“Ellis!” a voice called, far away.

  Ellis flinched, bringing his hands up above his head, expecting another blow. But none came. Breathing out a deep sight of relief, he tested the hand Michael had been… working on, and felt nothing wrong. The broken fingers moved like normal, like nothing at all had happened to them. He pinched the bridge of his nose, expecting it to be broken, but it was the same as usual.

  “Get up!” that voice called again, closer now.

  Ellis didn’t want to get up. He was tired. So tired. And the ground beneath him… was hard. He pressed his hand down onto the floor, and felt dirt fill the space between his fingers. Opening his eyes just a sliver, he could see the morning light glinting off of the tree branches that hung above him. He was in the forest, he must have gone on a hunt. Maybe Ada was…

  A swift kick to the ribs made Ellis’s eyes snap open as Ameena shouted down at him, “Wake up already! We’re being attacked, you idiot!”

  Ellis sat bolt upright, looking around to find Michael, fighting guards on horseback. They didn’t attack him with swords, but used spears, trying to maintain distance from the man. Michael tried grabbing a hold of one of the spears, but the guard holding it just let go of the weapon and threw salt into Michael’s perfect face.

  Except, it wasn’t so perfect now. Ellis needed only to glance down at his scar covered arms to know Ameena’s healing wasn’t perfect. When Michael dodged out the way of a spear, he turned his face towards Ellis. He saw that the monster’s eyes were no longer that perfect green. The one he had stabbed was now scarred from the eyebrow to his nose, a solid purple scar running down the eyelids center revealing itself as he blinked.

  And despite the injury that Ameena had clearly been fussing over while he slept, he didn’t seem to have even noticed it. There must have been ten guards Michael was being poked and prodded by, all keeping themselves just outside the tree line of the forest Ellis had found himself in. They must have moved to the forest surrounding the city while he slept. The guards more towards the back, away from Michael and his swinging sword, were roaring at the top of their lungs, “We found them! We have the mana users!”

  Shooting up to his feet, Ellis searched the area where he had been dumped for the night. He kicked away his bag laid out carefully next to where he laid, and found his crossbow, knife and pinecone hidden beneath it. There was no quiver in sight.

  “Ameena! Where’s my quiver!” he shouted, tearing apart the camp as he searched.

  “Here!” she called back, pointing next to her pack near her tent, her eyes refocusing on Michael.

  She had made illusions of him again, all laughing and dancing between the blows aimed towards him. And then she started sprinting along the top of the hill, two men breaking off to follow her. Ellis didn’t see what happened, but after he strapped the quiver to his hip and finished loading the crossbow, he heard that same call from earlier. “We found them! We have the mana users!” from far further away, in the direction Ameena had run.

  Only then did Ellis realize she had stolen his cloak, and that his dexterity had once again dropped to a meager 6. He aimed toward the men attacking Michael…

  And stopped. That bastard didn’t deserve help. It had taken him a while, but the memories of Michael’s twisted face above him, sneering as he rained down blows flooded back into his mind.

  Make him trust you…

  A voice whispered in his ear. And Ellis hated that it sounded like his. So he brought the crossbow up, poured mana into it and pulled the trigger. 6 crossbow bolts leapt forward, and struck down three of the men trying to encircle Michael.

  All of the illusionary Michael’s called back, “Find your own men to fight you little shit! These are mine!”

  Knowing that was all the thanks he would get, he started loading the crossbow, only to see Ameena sprinting past, his cloak flapping in the wind on her back. Her knives now dripped with blood, and once she had left the clearing, it didn’t take long for that call to start up again on the opposite side of where he had heard it earlier, both voices making Ellis feel confused.

  There were only two men left attacking Michael, and Ellis knew they didn’t have long. So he whipped the loaded crossbow around his back and jumped as high as his legs would take him. He started climbing up the nearest tree, since it looked like it had grown out and over the hill overlooking the city. It was clear of foliage once he got past the thicket of leaves, providing a perfect vantage point.

  As he climbed he whispered status under his breath. He saw that he had leveled, so he assigned both free stat points in dexterity just before he reached the top. Being this slow was unacceptable, and the extra stat points made the unbearability of his cloak being stolen a tad less grating

  A child of Anwir:

  *Ellis Marsh:

  Strength: 5 (braces of the strong: +4)

  Mana: 3

  Dexterity: 8

  Perception: 9

  Endurance: 6 (Runner's pants: +2)

  Constitution: 5 (Minor ring of protection: +1)

  Total: 36 (+7)

  Level: 5

  He found the thickest branch that hung over the hill, and he used it as his perch to get a view of the hill. The sight that greeted him made his breath catch in his throat, and he just sat down on the branch, almost laughing at the absurdity of what lay before him. There were hundreds of men climbing that hill, some with swords and spears lining the front of the horde, many of the men behind them holding pitchforks and spades. Each and every one of them wore a hateful expression on their face.

  And at their head, strode the Ant Killer, the sunlight glinting off his golden armour. Ellis activated his truth sight, hoping the necklace would still work at this distance…

  It did. Which is why he started laughing.

  A child of Dumiso:

  Leon Smith:

  Strength: 20 (Guard’s braces: +7)

  Mana: 1

  Dexterity: 11 (guard’s boots: +3(Set bonus: +4))

  Perception: 7 (guard’s necklace: +1(set bonus: +2))

  endurance: 12 (guard’s pants: +3(Set bonus: +3))

  Constitution: 21 (guard’s chestplate: +7)

  TOTAL: 72 (+30)

  Level 15

  Through the status screen, their eyes locked together.

  “There!” he called, pointing straight at Ellis without a second thought.

  He started sprinting up the hill faster than Ellis could flinch. Trying his best to outpace that flat sprint, Ellis practically fell down the tree in his haste to get down. He jumped the last five meters, landing on the floor and rolling to try and absorb the impact. Once back up on his feet, he started running like his life depended on it.

  Those earlier men’s call of where they were echoed through the forest, far further back than where Ameena had set it off originally, and Michael was nowhere to be seen. He assumed they had started retreating, so he sprinted towards the voice with every ounce of dexterity he had. Even after the level up, he still felt far too slow knowing what was chasing him.

  Somehow he managed not to get caught for an entire two minutes during his sprint. He rounded a boulder, and a hand reached out of nowhere and clamped around Ellis’s face, dragging him back behind it. He didn’t scream, since the hand felt familiar.

  Michael let go, squatting down next to Ameena who had a new gash across her arm, which she was trying to heal. Ellis joined them, before saying, “They brought the entire guard. Maybe some of the city too. The Ant Killer is leading them.”

  Ameena closed her eyes at the news, not even bothering to curse. Michael smiled, and seemed to enjoy that little revelation. “So this is going to be fun, I see.”

  “We can’t fight that! We need to run, maybe back to the tunnels!?” Ellis tried.

  “No, the only way they’d know we’re here is if Vanya told them, that stupid…” Ameena’s eyes turned to Michael, a growl tugging at her lips. “Unless you didn’t manage to track down that one that got away?”

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  Michael’s mismatched eyebrows rose. “What? No, I’m pretty sure I tracked him down. He did the whole begging and pleading thing… had to have been him.”

  No lights went off while Ellis stared at him. He was unsure as to what was happening, yet still knew in his heart of hearts that Michael must have made a mistake.

  He couldn’t dwell on that now. “It doesn’t matter! We need to go somewhere! What about the travelstone!? Does it go back to Leno Warde’s house!”

  Ameena shook her head, “I reset at the camp yesterday! It doesn’t lead anywhere right now!”

  The boulder behind them rocked forward as a stone hit its base, exploding into dust that surrounded them. A voice shouted out after Ellis finished flinching, covering his nose to keep the stone remnants out of it.

  “Surrender and you shall be spared! I give you my word! You will be granted a fair trial by his grace Archduke of the Albus Citadel, Pompey Fray the third!”

  Ellis almost pissed himself, knowing it was the Ant Killer talking with that deep voice. But…

  That last name wasn’t something he expected. Mostly because he knew someone else who shared the same surname. He turned to Ameena and studied her. But she didn’t look at him. She was scanning the tree line ahead, like she wanted to retreat deeper into the forest. Ellis almost questioned her right then and there… until he saw Michael, sitting behind her with a wide grin on his face like a child who had just received their favorite toy.

  He stood up, flicked some blood off his blade and was about to step out from behind the boulder, before Ameena grabbed him by the shoulder. “We need to run Michael, we can kill him later!”

  Ellis thought about that, leaning back against the stone. Then he thought about all the men surrounding them. And came to an obvious conclusion.

  He was going to die today. Strange. He could live with that.

  He stopped staring at the tree line and turned towards Ameena, who was pulling Michael back to a sitting position as she half shouted, half begged him to use his head for once. Looking at that man grin and feel all the joy he did not deserve made Ellis’s blood run cold.

  Ellis was going to die today, yes. But so were they. He would make fucking sure about that.

  So he unslung his crossbow off his shoulder like he couldn’t hear men sneaking through the bushes around them. He stood up and stretched, trying to get the knots out of his back. Ellis stepped out from behind the boulder, ignored Ameena’s squawk, and faced the Ant Killer.

  He brought the crossbow up, then poured mana into the weapon as he squeezed the trigger. 8 bolts leapt from the crossbow like a lightning bolt…

  And passed an inch over the Ant Killer's head, every single one of them littering the trees above the long line of guards that stood at his back. The Ant Killer looked at Ellis as his men flinched, all shouting questions about if they were okay, if any of them were hit. Ellis stared back with a bored expression before he shrugged his shoulders, and started to reload his crossbow.

  Ameena grabbed him by the arm and wrenched him back behind the rock, just as the men let loose a fierce battle cry, the ground beneath Ellis’s feet starting to shake as the men charged down the hill.

  “What did you do!?” Ameena roared into his face, a vein popping out of her forehead.

  I kept to that lie I first told you, and provoked them into attacking us before you could strategize…

  Ellis roared right back at her. “We’re all gonna fucking die anyway!” gods, I hope so… “Might as well take a few of those child killers with me!” and I will tell them whatever I must, so that they start with you.

  Ameena stared at him like she could not believe what she had just heard. She shook her head, cursing both Ellis and Michael for fools. She started dragging him away at a sprint, following after Michael who complained that Ellis shouldn’t have started the ‘party’ without him.

  She led them through thick foliage as the stampeding men grew closer, Ellis numbly followed along to Ameena’s frantic run. Her dexterity was far higher than his now that she had stolen his cloak, so he barely managed to keep up.

  They remained uncaught for an hour, the army hot on their heels the entire time. Ellis smelt something foul over his ragged breathing, and pointed the way there. As they ran towards it, they found a missing circle of trees in the forest, with a deep pit buried in the clearing. The Albus Citadel’s foodpit made Solrise’s look like a puddle in comparison. It was almost a valley unto itself with its size, and running along it now, he could see lines of black crisscrossing all of the remains inside of it.

  If there were four hundred men behind Ellis, three hundred of them would have far lower dexterity than he did. Another ninety nine would have dexterity most likely equal to his, and at best a single point higher.

  But one man had far higher stats than his. Higher than even Michael’s. The Ant Killer fell from the sky and landed in the dirt next to Ellis, creating a deep dent in the earth where his feet landed. He didn’t even brace his knees from the impact as he stood a meter away from Ellis. His stare was one of cold menace, but his scrunched eyebrows looked like they were trying to figure out a difficult puzzle as he held Ellis’s gaze.

  Ameena didn’t even turn back around, just started throwing out illusions as she half dragged Ellis away from the man. He crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat, and kicked Ellis in the chest so hard his newly healed ribs cracked. He crashed into Ameena, causing both of them to fall down the side of the food pit.

  Ameena had enough sense not to hold onto Ellis as they tumbled down the foodpit’s bank. She managed to keep her wits about her, since she was able to stop herself halfway down the embankment. She looked up just in time to see Ellis crash into her, causing both of them to fall the rest of the way down into the foodpit.

  They landed directly in the middle of old rotten food, animal carcasses, human waste and scuffed leather clothes. He sat up with a groan, ignoring the trash that lay around him. His torso ached as he leaned over to check on Ameena, laying next to him. She didn’t move, even when he shook her. He rolled her over, and found that her lip was split badly, a deep welt growing out of the side of her chin.

  He laid back down, too tired and sore to care. Or he would have, if every hair on the back of Ellis’s neck didn’t all rise at once. Every part of his body started to shake, like all the adrenaline his body could produce had started pumping through his veins. He didn’t know if it was in his head, but he felt a thousand tiny eyes turn to look at him now.

  He reached for his head to see if there was something wrong… and found black drops covering the entirety of his palm.

  That awful, familiar smell rose up into the air, suffocating the stench of the rot surrounding him. He looked over Ameena again, and she too had landed right in the middle of a black line. Panic took over, his mind almost going blank as shot to his feet and threw her over his shoulder. Without wasting a single second, he tried to scramble out of the food pit. The panic gave way to Ada’s voice, singing that stupid rhyme right into his ear.

  Seal the lids, salt the cracks

  Turn back if you see a line of black

  Or kill a few and see

  A red, a blue, a hundred and three!

  Run as fast you can

  There’s nowhere to hide, young man

  So step on a black drop

  Watch your heart stop

  Because the purple one’s look like the hilltop!

  He tried not to smile at the memory. Half way up the embankment an ant the size of his forearm sprung up in front of him. The red dots lining its back were haphazard and it made no noise, uttered not a sound as it pounced straight onto Ellis’s face. He whacked it out of the way, and it died with a blood curdling scream, like a baby whose skin was being torn off. The sound was so loud Ellis cried out, but it did not cause him to stop climbing.

  In the distance he heard Michael’s laugh, and he looked toward the noise. There the man stood, in the tree line surrounding the foodpit, squaring off against the Ant Killer. He spewed fire towards the mythical man, and the Ant Killer simply dodged behind a tree before the fire could do any real damage.

  Michael had finally met his match.

  The idiot tried to chase him around the tree with the torrent of flames. The Ant Killer waited, and simply cut off the arm with the fire once it rounded the trunk of the tree. The hand fell to the floor, and the Ant Killer seemed to try and say something. Michael headbutted him before he could, and the tall man stumbled back into the trees, disappearing from Ellis’s view.

  Michael wagged his finger to the tree line, then turned to Ellis. He gave a mock salute, raised, his sword above his head, and then charged into the forest.

  Ellis made it to the lip of the food bank just as Michael disappeared and the ground seemed to birth another ant right in front of him. It was blue, and it dwarfed the Rass’s he had fought in that forest long ago, the creature's terrible mandibles standing head height and pointed directly at Ellis’s face. This one lumbered forward and tried to bite his head off, but Ellis managed to duck out of the way.

  His dodge caused Ameena to fall from his shoulder. Her weight took Ellis with her, making him fall back just as the ant slammed its head where Ellis’s feet had just been, leaving a deep crater in the dirt.

  Once again, he tumbled down the side of the embankment he had painstakingly climbed, and landed in an old antpisser carcass, the rotten skin sticking to his hands as he pushed himself out of the muck. Back in the food pit, thousands of black ants swarmed him before he could even get to his feet.

  Once he managed to stand, a million pinpricks started to crawl up his legs, and it wasn’t long before they had crawled to every other inch of his body. They reached his face even as he swatted at his skin, and dug into his nose, into his ears. He felt them get into his pants, and he wished he’d been lit on fire instead.

  Because the pinpricks bled, and where he bled the ants feasted.

  He smacked himself in the face, frantically trying to get them out of his eyes as he looked for Ameena. She was covered in a blanket of black and red, and she fought back with half hearted smacks at her face and body. She had been hit harder than Ellis would have thought, her arms moving in a jerking motion across her body.

  He threw himself at her side, trying to get the ants off her face and body, abandoning the attempt on himself. But as he wiped, he felt all the skin on his hand dissolving, like he had stuck it in a fire and refused to move it.

  Kill her… kill her! His voice roared through the chittering deep in his skull.

  He crawled on top of her body, straddling her hips as he ignored all the pain, the rage making it disappear. His skinless hands grabbed her throat, and he squeezed as hard as he could…

  But then his hands fell off.

  He tried to head butt her, but his skull felt like it caved in from the single blow. Try as he might to kill Ameena, the ants would not stop. He screamed, but that only let them into his mouth. They bit at his tongue as he tried to chew them to death, but then he felt a larger jaw latch onto his upper arm. It wrenched with a sickening crunch, tearing his arm off at the shoulder joint and throwing him half way across the foodpit.

  He crashed into something hard, but he had shut his eyes tight so he didn’t know what he hit. That didn’t matter though, because now his eyelids were being eaten through. He stopped chewing when they tore through his cheeks, his eyeballs, his ears. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t feel anything.

  Except for the ants. And they’re feasting.