Synexus sat on the cold cave floor with the soft glow of the bioluminescent fungus casting shadows on the walls. Kumo reached down and helped him up which was what he was waiting on. As soon as his sensors made contact, he got the notification he was wanting.

  Kumo’s DNA: 100%

  Human Skin: 100%

  That was proof to him that he was with the right group. He would have checked the others, but from how close the shrieks in the dark were, they needed to get moving and get to the surface. Their whole group took off running following the fungus lights.

  After half an hour of running, Synexus started to get a hint that something was wrong. They should have reached the surface already, and none of the tunnels looked familiar. He felt that they either found a way to fool his sensors or Kumo was stuck in the wrong group with him. Whatever the case, he didn’t want to let them know that he had doubts. Something needed to be done, however, so he decided to speak up.

  “Shouldn’t we have hit the surface by now?”

  The guard commander turned around before speaking. “I must have gotten the distance wrong. As long as we follow your lights we should get there though.”

  His answer was good. None of the skinwalkers could have replicated his ability to grow the glowing fungus. Still, something felt off about the way the guard commander answered. First, he needed to test Kumo.

  Reaching out at the edge of his area for Progress Garden, he started to grow a normal vine in the ceiling of the cave nearly twenty feet in front of them. Due to the rapid growth, some of the rocks started to fall created a cloud of dust.

  Before the dust touched any of them, a gust of wind was conjured to blow the cloud away. That let him know it was in fact Kumo. They were either both in danger, or the whole group got turned around somehow. More tests were needed.

  Knowing his friends as well as he did, he knew that if one of them got injured in anyway then Shell would play a song of healing on her ocarina. Now, if they were really his friends then he didn’t want to hurt them, but a small injury was necessary.

  Timing was critical for his plan to work. In his head he analyzed their pace and where their feet would be within two seconds of where they were from the time he started to analyze. His target would be Vorin. The sound of his footfalls replaced the rest of the sensory information, and his only focus was timing.

  Vorin’s foot left the ground. It made its journey through the air. This was Synexus’ moment. As soon as the foot started to come down, he grew a controlled blade of razor grass in the perfect spot. Vorin’s foot came down, and the razor grass went straight through armor and flesh. Immediately, he went down and Synexus recalled the razor grass into his garden.

  “Are you okay, Vorin? What happened?”

  “I’m fine. I stepped on something sharp.”

  “That’s strange. I don’t see anything that would have done this damage.”

  Kumo took up a defensive position at the group’s back. Other than her, no one else reacted, which proved what Synexus had originally thought. Just to be sure however, he looked straight at Shell and spoke.

  “Aren’t you going to play a song of healing for him?”

  “Oh right. How silly of me! Let’s see.”

  She walked closer until she was inches from Synexus. He knew this was where the game would end and the danger would begin. At any second perfect copies of his friends could attack.

  Shell bent down to check out Vorin’s foot for herself before turning back to him.

  “I don’t think he needs it.”

  “Are you serious? Whatever it was went through his armor and into his foot. He can’t walk.”

  “No, she’s right Synexus. Look, it’s fine now and I can walk.”

  Before he could lean down and look, Vorin got up and started to move again. Synexus, however, stopped him.

  “You are incredible creatures; I’ll give you that. This was a test to see how committed you were to this game, but I’ve already figured it out. You can stop your act.”

  He looked back at Kumo who was nodding to him telling him that she knew as well.

  “Synexus, we don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s us!” Vorin shouted.

  “None of you are acting quite like yourselves. Besides when I touched Vorin when he fell, I confirmed my suspicions. On top of that, I noticed how quickly my stamina was going down. If you were my real friends, then my stamina would be regenerating faster due to Zuls thus going down slower.”

  “Clever boy.” The fake Vorin started changing. Half his face lost its skin. The eyeball bulged out. His tongue grew until it touched the ground. A hideous gargling laugh started to emanate from the monster before the rest of the skinwalkers joined in.

  Fake Yu started growing her legs out until her wings were touching the top of the passageway. She spoke in a cold, insidious voice.

  “Can we eat them now?”

  “No. We need these two to feed the hatchlings.” Fake Zuls said.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “That’s why you were playing to this charade? To lead us to your nest?”

  “Why yes. Our hatchlings like their food fresh. Unfortunately, we could only get the two of you and not your whole group.”

  Kumo raged and a violent gale tore through the tunnel toppling everyone. A cushion of air pushed Synexus back to his feet before a storm of cloud blades severed limbs and heads alike. As soon as their fake friends died, screeches filled the tunnel from all directions. Seconds later, the fungus light started melting into shadow and then grew into the shape of Kumo. That’s when Synexus realized how they had recreated his trail. For the past forty minutes they passed hundreds of fungus lights which meant they had another horde on their tail.

  “Kumo, we need to go. If all those lights were skinwalkers then we are going to have company sooner than we think.”

  “I know, but which way. We could go back which we know will get us closer to the entrance, but there is no telling how many of those things are behind us. Or we can push forward and hope to find another path.”

  As she finished her sentence, a loud crash of falling rock echoed throughout the tunnel behind them.

  “Well, that answers that. Let’s go!”

  Kumo grabbed Synexus’ hand, and they took off running further into the cave system. They were both hoping there would be another path to take. If not, then they were heading straight for the skinwalker nest which didn’t sound like a place that either of them wanted end up in.

  ***

  After rolling out of the cave entrance and into the sunlight, the group fell down exhausted in the grass. Zuls called out Element and had him seal the entrance of the cave with his ground magic.

  Ten minutes passed with complete silence. Their close call with death had been too close for comfort. Vorin finally spoke while pulling himself and the commander to their feet.

  “Okay, we need to make our way into the city and get a larger force to contain the enemy. Some proper cave lights are essential as well. Shell, Yu, and Gene will stay here and watch the tunnel entrance from a distance.”

  Everyone stood up getting ready to go. Kumo took off walking towards the stairs after untying her rope.

  “Woah, hold up Kumo. Before we head out, we need to do one last check that everyone is who they say they are.” Vorin called out while helping Yu and Gene to undo their rope.

  Synexus walked over to Kumo and placed his hand on her.

  “She’s clear.”

  He walked up to every member of the party after that and placed his hand on them.

  “Looks like everyone is clear.”

  “Can you grow a plant so we can ensure you’re who you say you are?”

  “Of course.” Moments later he held out his hand and instantly a flower grew in the palm of his hand.

  “Good enough for me! Alright let’s head into the city.”

  As soon as everyone turned away towards their destinations. The flower melted back into the flesh of Synexus’ palm. Then he followed.

  At the gate the guards were surprised to see their commander return with so few of their fellow soldiers. The commander told their story while embellishing a few parts. All the guards present looked amazed and horrified. Forty minutes later they were on their way to see the king. If they were going to get more people, it would have to be a mix of guards and the king’s private guard.

  Walking through the city was in complete contrast with what was going on under it. The streets were lively. People were shopping at vendor stalls or eating on outdoor patios. Chatter filled the group’s ears, and they caught several glances.

  Heat poured out from blacksmith shops. The sound of metal ringing against metal could be heard from a street over. People were yelling at their friends over the sound of some bards playing in the middle of the crafting district.

  The group didn’t participate in any of this, however. All of them were so paranoid that they could be surrounded by skinwalkers and not even know it. How many of the citizens had been kidnapped and copied? What if the whole city had already fallen and it was all a facade?

  It took an hour to walk through the large city and up the steps towards the king’s palace. The beautiful feat of architecture was made of black granite with gold accents wherever accents made sense. It was five stories tall and magical flames danced along the outside walls through some form of enchantment.

  The commander told the door guards that they needed an immediate audience with the king and had to go through explaining the situation again before the group was finally let into the palace.

  They were led through massive rooms that had pictures of their royalty lining walls. High class furniture that looked like it had never once been touched, filled the rooms. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere in the building. When they finally arrived at the king’s counsel chamber, they all stared up at the throne.

  A mighty dwarf sat atop the throne with a serious face. One could learn his history from reading the experiences from the wrinkles, and scars upon it. His hair was a deep auburn, and his skin was tanned to match the color of caramel. Two piercing brown eyes stared at the group and almost seemed to see entirely too much. When he spoke, it felt like the ground itself was moving.

  “Commander. Explain.”

  “Your majesty, forgive me for the intrusion, but it is of the utmost importance.”

  “Then get on with it.”

  The commander bowed deeper, and the rest of the group followed.

  “We just barely escaped the caves. There is an infestation of Deep Skinwalkers a thousand strong down there. Our miners and most of the guards I took with me to investigate, have died.”

  “Impossible.”

  “He speaks the truth, your majesty.” Vorin blurted out.

  “Who are you?”

  “Vorin. I’m the leader of this party. A skinwalker tricked us into your mines by acting like a miner in trouble.”

  “Hmm.”

  The group looked at the each other waiting for the king to continue. When he didn’t Vorin spoke again.

  “We need more class chosen to fight the blight before they come for the city.”

  The king sighed. “Fine.” He then leaned over and whispered to one of the attendants.

  “100. No more, no less.”

  “Thank you, your majesty.”

  The king nodded and waved them to leave. All of them moved towards the door except for Synexus. Vorin noticed that he wasn’t moving and called out to him.

  “Synexus, what are you doing?”

  “Vorin, what if the king has already been replaced. Shouldn’t I check?”

  Shock flashed over Vorin’s face. That possibility hadn’t even occurred to him. He had never met the king, but some of the mannerisms were odd. While rolling the idea around in his head, Synexus started moving toward the king.

  King’s guards lowered their spears, but he didn’t care. He just kept walking up to the throne.

  “Halt! You will not get any closer to King Drawgdar!”

  Still, he kept pressing forward.

  A spear flashed out as quick as lightning. Vorin gasped and went to run to stop Synexus, but before he could, his friend’s torso shifted in an unnatural way to evade the attack.

  With a hiss and an evil chuckle, Synexus jumped over the guards and went to bite the king. Right as his hands touched the royal figure, a massive two-handed gilded axe appeared and sliced him in two.

  Alarms started ringing out and the guards approached to detain the group. The commander, Vorin, Zuls, and Prith were yelling over each other to explain that they weren’t monsters, but the guards kept walking towards them with spears ready to attack. They only stopped when Kumo let out a horrifying shriek and then morphed into an exact copy of the king.