I lay there, sprawled on my face, trying to get up. My right leg was dead again.

  What the fuck?

  Was Rose’s spell defective? Had it run out? I managed to sit up and looked around.

  “You ok?” Pallidaddy ran over. His voice seemed slightly distant. Was something wrong with me?

  “Uh, not sure. Could someone get Rose?” I tried to pick my leg up by the knee. Come on, leg, let’s work together. But when I let it go, it just flopped sideways.

  “Sure.” A look of concern crossed his face, and he left to find her.

  I really hoped nothing would attack us. We were still really close to the door, but that was no guarantee of safety, though. I couldn’t see much other than the legs of the fighters around me. The ground beneath me was cobbled stone. The smell of fresh dirt, like after a rain, filled this cavern. This smell was far more wholesome than the funky mushroom smell of the previous one. To be fair, that room had smelt of little till we started making mushroom puree. Bending and twisting, I tried to see what we were going to face, but there were too many people around. I did notice Dax had really nice boots though. Everyone’s voices sounded funny. Was it because I was down so low?

  Wanting to hear what Vyper was saying about possible strategy in an environment like this, I tried to scootch over and, to my surprise, my leg worked!

  Standing up, I looked around. A few people looked over at me, but nothing untoward or interesting was happened. I hopped a few times, stood on that leg, tried a squat and everything was working fine.

  Could body parts have glitches?

  “What happened?” Rose was slightly out of breath.

  “My leg just up and quit on me.” I said, balancing on it. “Though it seems to be working fine now.”

  “Shit,” Rose said, her eyes doing the unfocused darting around of a person searching through screens in their interface.

  Glancing around to make sure we were still safe, I saw the rest of the people come in and the door close silently behind us. Once again, we were locked in.

  “So, ah, I have good news, and bad news,” Rose said, her face serious.

  “Good news?”

  “I know why your leg stopped working and how to stop it from happening again.”

  “That sounds like great news. What is the bad news?”

  “I have to stay close to you. If anything happens to me, or I log off, your leg will stop working. It’s my mana that is powering your leg. Luckily it’s a slow drain, I still regenerate more than it is drawing by a good amount.”

  “Oh, hmm.” I looked down at her again and thought about wearing her like a backpack. To keep her close and keep her safe. That didn’t help when she had to log out.

  First things first. We had to get through this room. Now that I was standing, I looked around. This place was amazing, and just as trippy, if not more so than the last room. The theme was stone ruins and gardens. There were stone arches half standing, crumbled altar looking slabs, small stone buildings, all weathered and covered in climbing vines. Ponds and little streams flowed everywhere. And I mean everywhere, up the walls and on the ceiling. Flowers overspilled their beds, and the grass was growing untended and poked up between many of the stones on the walkway before me.

  There were paths and staircases that led to thin air, but if you moved and changed perspective, it looked like they might, in fact, intersect with something. This was stunning, if eye-watering, and could have been an interactive art exhibit in a museum somewhere.

  I turned to speak to Rose, to comment on how amazing this was, when I saw her mouth was open and moving, like she was talking. No sounds were coming out. Or was it my hearing? I shook my head.

  “I can’t hear you.” I said. Or tried too. My own voice was mute to my ears.

  {MageAgainsttheMachine} - Can anyone hear anything?

  {Hashnel} - No

  {Alizea} - No

  {RusticDragon} Not just me then

  {Atlas} - Not a thing

  {System Error} - Me neither.

  {Pallidaddy} - No, and I tried hitting the stones with my shield; no sound. Though I could feel it vibrating.

  {Barry} - Good to know, Pal

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  {Barry} - Everyone keep sharp. Give us a moment to come up with a plan.

  While we waited, I scanned the room for threats. It looked so peaceful, I could just imagine it with a full moon overhead gilding the stone with silver and sparkling off the streams where they ran swiftly over rocks. It reminded me a bit of the stones in the puzzle quest. That sort of quiet, ancient pagan vibe. Very quiet though, and that was suspicious.

  {Barry} - The current strategy is we are going to form small groups. Form groups of three or four. There aren’t enough healers to go with each, but do your best. It looks like, whatever we are up against; we are going to have to go hunt. And we will do it faster if we cover more ground.

  A new window popped up.

  {Rositilda} - We have to stay together

  {System Error} - I would want to, anyway.

  {System Error} - Is this a private chat?

  {Rositilda} - Yep :)

  {System Error} - Who else should we grab?

  {Rositilda} - I would say Pal, but it looks like he and his wife just joined up with Soup.

  I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Ayerelia, and she was miming joining us.

  {System Error} - Any issues?

  {Rositilda} - meh, but she is a good healer.

  I nodded at the elf.

  {Copperbeard} - @everyoneworldevent For those who don’t know me I am bard. So pretty useless in this place, at least until we can turn the sound back on. I am going to be the coordinator for this party.

  {Copperbeard} - Unless it is dire, please don’t post in this chat. If you have information to relay, send it to me privately, and I will update as needed. Make sure at least one of your group is checking this chat regularly.

  {Copperbeard} - Happy hunting!

  I had to chuckle. Ever the support dwarf. I guess he had to sing or at least speak to make his spells work.

  We dispersed, each group taking a different path. I wanted to go walk on a wall and the others seemed content to let me lead so after we made a group chat for the three of us I headed down a path that looked to lead to the corner through some of those funny little stone buildings and then up the wall around a pond with a waterfall that ran towards the ceiling. Dekka padded along, sticking close. Her ears were held sideways against her head, both her real one and shadow one. Clearly, she wasn’t happy with the lack of sound.

  Ayerelia’s light bobbed along right over our heads, casting a bright white light that reminded me of annoying, too bright institutional light that made everyone’s complexion look bad. Everyone except the elf. She sparkled perfectly in her own light.

  The heavy scent of flowers filled the air; the vines covering the rows of the ornate stone buildings were climbing roses. Had I seen buildings like these before? Maybe on a documentary. They seemed Greek inspired, but the scale was too small.

  {Rositilda} - This isn’t creepy at all.

  {System Error} - What do you mean?

  {Rositilda} - All the mausoleums.

  {System Error} - All the what?

  {Rositilda} - You don’t know what these are?

  {System Error} - Should I know what these are?

  {Rositilda} - Do they not have these where you live?

  {System Error} - Would I ask if they were common?

  {Ayerelia} - This isn’t Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

  {System Error} - What’s that?

  {Rositilda} - Are those players?

  {System Error} - Who would use names like that?

  {Ayerelia} - Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop asking questions. And get some culture.

  {System Error} - Is the culture you mention in reference to the buildings or the Rozen and Guilder what ever?

  I wasn’t sure what people were talking about, but I was sure this question was going to annoy the elf. Looking over to check Ayerelia’s face, I grinned at her, and she gave me a glare back that would have slain a lesser woman.

  {Ayerelia} - I should let you die, you know.

  {System Error} - Already partway there.

  {Rositilda} - Guys! Something is moving in the doorway of the mausoleum over there.

  Following Rose’s pointing finger, I saw a wispy white apparition floating a foot over the stone steps, indeed in the doorway of one of the small buildings. A mausoleum. Now I remembered. They were common in places where it was too wet to bury people. Probably other places too.

  This cavern was a vast, crumbling graveyard.

  This—was—amazing!

  I had watched every episode of Ghost Hunters! 2.0. Watching the way the thing moved, how it was slightly see through, I decided it was likely an apparition, as I had first thought. What I wouldn’t give for a good EMF detector or a pair of those full spectrum goggles. Yes, I could see the ghost, but what if I could see more of the ghost?

  {Ayerelia} - That looks like a Ghost. How do we banish it or whatever one does to defeat a spirit?

  {System Error} - It looks like a grade three, maybe grade two level apparition.

  Both of my teammates looked at me.

  {System Error} - Hey I used to be into ghost hunting as a kid.

  Ayerelia rolled her eyes. One of these days she was going to strain an eyeball or something.

  {Ayerelia} - Of course you were. Fine, how do we banish it?

  {System Error} Typically for low-level ones, you can just tell them they aren’t welcome and they will go.

  {Ayerelia} - How polite of them. But you will notice we can’t speak.

  {Rositilda} - Not that we can hear. Maybe we have the ghosts of our voices?

  That was a good thought. I strode closer to the apparition, its milky white eyes watching me and its head turned, tracking my movement as I approached.

  “Begone spirit! You are not welcome here. Go to your rest in the beyond.” I said, or tried to.

  The spirit watched me and started to rise! It was working. Was it really that simple?

  In a split second, it transformed from a ratty, seemingly innocuous, and slightly see-through person to a terrifying creature. It tripled in size, and its mouth opened so wide I thought its head would split. Its teeth were long and pointy. The thing moved so swiftly I didn’t get a chance to dodge as it plunged right into my chest like it was diving teeth first into a lake. The sensation of it ripping into me was unlike anything I had ever felt before, and would rather not feel that ever again. My soul felt pulled and stretched like the thing was trying to break through a barrier that was made of my life force.

  I gasped and felt something inside me snap back, and the feeling of the ghost inside my skin faded. Grabbing my club, I looked around, but it was gone. The elf and halfling were staring at me wide eyed and Dekka was slightly cowering behind them.

  {Rositilda} - Are you ok? What happened?

  {System Error} - I feel woozy. I don’t want to try that again.

  {Ayerelia} - Check your health status.

  I hadn’t gotten any notifications, but I dutifully checked.

  WTF?!

  My health bar was down by a quarter! And I had a debuff called [Residue of Possession -2 to Con] Of all the times I wanted the system to stop messing up my sight, in the middle of a battle now when it would be useful it stopped. I relayed my status to the others.

  {Rositilda} - The silence is more than just audio, I guess.

  {Ayerelia} - I just messaged Copperbeard about this.

  Then she healed me. How were we to banish the spirits if we couldn’t speak to them?