Flames sizzled out among the treetops and ash drifted down, sticking to Ozrul's pale, long face. The raging bonfire cast dancing shadows over his massive figure. He stood over Khaled, who was writhing on the ground, breathless and choking.

  "Is Kroh alive?" he asked.

  "Kroh mad!" the level eight shouted, regaining his uneasy footing.

  The frost orc rubbed the back of his head, then bee-lined for Whitcomb and yanked the dazed assassin upside down, dangling him by his left leg. Like a rag doll, Kroh swung him against a mound of snow, snapping the assassin's leg from gripping it too hard.

  Whimpering in pain, Whitcomb pulled himself across the ground, inching away.

  Why?

  He must've known better, there was no escape. Three of the four frost orcs remained. Team Soul Viper only eliminated one of them, and with a cheap trick at that.

  Pathetic.

  "Kroh eat," Krohman shouted, stomping toward the felled assassin.

  As the frost orc raised his foot, I intervened with a swift flick of a shadow and Kroh fell backward, his foot rolling out from underneath him.

  A deafening shriek escaped the orc's mouth, but I cut it short, ramming a jagged shadow rod up from the ground and into the back of the orc's skull.

  Ozrul and Gizzord pivoted on their feet, attempting to pinpoint my location. The mage raised his staff in my direction, but I pulled my arm back like I was pulling the lever on a slot machine. Darkness formed a hook, swinging in behind the mage.

  "Dodge," Ozrul screamed, but it was too late.

  The hook pierced through the back of Gizzord's neck, and I ripped his lifeless form up into the woods as I stepped out of the darkness and into the bonfire's glow.

  Ozrul gripped his blade, boots digging into the snow as he prepared his assault.

  "I don't think so."

  Confusion cracked the level ten's stoicism, his pale brow knitted together and wrinkled. "Mawtongue?"

  Then he saw it in the corner of his eye—a pitch black claw attached to a thin arm, reaching out of the tree behind him.

  The frost orc threw himself away from the tree, wildly swinging his blade. Bark splintered and the tree collapsed, but the claw extended its grasp. Ozrul backpedaled through the bonfire, his back toward me. He ignored the flames catching onto his coat as he swung the scimitar into the claw.

  "What the fuck is this?" Whitcomb cried. "Khaled, get up!"

  Iron screeched off the shadow as if it was slicing against the grain of a grinding stone. The blade cracked, then shattered and Ozrul dove backwards, ripping a pouch from his inner coat pocket. He blew the crystalized powder into the air, which caught the bonfire's light as it bloomed.

  The bright flash of light wiped out the shadow claw. Wasting no time, Ozrul rolled back onto his feet and shot toward me, his cloak still ablaze.

  Annoyed, I flicked a shadow out from underneath his own feet, mid-stride, and drew it up through the back of his leg. Blood spewed from the vertical incision through his quadriceps. Ozrul tumbled, and I seized another shadow courtesy of the bonfire's flickering flame, guiding it through his throat. Ozrul's head fell from his shoulders as I walked into the bonfire's warm glow, holding my hands out over the wicking flames.

  "Which one of you has my belongings?" I asked politely.

  Nyx sat up with her back against a tree. Blood trickled down her forehead, staining her dark grey face wrap. Khaled was still slumped over on the ground, kneeling on all fours with a hand over his chest, trying to reclaim his breath.

  +1575 XP

  +460 Karma

  "Five, four, three," I said, turning my gaze to Whitcomb, who scurried back on his broken leg. "Two, one."

  He screamed and defensively flung his hands up. I snapped my fingers and a razor sharp shadow thread separated his pinky and ring finger at the knuckle. His pitch heightened, bloodied digits falling before his eyes.

  "I don't fucking have it!"

  I saw Khaled reach for a poisoned needle in the bandolier on his waist, and I activated Dagger Step, teleporting on top of him. He pinched a needle between his fingers, but I grabbed his hand and applied a bit of pressure.

  The needle fell into the snow and I ripped the bandolier from his waist, tossing it into the bonfire.

  "I told one of your junior associates to let it go. Has Soul Viper ever heard of sunk cost fallacy? The elf is dead. I told him. I'm telling you. She's gone. It's my fucking fault. I never should've let her tag along. Misfortune followed me on Earth, why wouldn't it track me here, too?"

  I let go of Khaled and turned to Nyx. She stood on wobbly legs, leaning against the tree holding her dagger in a reverse grip, squeezing it tight.

  "You're joking, right? Put it down before you hurt yourself. It's simple, give me my stuff back and answer my questions."

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Make me," Nyx spat, and I triggered Dagger Step's second charge.

  I appeared in front of her and grabbed the edge of her blade with my bare hand, holding tight as she pulled on its hilt with all her strength.

  I wrangled the blade free, swung her into my arms and pressed the blade to the side of her neck.

  Do it. You know you want to.

  "Be quiet, I'm working," I muttered under my breath, locking eyes with Khaled.

  I recognized the unmitigated fear spreading across the assassin's face as I held what was precious to him tight with a knife to her throat.

  "Let her go, it's all here!" Khaled threw a cloth satchel at my feet.

  I pushed Nyx off into the snow and scooped the bag up, quickly sorting through it. I was pleased to discover my gold, the Black Diamond contract, and dungeon key were all intact, so I slid the sack into the inner lining of my coat.

  The assassins didn't move a muscle, watching intently as I paced back and forth in front of their bonfire.

  "You two really screwed everything up... She'd still be alive if it weren't for your involvement. Deep down, I know you were only following orders. I doubt you even wanted the twice failed gig. That didn't bode well, did it?" I waved my hand through the cloud of crystalized dust still clinging to the air, shifting the warm glowing light in my palms. "But in the end it's more fun to allocate blame."

  "Whitcomb..." I pointed at him, then made a slicing motion across my throat with my finger, amplifying the intensity with an improvised sound effect. "I don't know why, but what you did to those bandits makes me want to..."

  I scowled, partially disgusted with myself for salivating over the hundreds of ways to painfully kill and dispose of him.

  "Never mind. Torture's scarier when it's improvised. Discussing it beforehand really takes the wind out of its sails, don't you think?"

  The trio looked like beaten down, pissed off dogs searching for an opening to rip my throat out with bared fangs. Too bad they were just chihuahuas. Without cheap poisons, or heart-stopping horseshit magic, they were well and truly fucked.

  "Where are we?" Nyx asked, bravely breaking up the quiet.

  I scratched the bottom of my chin. "Yeah, I'm not sure. But I really liked your God's Tear theory. What was it you said, my shadow reached for the key?"

  Nyx tried playing off the stinging realization I had somehow eavesdropped on their conversation, wiping the blood from her brow with the edge of her sleeve.

  "My eyes are never mistaken."

  "Hmm.. Interesting," I said, playing with the crystalized powder in the air, manipulating the rays of light with my fingers. "What do you see now?"

  "Nothing."

  "What about you two? Do you see anything out of the ordinary?"

  Despite the straightforward question, they held their tongues. I snapped my fingers, taking Whitcomb's middle finger off his wounded hand, adding it to the collection of loose digits at his feet.

  His scream pierced the forest's quiet veil, echoing outward.

  "Why me?" he moaned, gripping his bleeding hand.

  "I'm not sure myself. It's out of the ordinary. I barely knew them, and they were no saints. Still, they didn't deserve what you did, and I intend on seeking comeuppance on their behalf. So, if you have a suicide pill, now's the time to take it."

  Whitcomb gulped, then sucked in a breath of frigid air that must've come with a confidence booster. "You don't scare me, prick. You have no idea the levels of suffering one must endure to become a viper."

  "Oh," I said, genuinely surprised by his response. "Fine."

  I picked a loose dagger off the ground and tossed it at Khaled's feet.

  "I've heard enough from him. Cut out his tongue."

  Khaled stared down at the dagger, remaining still, like he didn't just hear my demand, the nerves making themselves apparent on Whitcomb's face as the two exchanged glances.

  I laughed as the insanity I always tried to keep under lock and key made its escape.

  "Do it now, or she dies and I promise it won't be pretty."

  "Don't do it," Nyx objected, voice cracking under the pressure.

  The glow from the crystalized dust faded, casting the campsite into a swarm of shifting shadows stirred by the bonfire's flickering flames.

  I raised my left arm, molding a pitch black serpent out of the darkness. It emerged from the snow like a cobra straightening itself out to a snake charmer's tune, swaying in front of Nyx.

  "I'm sorry," Khaled muttered as he picked the dagger off the ground.

  Snow crunched under his boots. Whitcomb scrambled back, snapped leg slowing him down.

  "Stop!" he screamed.

  An abrupt guttural howl interrupted everything as the cooked frost orc covered in third degree burns opened his eyes and pushed himself off the ground. He turned on his feet, disoriented, still howling his lungs out. I sicced my shadow serpent, tearing out his throat in an instant. His body hit the ground, my ears ringing.

  +320 XP

  +45 Karma

  Suddenly, the sky cracked open far above the roasted treetops. Blazing white text appeared stark against the endless dark.

  Selection Process Complete

  Challenge Scenario Engaged

  A resounding 'no' was halfway out of my throat when my voice box evaporated along with the rest of the molecules making up my body. My soul hurdled through time and space. Memories of the distant past coalesced with the present, melding into an indistinguishable mess.

  Viessa?

  I saw Vicky's face with the elf's ears, staring at me from the top of the stairs in the dark place I never wished to revisit.

  The visions fleeted, and my senses returned as the universe spat me out into overwhelming brightness. My back hit the sun-kissed floor, finding myself thankful for the three foot drop, I stared up the rippling cerulean portal, and rolled out of the way as Nyx, Khaled, and Whitcomb came tumbling out and hit the ground.

  Disoriented with a brief bout of motion sickness, I peered through my fingers at our new surroundings. We stood on one end of a sprawling limestone platform in the middle of the desert. An overlapping chorus of sharp hisses was accompanied by constant rattling and slithering. The noise escaped up along the sides of the platform.

  Karma's Gaze exploded with countless statuses. I snapped my eye shut, and adjusted the filter, completely shuttering the ability. Thousands of level ten snakes, writhed in a slithering mass across the sand surrounding the arena.

  Rows of jumbo, wrought-iron weapon racks stood tall, lining the end of the platform at our backs. Although no sun could be seen in the clear blue sky, an intense blazing light beat down from above.

  The Desertbound Expanse Challenge Scenario

  Rewards: 2500 XP and ???

  Kill the Sandswallow Worm

  The Desertbound Expanse? Justice, are you the one recycling naming conventions, or is there another god I can blame for this laziness?

  Heat sweltered, and I kicked my size 33 frost orc boots off, letting the limestone tile sear the bottoms of my feet as I stared straight ahead, looking for the worm. Unlike the previous realm, an aggressive breeze swept across the platform, carrying thick sheets of sand with it.

  "There!" Nyx shouted, pointing to the air. "Galdir's instruction!"

  Khaled and Whitcomb cocked their heads, looking up, into the sky, neither of them attempting to hide their confusion.

  Then, I saw it. A towering shape loomed at the far edge of the platform, shrouded in wind-whipped sand. Its bloated body surged upward, towering over 10 stories high. Dozens of eyes studded the front of its bulk, glistening like inflamed boils. Its mouth yawned open into a wretched maw displaying rows of jagged teeth that stretched back into its pit of a mouth. A grotesque tongue, barbed and slick, lashed through the air as if tasting for prey.

  I shuddered and turned my attention to its status.

  Target: Sandswallow Worm

  Level: 12

  Karma: +50

  Additional Data: N/A

  "Justice, is this a joke?"