I saw him, still rolling down the incline. He was still alive though, judging by the panicked grasping at the sides of the crater. I watched him eventually slow himself and looked at Deacon, “I’m not leaving him.”

  The bard swore, “Those things are still screaming, I’ve just blocked them out. I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want to be here when those things decide to find out who started this.”

  I pulled a rope I’d stored in my spatial closet out and started to uncoil it. I looked at Elayne, “If I ask you to hold the rope, can you pull us up?”

  “Us?” She asked, taking one end from my hands. “What are you…” She looked over the edge, “No, you aren’t thinking…”

  “Can you throw it far enough?” I was already starting to tie it around my waist. My hands worked on autopilot, creating some kind of complicated knot that looked a bit like an 8. I’d looped the rope into a sort of harness that wrapped my shoulders and around my waist too.

  “No… where’d you learn to do that?” Elayne asked, getting another rope out of her pack and tying another knot to connect the two.

  “Dying.” I tugged at my harness to make sure it was stable. “I’m hoping Freerunning is going to kick in to make getting down easier… but getting up is my concern.”

  “I’m not going to be able to protect you from the sound.” Deacon said, tearing at the sleeve of his missing arm. He used his teeth to rip it into strips and held them out, “Wet them and stick them in your ears. Maybe it’ll help.”

  Things were quiet as I took another look down. Zaion was looking up, looking truly terrified. “I figured you two would try harder to stop me.”

  Elayne’s expression was complicated, “I… don’t want to leave him either.”

  “And I couldn’t really stop you without hurting you.” Deacon added. “Hurry up.”

  I shoved the pieces of cloth in my ears, made sure they were secure, and looked over to Elayne. After exchanging nods, I looked over the side again, my stomach dropping out from under me. Was I really going to do this?

  Images flashed through my mind. I didn’t know any of them, not really. A long string of men and women, mostly in uniforms. Not until I saw her. A woman with auburn hair in a messy bun. Guilt hit me, and I figured it out. So, I’ve got a hero complex. Good to know.

  I jumped.

  I could feel it as my latest skill took hold. Traction kept me at the right angle, and I started to move, running at an angle to Zaion. I felt it as I left the bubble surrounding Deacon, the cacophony of sound hitting my like a wall. I didn’t stumble though, focused entirely on getting to Zaion.

  As the ground started to level off, I noticed the rope starting to go taut. I looked up and Elyane was holding the end. I was still several meters from Zaion, whose hope filled eyes turned serious. He started trying to crawl towards me, but the loose dirt made it difficult. I held up a hand to get him to stop.

  I looked back up to Elayne, and before anyone could try and do something about it, I undid the knot, giving me just enough to reach him. I could practically hear her swearing, even if it was just in my head.

  I tapped Zaion on the shoulder, and pulled his hand so it was holding onto the rope. “HOLD ON!” I shouted, though I doubted he could hear me, based on the blood coming from his pointed ears. My hearing was slowly fading as well, despite my precautions. We’d need healing as soon as we got up.

  I looked down and saw something starting to dig out of the dirt near the building. It wasn’t a lot, and not coming towards us, thankfully, but more were starting to move around in the dirt, seemingly dispersing from the central location. Elayne was pulling us up, but I wasn’t sure if she could get us up fast enough. This is a stupid idea. I thought, looking towards the swarm and then back to Elayne. I motioned for her to keep pulling and let go of the rope.y to the top.

  I ran towards the swarm.

  I then turned and started to move up the side of the crater, using my momentum to change direction. My breath came out rough, but survival pushed me to continue running along the side of the crater, aiming to keep going up at an angle. Freerunning and Traction must have been helping out, because it started to get easier.

  I hit a particularly loose patch and started to roll, but recovered and only lost a couple meters. I used it as a chance to change directions, and started to move my mana around inside of me. I did it once… I hadn’t tried using the fire or wind manipulation skills much since I learned them, since Deacon had said they were dangerous.

  However the crater was too steep to keep going all the way up. I still have 6 free points from levels… I threw them into Mana Power before I could second guess myself. Then I focused my mana into my legs, trying to do on purpose what I’d only done on reflex once. As I neared the lip of the crater, I blasted the mana from my legs after jumping into the air.

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  I used fire manipulation to cause a small explosion near my feet, and everything else was put into wind to direct me. The world spun right before it seemed to go white from pain. I then tumbled, rolling head over ass multiple times before bouncing to my side and continuing to roll that way.

  I let out a cough and tried to sit up, crying out in pain from what was probably something broken. The screaming stopped, replaced by quiet and worried shouts. I saw Zaion, and let out a relieved sigh. I was dizzy, and in a lot of pain, but I eventually heard Deacon shouting about healing. Oh, right.

  I cast it, but right as I started to feel better, the spell ended, and I suddenly noticed how empty I felt. I winced, and shook my head as Elayne bent over and put me over her shoulder in one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. Probably a cracked rib or two…

  I tried to stay awake, but it was a losing battle.

  I passed out.

  “...anytime now. Once she’s up, she can fix herself and we can keep moving.” I heard someone, but it was hard to figure out who.

  “What the hell happened to her?! She’s never been that… I don’t know. Everything!" A deep, but feminine voice said. Elayne. I mentally labeled her.

  “From what I understand, a lot.” The other voice, Deacon, said. “You’d have to ask her but good luck getting a straight answer. She barely trusts me and I’m positive I don’t even have the full story.”

  “That makes two of us…” I groaned out, followed by painfully coughing up something unpleasantly red off to the side. More groaning, and I looked around seeing the campfire, but it was otherwise pitch black wherever the light didn’t touch. “Where are we?”

  “Some kind of monster den. Something lupine, but it’s been abandoned for at least a month.” Elyane explained. “We’re stuck here for the night because of the sink holes.”

  “Zaion?” I looked around and saw him lying down on a bedroll. I let out a sigh, that provoked another series of coughing. I started to cast my Heal spell on myself, and instantly began to feel better.

  They waited until I was done, but I wasn’t able to fix everything before the empty feeling returned. I could breath easier, though. “Better, but I apparently don’t have the mana to fix myself all the way, yet.”

  “It fixed some of the burns, at least. You’re going to need new shoes, by the way.” Deacon said, nodding at my feet. There were blackened chunks falling off to show off unblemished skin. My eyes went wide. “Didn’t feel it? Your next cast is going to be fun, then.”

  I tried to wiggle my toes, and nothing happened. “That’s… terrifying.”

  “No shit.” Elayne said with a snort, “And you’re lucky you’re injured or I’d start knocking some sense into you. What the hell were you thinking?!”

  “Will you calm down!” Deacon hissed in a low tone. “That screaming is STILL going on, and the louder we are, the harder it is to keep the barrier up.”

  “How long?” I asked.

  “You were out about five hours. I’ve only dropped it once, when we were running, but had to put it back up right away. I can keep it up for a couple days if I need to, but that’s just covering me. With the whole group…” He trailed off.

  “Might be better to turn it off as we travel then. Is it cheaper to dampen than block?” I asked.

  Deacon shook his head, “Same spell, no change.”

  Weird. “No help for it then.”

  We were all silent for a while and I took the opportunity to scoot myself back towards one of the sides of the den we were in. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “Report back, if someone else hasn’t alerted the guild, will file a report and get this developed into a national issue. That’ll force other regional guilds to send people to assist.” Deacon said, laying out our next steps. “There’s already been people pushing to send for aid from neighboring countries before this because of the Grave Woods, but it’s been ignored. The various religions have been needing to get involved, but this…”

  “There was more than one nest there.” Elayne said, looking off in what I assumed was the direction we’d come from. “Probably more under us as we speak.”

  “What, were they all sleeping or something? How can something this big go unnoticed?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Some insects can hibernate underground for decades before coming up.” I heard Zaion speak. He rolled over to face us. “I can barely hear you, but there’s nothing else to listen to.”

  Elayne looked frustrated, “Lady Danielle is right, though. This should have been caught already. Someone has been keeping this quiet.”

  “I don’t understand why, though.” Deacon said, scratching his head underneath his hat. “If I had my hand could take care of this by myself in a week. Most insects are weak to my usual spells.”

  “Most in your power scale could.” Elayne said. She then rolled her eyes, “Even I could clear a nest or two on my own. But… numbers.”

  I nodded, “A single wrong blow is all it takes, right? We’ve got all this power, and could still die from a slit throat.” I chuckled darkly.

  Elayne gave me an assessing look. “You aren’t Danielle. Are you?”

  I sighed and looked at Deacon for help. He shrugged, “I said nothing.”

  I tried to think about what to say. “Can it wait until I fix Zaion’s hearing?” I was stalling, and didn’t really want to get him involved in all of this, but I didn’t think I could get away with not answering her.

  “Sure. I’ll go keep an eye outside.” Elayne said, heading for a hole in the wall I hadn’t noticed.

  I leaned my head back and groaned, closing my eyes. “Deacon.”

  “Yes, Dani?” He said with a knowing tone to his voice.

  “I’m pretty sure I pissed myself. Can you and Zaion look away so I can change?” I hadn’t been able to feel it, but the smell had started to come through. More injuries to worry about. Yay.

  His brow furrowed in concern. “Do you need a hand?”

  I looked him dead in the eyes, “If I get to a point where I can’t change myself, I’d rather you just kill me.”

  Deacon raised his hands defensively and went over to Zaion, who had conspicuously turned to face the other way. With a great deal of effort and frustration, I pulled some clothes out of my spatial closet and got to work getting dressed without control of my lower limbs.

  It… wasn’t a fun time.