life.

  He stopped when they got out of range of the crude enchantments on the walls... then they watched the video together. Tar’el hadn’t realized that Artigan had been recording the entire first conversation with Rax… but he still didn’t see–

  Rax said something in his language and suddenly an aura of absolute despair started to emanate from his companion.

  Shara’s hand started shaking. She let out a low pained noise from her throat. That made Tar’el instinctively take a step back. Normally the Unwanted went still or fled when they were unnerved.

  He had completely forgotten about Artigan’s warning.

  She might freak out.

  Her hand went to snatch the phone in his hands as Tar’el rapidly drew back. Then Shara grabbed at her own face.

  Tar’el tried to calm her down. “Shara! We can still save your people–”

  Shara just wailed. “HOW!?”

  Then she sprinted back down the tunnel, back to where they came from. Leaving him alone in the dark. Tar’el cursed as he chased after her.

  “We don’t need Rax to save your people!”

  She didn’t listen, a shadowy hand grabbed his ankle and made Tar’el trip. A clunking thunking noise echoed out from deep behind him. A flickering brown insect antenna broke out from the ground ahead of him.

  Tar’el was realizing that shouting in these deep tunnels without Artigan was an incredibly stupid move.

  He kicked the shadows off of him. Then he sprinted ahead as more hands of the dark came up to grab him. Tar’el jumped, landed, and a shadowy hand snatched his robes.

  Except this time it recoiled. As if touching his very robes had damaged it.

  Seventh realm robes by the Witch Tyrant.

  Tar’el sprinted ahead, outpacing whatever the hell was making the thunking sound behind him.

  He barely saw it, a flash of white in a small crevice. Tar’el came to a skidding stop and backtracked. Shara the Unwanted had hidden herself in a small crevice, just looking listlessly ahead.

  The thunking sounds were still approaching.

  Tar’el tried to drag her out by her hand. But she was so strong. He couldn’t even make her budge. There had been a reason why she didn’t see him as a threat.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Tar’el kneeled to see her eye to eye.

  “Rax is wrong. You are a people.”

  That got her to move her head towards him. Her voice was devoid of all hope.

  “Sire is the best of us, if sire does not believe we are a people then we must not be.”

  “What does it matter what he thinks? You have two people here, I know you’re a people. Artigan knows you’re a person. I am a Leafstalker. I will swear it in front of all my brothers and sisters that the Unwanted are people.”

  Thunk, thunk. The sounds were getting closer. The shadowy hands had found his ankles and were trying to drag him into the ground. They did not reach for the Unwanted.

  “Without sire we cannot show others that we are worth anything.”

  “Shara… You do not have to fight and kill others to show that you are a people. As a Realmer you have the right to be protected, by the Leafstalkers, by adventurers and everyone else. Artigan… has a plan. He thinks you can all be saved without fighting. But we need your help.”

  Thunk. Thunk.

  “My help? What can I do?”

  Thank the Manager for Artigan’s script.

  “Your people look up to and listen to you. Your people need you to be strong. Rax might not be able to save them but you can.”

  Those words seemed to have the effect. She clenched her fists and crawled out of the hole she’d dug.

  THUNK. THUNK.

  Shara finally seemed to register the sounds that were approaching.

  “We should get out of here, yes?”

  “Yes please. I really don’t want to die to whatever that is.”

  “It would be a bad death, yes.”

  …

  A couple minutes later.

  “How do we save my people?”

  “Artigan wants to know how long it’ll take for you to evacuate the city.”

  “Too long.”

  “He needs estimates, how long in hours?”

  “Hours? Maybe one hour. Maybe a little less.”

  “One hour? That’s not long at all for a city that size.”

  It seemed both of them had a vastly different idea of what ‘too long’ meant for an evacuation. It also seemed like the Unwanted were very good with just dropping everything and running when the time called for it.

  Tar’el wrote it down on the phone.

  “He also wants to know what would happen if Rax tried to collapse the tunnels while you were all inside it.”

  “The issue is not the tunnels but the strength of sire. He is… strong. Strong enough to kill us all, yes?”

  “Strong enough to kill thousands of you? Stronger than Artigan?”

  Shara hesitated. “Yes.”

  Tar’el took a breath. “Then we write his capabilities down and see if Artigan can delay Rax for long enough. With enough luck they’ll kill each other.”

  For some reason Shara didn’t seem to find the idea appealing. It didn’t really matter. There was just one thing left.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Trying to get ahead of the last source of potential problems. Maybe it’ll be our best solution yet.”

  Tar’el raised Artigan’s phone. Showing the distress signal used by adventurers, and the message that came along with it.

  –

  A dagger went flying at Shara’s eyes, she barely ducked out of the way as Tar’el spoke to the fleeing adventurer.

  “Stop! I am Leafstalker, Tar’el Ishtare.”

  The adventurer didn’t stop until he was at a bend. The figure hid out of view and flashed a few knives out.

  “Don’t come closer. If you’re really a Leafstalker then the fuck are you doing with a skin shambler?”

  “They call themselves Unwanted, they’re people. Realmers. What’s your name adventurer?”

  “Nice try, I heard shifters like you existed down here. Not giving my name to someone just so they can use my name on my comrades”

  Now that revelation made a shiver go down Tar’el’s spine. He put the phone up as a response. The adventurer’s distress beacon went off as the hooded adventurer felt a vibration in his pocket.

  “Fuck what?”

  “I know you were trying to make a deal with Artigan. When you sent that beacon you weren’t expecting a Realmer to also carry a phone.”

  “Shit, so what if I contacted Artigan. You going to blab about it? Looks to me, that you’re as stuck as I am down here.”

  Artigan had a plan for this too. This time Tar’el decided to follow his script almost exactly.

  “I have an offer for you instead. The skin shamblers call themselves the Unwanted Realmers. They can navigate around this place, they can take you out of here.”

  “Dragonshit.”

  “It’s true. They’re just afraid of being hunted like monsters if they climb up. I want you to go back to Earth and tell them all that they’re people. That the Unwanted have a society down here, they have children and parents and can talk and think.” Tar’el took a breath. “Adventurer, you are being called. Step up or forever be in shame.”

  The figure stepped out, a dwarven adventurer.

  “Fuckity fuck. You really are a Leafstalker.”

  “Of course I am.”

  “Only one of you could say such a cheesy line with a straight face.”

  Tar’el blushed. That had been Artigan’s line, not his.

  “So what do you say, adventurer?”

  The dwarf looked up at the looming Unwanted behind Tar’el, the monstrous face making him look back down. Then back up.

  “Have we really been killing people down here?”

  Tar’el looked behind him. He still wasn’t sure about Shara’s mental state, it was really hard to tell what she was thinking. She stepped forward as the dwarf drew back. Her hand reached out.

  “My name is Xxsharesshvil, you can call me Shara.”

  The dwarf stared at the outstretched hand, he hesitated, reached out with his hand, then drew back.

  “Ah fuck, sorry. Just can’t trust you like that down here. You can call me Ratty though.”

  Shara nodded and drew back. Tar’el felt a bit of frustration for her but threw it to the back of his mind. He hadn’t been any better at first either.

  “We need you to call for a full Guild mobilization. Use my name if you need to.”

  “Leafstalkers and the Adventurer’s Guild are in a spat right now. No offense, but I doubt your word’s going to mean much.”

  “Tell them there’s thousands of Realmers down here, including children. Tell the Adventurer’s Guild we need a full mobilization. If they still won’t move, then message Valee, Zedart and Mahjit, tell them to ask the Leafstalkers what tunnel Tar’el fell into. We need strong escorts for the children.”

  “I don’t know about a full mobilization. I doubt they’d listen to some crazy has-been dwarf that got themself lost in the tunnels. They’ll probably think it’s a last ditch effort to get rescued.”

  “Listen to me. We will be getting these people out with or without you. If you help you can be the first in line to claim the credit for uplifting an entire species from the underground. The Adventurer’s Guild will then look like idiots for not listening to you.”

  Ratty scratched his head he eyed the tall Unwanted next to Tar’el and sighed.

  “Ah fuck it. I still have a safety life left. Have it here.”

  He put his hand out, Shara hesitantly reached out and shook it gently.

  Adventurers and their greed.

  The dwarf gave both of them a grin.

  “You said you needed escorts right? Well, I can get you people that are better than those little newbies. We call ourselves the Eternal Delvers.”

  –

  When they got back it was to a sight of Artigan, standing on top of a mound of monsters, giving out food in stone bowls, looking jolly as always.

  Artigan gave Tar’el a wink.

  “Hey Tar’el sorry for earlier. Why don’t you come up here and help give out food to all the Unwanted? Shara help organize the people.”

  By the end of the day, the Unwanted stopped looking at Tar’el like he was prey.

  And that had just been day one. How far had Artigan planned ahead?

  –

  Present time.

  Tar’el was cursing at having trusted the stupid dwarf and their ‘Eternal Delver’ group.

  Tar’el, Ratty and Sideark were leading one of the main groups of Unwanted children and their parents. The adults were holding up the walls and ground to make sure the tunnel wouldn’t collapse. An echoing thump vibrated the walls around them.

  Tar’el hissed at the dwarf. “I told you to ask for a full mobilization!”

  “Shut up! I messaged Zedart and them didn’t I? Hopefully they’ll meet us in the middle. How’s it looking, Sideark?”

  Sideark, a name that Tar’el recognized, was holding the rear. His voice was not half as confident as when they’d first met up.

  “I need backup! There’s too many goddamn monsters. They’re all fleeing, holy shit! It’s a goddamn beast tide.”

  “Ah fuck!”

  Tar’el yelled into Ratty’s phone. “Didn’t you say you’re stronger than Juniper!?”

  “DIDN’T YOU SAY THIS WAS ONLY AN ESCORT MISSION?!”

  Tar’el was getting the distinct feeling that these ‘eternal delvers’ had vastly overestimated their capabilities. It had taken an entire day before they agreed to at least message for some backup. That had been at Artigan’s insistence, too.

  Now it was starting to look like they’d truly come underprepared. The plan had been to get the children out as quickly as possible. In case the worst happened and Artigan lost. What should have happened was that they would be ahead, quietly navigating the tunnels until they met up with Zedart’s team.

  Now the vibrations were too much and all the adults had to hold up the tunnels in case of collapse. They hadn’t brought that many adult Unwanted in this group because they were hoping that the adults would be able to give them more time if Rax won and started to chase them down.

  What they hadn’t accounted for was just how many monsters there were so close to the city of the Unwanted. They were all fleeing the vibrations too.

  It sounded bad back there. Tar’el nodded at Ratty.

  “You go help Sideark, I’ll hold the front.”

  “Shit, are you sure?”

  “Any monster that breaks through should be fleeing ahead. I can handle any stragglers.”

  I hope. Tar'el didn’t say. He wielded his heirloom dagger. Given back by Artigan himself, an enchanted spear in his left. Crafted by Shara.

  Another thump vibrated the walls around them. Ratty looked back in fear, perhaps wondering if he should be like the monsters of the Cataclysm Abyss, fleeing the noise.

  “The fuck is going on back there?”

  “It’s just two monsters fighting.”

  –

  Ryan used another [Volatile Antimagic Throw] at a turret, causing another massive explosion to echo out again. He turned in midair and threw another [Aura Slash] at a flesh golem, breaking it before it could join the rest of the flesh golems at the center of the city.

  Shara had talked about how strong Rax was. But she hadn’t talked about the insane flesh golem thing that was being built in the center of the city. Enchantments kept repairing the flesh, moving the golem cores around so Ryan couldn’t break them.

  It made no sense. Not a single Unwanted elf was close to being as strong as Rax was. The problem magnified when Ryan realized he had broken a really big rule for adventurers.

  Don’t fight [Mages] in their own territory.

  Doubly so for [Enchanters]. And Rax, it turned out, was absolutely an [Enchanter].

  Rax stood on top of his enormous flesh golem, a simple loincloth covering his body. His arm bleeding heavily from where a blade of aura had cut it. That was also the problem, his blade of aura hadn’t sliced through Rax’s body as it should have.

  Well, I guess it’s showtime.

  As always is 24 chapters ahead!