We made our way out of the Adventurer’s Guild and through the city. I talked to Tobias about my song as we walked. I had thought about who would be the best fit to receive the enchantment. His arrows would grant the biggest benefit while, hopefully, negating the dangers, so long as he fired them while no one was near.

  Tobias pulled an arrow from the quiver that hung at his waist as we approached a large stone temple. We walked around the side of the temple to a side door of banded iron that led down to the catacombs. I performed Kinetic Overload, succeeding at 85%. The arrow in Tobias’s hand began to glow with the familiar red energy before vanishing into his inventory. It would take a precious half second longer to draw than from his quiver, but that was a small price to pay to have an explosive arrow available.

  “Alright everyone,” Arlo intoned as we gathered around the door. “Let’s stick together. These catacombs are massive, my mentor said they extend beyond the walls of the city. We will follow the quest indicator on our map. I will be on point. Tobias, you and Chanter will be right behind me. El, you will be in the middle and ready to support if needed. Abernathy and Hannah will take up the rear.”

  I looked around. Everyone had a look of fierce determination, even Lesh, who sat atop Tobias’s shoulder on his perch of leather. Abernathy looked like he might be sick, but he put on a brave face.

  “There are three forms of undead known to desecrate the catacombs when protections fail,” Elsetha explained. She spoke as if reciting from a book. “Skeletons, ghouls, and piecelings. We are all familiar with skeletons and ghouls. Piecelings, however, are… different. They are the reanimated parts from multiple bodies that are bound together by aggressive entities. They are by far the most dangerous of the three types of undead commonly found in outbreaks within the catacombs. The fact that this is a Copper-ranked mission indicates there should be no Piecelings, or at least none have been seen.”

  “So…this kind of thing happens often?” Abernathy asked.

  “Often enough to have a book recording the outbreaks and undead found within, though the book was fifty years old. It was more common in the past before they installed the more powerful sigils.” Elsetha explained.

  Arlo led us into the catacombs. We descended a narrow set of stairs that gradually curved to the right. He held a torch that burned with a flickering flame.

  Elsetha murmured an incantation and three gently glowing spheres of light appeared. One floated to the front of the party, one lingered in the middle, and the third drifted back.

  “Thank you, El,” Arlo grunted, “I’m going to keep my torch out. It’s a good deterrent against the undead.”

  We exited the stairs into a corridor about four feet wide. Elsetha sent the first light floating ahead of the group, illuminating a well-maintained stone corridor. I glanced over at Tobias, who walked beside me with a shortbow in one hand. The other hand was empty, ready to either draw an arrow from his quiver or inventory. His small falcon’s eyes reflected the flickering flames of Arlo’s torch, darting around the corridor. The bird let out a soft sound that I could just barely hear.

  “I wonder if we’re the first to accept a party mission in Veil,” Abernathy mused from behind.

  “We aren’t,” Hannah noted. They spoke in whispers. “Arlo, didn’t you say there was a premade group that took on a team escort mission to the capital city?”

  “Yeah, I met them on the first day. Pre-formed group of speed runners. They think the capital will have higher level quests and make ranking up quicker.”

  “But… I thought pre-formed teams were against the rules? Something about everyone starting off on equal footing?” I asked. It was something heavily discussed in chats and social media, and had been covered in detail during the informational sessions before being hooked into the machine. There were serious repercussions for it, or so I thought.

  “Rules never stop some people from doing what they want,” Hannah sneered. “Especially if they think bending — or breaking — the rules will benefit them.”

  “Wow, I hope they’re alright,” Abernathy murmured. “Who knows what happens if we die in the game? Are we out of the Alpha? Can we reroll? Thats a big gamble.”

  “Let’s limit our conversation,” Elsetha cautioned. “We need to listen for undead or other hostile entities. They won’t show up on our mini-maps until we’ve discovered them. Stay focused.”

  That made sense. I thought back to the time I was ambushed in the forest with Cataryn. I hadn’t seen their dots until seeing them. I wondered if hearing a hostile entity was enough to make its dot appear as red on the mini-map, or if I would have to confirm it visually.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  We walked for about two hours, our time marked by the number of torches Arlo went through. They lasted about half an hour each, and his fourth torch was nearing its end when Lesh made a soft chirping sound.

  Tobias reached out and put a hand on Arlo’s shoulder. We all stopped, listening. The corridor had widened to about seven feet across. Ancient, worn stones lined the walls. Polished marble floors reflected the torchlight and Elsetha’s magical lights.

  The corridor occasionally curved or had intersections. It looked like a big tangled mess to me on the mini-map, but there was a hidden order to the mess that I could just catch enough of to see.

  We were stopped just before the hall curved to the right, out of sight. No one made a sound as we all strained our ears to hear. I heard a faint sound beyond the bend of the tunnel. A scraping sound.

  Scrape, tap. Scrape, tap.

  Something being dragged, or maybe taking shuffling steps. A red dot appeared on my mini-map as soon as I recognized the sound as belonging to something approaching us. I saw Tobias’s eyes widen, looked back and saw similar expressions on Elsetha, Abernathy and Hannah.

  Arlo’s torch sputtered out. He put the expended torch in his inventory, pulling out a fresh one and lighting it with a sparkstick. Elsetha sent the leading ball of illumination further along the tunnel, to the curve. The red dot on the mini-map burst into motion as the light rounded the bend.

  Arlo pulled his shield up, wielding the torch in his right hand. A skeleton in ragged remnants of cloth sprinted down the hall at us. It was unlike any skeleton I had ever seen or imagined.

  Yellowed bones bound with black and reddish-purple meat crawled towards us, leaning forward. Its fingers ended in sharp, curved bones. The eyes held twin embers of purple, and its teeth chattered. The shape was humanoid, though its gait was inhuman. It had long, matted hair attached to its skull that flopped around as it approached.

  “Side-step left!” Tobias directed. Arlo made the motion, stepping to the left as the skeleton drew closer. It was about thirty feet away when he loosed the glowing arrow taken from his inventory. It cut through the air with a whisper.

  Arlo held his shield forward, pressing his other hand against the backside of the shield and began humming. It was a deep, guttural hum. The air around his shield rippled slightly, as if distorted by heat.

  The arrow hit the skeleton and detonated. The sound was deafening, a keening ring blocking out my hearing for a second.

  Bone shrapnel crashed against an invisible barrier Arlo had enacted, which became semi-translucent when impacted. The barrier held back most of the bone pieces, but a few broke through.

  Abernathy cried out. I looked around and saw him holding his right shoulder. A thin stream of blood dripped between his fingers.

  “It’s ok, it just scraped me,” he deflected. I glanced at the mini-map. The skeleton’s dot was gone. Bones, bits of cloth, and small chunks of meat that reeked of death littered the hall. Elsetha scowled at me and Tobias before turning to face Abernathy.

  “That was overkill. You shouldn’t use that skill in such close quarters, if at all. Here, let me look at it, Abernathy. I will cleanse it so you don’t get infected.”

  “It’s ok, I’m ok,” Abernathy demurred, “I brought plenty of healing potions.”

  “My mana regenerates, albeit slowly — save your potions.” She held a hand over his arm, whispering in a language I was not familiar with. Her eyes pulsed with golden light for a second, then the same light pulsed under her hand. Abernathy’s pained expression eased.

  “Thank you,” he acknowledged.

  “I’m sorry,” Tobias sputtered, “that thing was just so… I panicked. It put everyone in danger. I am so sorry. Your shield ability really saved us, Arlo.”

  “I can only use it once every hour, so let’s be careful. I agree with Elsetha, we should keep explosions to a minimum. The chance of collateral damage is too high.”

  “I’ll enchant another arrow, just in case. Better to have it and not need it. If that is okay with everyone,” I said.

  “Yes, but only use it for an emergency, Tobias. We should be able to kill these things without resorting to that. Did you see how much damage it did? That was intense.”

  “Right, okay. I won’t use it unless we need to. I’m sorry, again,” Tobias reassured.

  “It’s ok,” Abernathy said, “it’s a learning experience. No one was seriously hurt.”

  Lesh chirped, nipping Tobias’s neck. He reached up and scratched the falcon’s neck, a thoughtful frown creasing his face.

  Arlo walked over to where the skeleton had been, kneeling down. A small bone remained, lodged in the floor. He touched it.

  “Just some bone fragments, no coins or other loot. Does anyone want them?”

  “I would, if no one else does,” Abernathy said.

  “I would also like some, how many are there?” Elsetha jumped in.

  “Twenty four,” Arlo counted. He held out his hand and a pile of bone chips materialized. I noticed that the various fragments that has been blown around the room disappeared when he did this. Convenient.

  “Here, each of you take half.” Arlo offered. Abernathy and Elsetha stepped forward and took the bone chips.

  “What do you need bone chips for?” Hannah asked.

  “Alchemical components,” Abernathy explained, his voice tinged with excitement.

  “There are a few ritual spells that can be enhanced with them,” Elsetha said.

  I heard the sound a second before a half-dozen more red dots appeared on the mini-map. A familiar tap-scratch, a lot of them.