Heading deeper into the city, towering buildings reached into the sky in all directions, many of them covered by vegetation, reclaimed by nature.

  Ken stared up. "What if this is Earth in the future?"

  "It’s not," Lucy said.

  "This is just some generated pocket world for us to play around in so we grow stronger," Josh added.

  Luke looked up into the sky. A too large moon hung up there, visible despite the light of day. "What makes you think that?"

  "It’s what this whole thing is about," Josh said. "Like that announcement said."

  "I don’t remember anything about pocket worlds," Ken argued.

  "The message said we have to grow stronger to join the fight against the dark, or something like that," Lucy said.

  "The void," Josh corrected.

  "What does that have to do with the portals and dungeons?" Ken asked.

  Josh stopped and sighed, turning to face the Mage. "They’re here to make us stronger. That’s all there is to it."

  Luke wasn’t so sure he agreed, not after the pink dungeon and Relian. There was more to all this, and this place they were in might very well exist somewhere out there in the universe, far from Earth. Ken’s notion of time travel wasn’t right, though, it couldn’t be. That would mean Earth lost to these Hollows, and that was unacceptable. Also, the city was off. The architecture resembled what you’d find back home. Subtle differences showed everywhere, though, like the floors in the buildings being far too short for humans, and the doors to the buildings were strange for lack of a better word. Triangular and with odd angles, suggesting you opened them by twisting them somehow. All wrong.

  "Here we go again," Josh said, pulling Luke back to their present situation.

  Hollows. Or was it? Two people stood side by side, regarding them.

  "I think that’s people," Luke said. "They’re not running toward us."

  One of them shouted across the distance separating them. "Hey!"

  "Yo!" Josh shouted back. They walked up to the duo, who stood there, waiting.

  Inspected Integrated: Mitch. Bombardier. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Cam. Provoker. Level 6.

  "Hey," Mitch said. He was a short, thin guy in his forties, with red hair and a full beard. Wearing a light blue dress shirt and black chinos, he stood in stark contrast to Cam, who sported an impressive belly, protruding from under a set of leather armor intermixed with green and brown cloth, like a ranger’s garb.

  "Hi," Luke said, holding out his hand. "I’m Luke." Mitch took it, and they shook. Then Cam did the same, giving their names despite inspection being a thing.

  Cam’s gaze shifted from them to their surroundings. "You four alone out here?"

  "There are two of you," Lucy pointed out.

  "We have a group not far from here," Mitch said.

  "I’m sorry, but what do you want then?" Josh asked.

  Lucy looked at him. "You could be a little nicer."

  "It’s fine," Mitch said. "We found something different, and we think we’ll need more people than a party of six."

  "Found what?" Luke asked.

  "A nest," Cam said.

  "We think," Mitch added. "It looks like it was an entrance to a subway system before, but it’s covered in, well, Hollow now."

  "Covered in Hollow?" Ken asked.

  "You’ll see," Mitch said.

  "What do you think?" Josh asked, turning to Luke.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "I doubt we'll find the Hollow Queen just wandering around on a street somewhere," Luke said. "We should check it out, at least."

  "Yeah," Lucy agreed.

  The three turned to Ken, who looked back toward where they'd just lost two of their party members, and then shrugged. "Sure. Let's just be careful."

  With the decision made, the group of four followed Mitch and Cam a little way farther down the street, then crossed the road and headed into a more narrow path that might've been used by foot traffic or maybe bikes. The gaping, empty windows gazing down on them from both sides were a little unnerving, but the duo leading them didn't seem bothered in the least. After perhaps ten minutes of walking, they emerged onto another street.

  "Why did you walk so far away from the group to find more people?" Josh asked as they continued down yet another street.

  Mitch turned to look over his shoulder without slowing. "We sort of walked in a wide circle until we found you. Well, we found another group first, but they were heading back to the portal after one of their friends didn't make it."

  "I think we found that group," Luke said.

  "Dead," Lucy added.

  Cam shuddered. "I think this is starting to get real for a lot of people now. Lots of dead. Not like the Tutorial Dungeon."

  "Here we are," Mitch said, gesturing to a wide square opening up before them as they made it to the end of the street.

  A large statue of a horse-like creature with six legs and horns took center stage. The bottom floors of the houses surrounding the area looked like they might have once been shop fronts, but they were now overgrown like everything else. On the far side of the square, a writhing mass of pale flesh rose into the air, an ominous entrance yawning open and shuddering, as if waiting for something to consume.

  Beyond the statue, a group of four waited for them.

  Inspected Integrated: Freya. Archer. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Lee. Technician. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Carlos. Strongman. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Stig. Aeromancer. Level 5.

  They waved in greeting as Luke and the others approached behind Cam and Mitch. Like when he met those two, Luke stepped forward, holding out his hand for the closest person, Carlos, to shake. The Strongman, a ripped guy in a white tank top and face tattoos, took it and squeezed too hard.

  "Luke," Luke said.

  "I know," Carlos said.

  Rather than shake the other people's hands, Luke stepped back, then took another step back, and turned to Lucy and the others, covering his mouth with his hand and shifting his head a little so no one but his party members would hear him.

  "Hollows."

  "What?" Josh asked.

  "But I inspected them," Ken said.

  Luke shook his head. "Trust me."

  Cam and Mitch turned around to face the group.

  "What's wrong?" Cam asked.

  "Cam. Mitch," Luke said, his voice soft and even as he waved for them to come on over. "C'mere."

  "Wait. What are you doing?" Josh asked Luke.

  Luke turned to him. "Those two aren't Hollows."

  "How do you know all this?" Lucy asked.

  "I'll explain later," Luke said, glancing to the group of Hollows. Well, he could only be sure about Carlos, but it seemed unlikely he was the only one. The others arrayed themselves in a line but still just stood around, like there was nothing wrong at all.

  "What?" Cam asked as he and Mitch drew close.

  "Your group. How well do you know them?" Luke asked.

  "Freya is my sister-in-law," Mitch said. "She knows the others."

  "Ouch," Ken muttered.

  "Carlos is a Hollow," Luke said.

  Mitch guffawed and Cam burst out laughing.

  "What's so funny?" Carlos asked, taking a step toward them. The three others moved forward too, and all of them did so with the same movement pattern, like they were tied together, moved by some outside force.

  "These people say you’re a Hollow!" Cam said.

  "Do they now?" Carlos said, his grin growing wider as he pointed over his shoulder. "There must be some misunderstanding. All we want is help going into that Hollow cave."

  "Stop right there!" Luke shouted, pointing at Carlos. "Cam, get back here now!"

  Cam turned with a frown. "You're not serious, are you?"

  Cam's eyes widened in shock, and it didn't take a genius to tell what'd just happened.

  "Go!" Luke shouted to Josh, pushing him forward as he hurried toward the injured Cam, who was tumbling to the ground. Rather than engage, Carlos and the others turned and ran, sprinting toward the underground entrance of wriggling flesh.

  Josh and Lucy chased them another few steps, but stopped and turned back when it became apparent they would not catch up. "Keep going!" Ken shouted, his hands raised in the air. Vines burst out of the ground, catching Hollow-Carlos, who lagged a few steps behind the other ones. The other Hollows didn't even look back, much less stop to help their fallen comrade.

  "Keep that Hollow alive!" Luke shouted as he got down next to Cam.

  A puncture wound in the small of Cam's back bled through his shirt, staining it red. Examining its state, Luke found it had struck nothing serious, and he stitched it up in no time, ignoring Cam's grunts and whimpers. It was his own damn fault for not listening. Perhaps a little pain would make him think twice before ignoring Luke's words next time.

  "Is he going to be OK?" Mitch asked.

  Luke rose to his feet. "He's fine."

  "Thank god," Mitch said, getting down next to Cam even as he looked toward the struggling Hollow-Carlos. "It's true then? They're all Hollows?"

  "Looks like it," Luke said.

  Mitch hung his head, shaking it. "I don't understand how it’s possible."

  "Hollows came through that opening when you were gone and replaced your friends," Luke said, frowning.

  First, the monsters took the shape of a human woman right when he entered, then they copied Carlos's appearance, then Luke's own, before settling into an ambush. Now this. They were learning, and they were learning fast. Rather than fight this time, they'd retreated. Another trap? Luke got a bad feeling when he looked into that dark opening. This whole dungeon felt off and unsettling, if he was being honest, and it didn't feel like the Integrated had the upper hand.

  Weren't early dungeons supposed to be easy?

  Leaving Cam and Mitch behind on the ground, Luke strode toward the downed Hollow-Carlos. Perhaps the creature could provide some answers to the all-too-real nightmares they'd faced so far, and to what lay ahead.