Several city guards leading the mass of people in front of them drew their spears while the commander stepped forward.

  “Halt! By the order of the city, state your name and class.”

  “We don’t have time for this. There is a horde of Deep Skinwalkers behind us. We’ve collapsed the tunnel to buy some time, but we need to leave.” Vorin confronted the commander in the middle of the two groups.

  “Ridiculous! These mines are safe. We have gotten reports of a group of adventurers slaughtering our miners down here, however. You wouldn’t know about that, would you?”

  “Please, you’re not listening. We did not kill your miners. The Deep Skinwalkers did. Who gave you this information?”

  “That is none of your concern. Now, we will take you into custody until we can clear this up.”

  “Commander, we will come with you willingly, but we must inspect the person who gave you this information. They could be a skinwalker. Your people and the city could be in danger.”

  “How do we know that you aren’t skinwalkers trying to trick us now? No. We will take you all up to the city and clear this up once above ground.”

  “Fine. Let’s get moving then.”

  “First, drop your weapons.”

  “Absolutely not. If you are skinwalkers then I will not have my party be defenseless.”

  “Are you resisting my orders then?”

  Vorin sighed. “I suppose I am, but only for your own good.” He turned and gave a little nod to Synexus.

  “Guards! Attack! Take them alive if possible!”

  The mass of guards started approaching with their weapons ready. Synexus willed a blanket of shadowmoss out of his garden to fall atop the forward attackers completely cutting off their lines of sight. The party took off down a side passage and he immediately grew a wall of trees to block anyone chasing them.

  Unfortunately, the group didn’t get far before cries of fear and pain rang out behind them from the large group. It was clear the skinwalkers among them had sprang their attack. Vorin stopped the group.

  “We have to help them.”

  All the class chosen nodded and started going back down the tunnel. When they got there, Synexus stored his trees back in this garden with a thought and they got their first glimpse of the massacre.

  Guards’ corpses littered the tunnel with their throats ripped out. Blood flowed down the tunnel in a river of death. From the looks of it, the skinwalkers were in the middle of the group and attacked as soon as the guards were distracted.

  Further up the tunnel they saw three guards and the commander fighting off deformed humans and dwarves. They were all skinwalkers except for the guardsmen and the ignorant commander.

  Without any hesitation, the group jumped in to help save the lives of the four people still left living. Cloud blades cut through flesh as they dismantled swaths of skinwalkers. Fire lashes restrained the ones in the middle of attacking the survivors. Prith ran into the group and his blade started dancing its dance of slaughter. Zuls positioned her bonded around the survivors and fended off attacks from the horde of skinwalkers. Razor Vines shot from the sides of the tunnel effectively skewering dozens of the monsters. Shell started playing a song of healing for the survivors. Vorin sat down with the commander to assure him they were going to be okay.

  Minutes later the sound of battle quieted until not a single monster remained.

  “You…you saved us. What were those things?”

  “We told you. Deep Skinwalkers. It seems the mines are infested with them.” Vorin nodded at Synexus once again, but this time it was for him to use his sensors to check their validity as humans. He nodded back, giving the all-clear. “Alright, we have confirmed that you are not our enemy.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Of course we weren’t! But I can see now why you were so skeptical before. Those things looked exactly like our brethren. I thought you all had used some sort of mind skill on them to attack their comrades. It wasn’t until they started to unhinge their jaws or dislocate their arms that I realized you were speaking the truth. We need to inform the Gold King.”

  “We’ve been trying to get back to the surface. The skinwalkers have been more prepared for us then we first realized.”

  “Well, let’s start walking up the tunnel. We aren’t too far from the surface now. Maybe another mile or so up this main tunnel.”

  Vorin nodded and helped the commander up. As a group they all started walking over the dead bodies of the foul monsters towards the entrance of the cave.

  ***

  Half a mile up the tunnel they ran into another setback and one they weren’t sure of how to proceed. A magical darkness filled a section of the tunnel. No one could see how long the section was and no matter what they tried, nothing could produce light in the space.

  There were talks about trying to find another tunnel to the surface, but no one knew the cave system well enough to assure the group wouldn’t get lost. That made the decision for them: going through the darkness.

  Preparations were made and they tied themselves to a partner with some rope that Kumo had. From there they would hold hands with the person in front of them. If combat broke out, then they would let go except they would still be tied to their partner that way no one would get lost alone if the worst happened.

  With their plan set they started on their journey through the magical darkness. The minute they stepped in all their perception was muffled. Even their hearing sounded as if they were underwater.

  Synexus was paired with Kumo. He was at the back of the group. In front of them were Zuls and Prith. Followed by Yu with Gene riding on top. Then two of the guards followed by a guard and Shell. Vorin and the commander took the front.

  Zuls had recalled all her bonded before delving into the absolute darkness.

  Inch by inch they moved through the darkness never letting go of the person in front of them. Each of them knew at any moment something could go horribly wrong and in the event of an attack it would be hard not to accidentally injure an ally. This was a clever trap laid by their enemies.

  Time was almost non-existent. All that existed was stepping forward once more through the darkness. Muffled voices could be heard from their allies every now and then. Even Shell’s telepathy seemed to be affected somehow. It was a potent darkness.

  Synexus spent his time counting the steps as they walked through the treacherous dark. It wasn’t until step 618 that something went wrong.

  A slight tug on his rope made him stumble a bit. He squeezed Kumo’s hand, but it wasn’t there. When had he let go?

  Another tug except harder this time made him pick up his pace. He spoke out to tell Kumo he was still there. His words came out muffled like the others. Panic set in and he went to squeeze Kumo’s hand again except this time it was there. Relief washed the panic away a moment after it arrived. He went back to counting his steps.

  Step 630.

  Step 680.

  Step 711.

  A much bigger tug forced him to fall to the ground. He reached out but couldn’t find Kumo once again. No one was in front of him or at least not in arm’s reach. Where had they gone?

  With some effort he rose to his feet and dusted himself off. There was a smaller tug on the rope, and he walked towards it this time in hopes it was Kumo telling him to head in that direction. He grabbed hold of the rope and followed it only to find that it had been cut.

  His mouth opened and he tried to yell out to Kumo, but nothing came out. He tried again and still nothing. He continued to scream silently in the dark for what felt like an eternity until a hand reached out and grabbed his arm to pull him forward. A moment later he stumbled out of the darkness and into the normally dark cave lit by his little mushrooms.

  Kumo was standing there with his arm in her hand and the other half of their severed rope.

  “What happened to you? We’ve been waiting for nearly twenty minutes.”

  “I’m not sure. My senses were messed up and then our rope was cut. I kept feeling you tug on the rope, but I couldn’t seem to follow it.”

  “Synexus, I wasn’t tugging on the rope.”

  That’s when shrieks rang out from the darkness causing the group to take off in a sprint up the tunnel.

  ***

  Vorin and the commander led the group through the endless darkness. Step by step they made their way towards the entrance to the surface. Half a mile wouldn’t take them that long with their increased stats. He held the commander’s hand firmly, the commander held onto Shell’s, Shell held onto the guards behind her, that guard held on to the guard behind him, who held onto Yu’s side whose tail was held by Prith, who tightly grasped Zuls’ hand, and Zuls tried her hardest to hold onto Kumo’s. No one let go.

  Kumo’s hand did slip out of Zuls for only a second before they found each other again, however. That’s why the second darkness turned into sunshine, and they stumbled out of the cave, she was relieved to see Kumo and Synexus stumble out just fine behind her still attached to each other via their rope.