The blue sparkles around Patrick meant he teleported.

  It was a childish thing to think about, but my pride as a scout wouldn’t allow me to not at least mentally acknowledge once that the giant man dressed in noisy armor didn’t actually succeed at sneaking up on me. He somehow learned of my exact location and had someone teleport him here, there were only a few wizards in the capital who could do it. But they’d instantly comply in a heartbeat if a Hero requested a teleportation spell.

  And blue sparkles always hovered around the person who just teleported.

  My silly reassurance of Patrick not being able to sneak up behind me though was quickly overridden by the part of my brain pointing out he was only ten feet from us. It would take no more than two steps for him to get within distance of us and smash my head like a fragile egg with his warhammer.

  "If you want to know where Elane is buried," Patrick said, his voice oddly calm, "she's east of Rocky Crossings, under an apple tree. I marked it with a small pile of stones."

  Hellene's laugh was sharp and bitter. "How incredibly kind of you to tell us where you buried her after murdering her. Should we thank you for that courtesy?"

  Patrick's brow furrowed, his grip tightening on Glacierbreaker. "There's no reason to be rude. I gave her a proper burial, which is more than Andy would have done."

  I glanced around frantically, assessing our situation. No other visitors in sight. The tall stone walls of Hallows of the Crown surrounded us, and we were stuck between Patrick and a huge stone statue.

  "By the way," Patrick added casually, "I’ll be forced to shout to the guards that you’re dangerous criminals who need to be killed if you try to run away."

  My stomach dropped. We were trapped. Glacierbreaker could shatter bones with a single blow, and Patrick's armor would make my dagger about as effective as a toothpick.

  "Patrick," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "could you give me a few minutes to pray and give my respects to Elane? Before whatever happens next happens?"

  Patrick looked surprised, then almost embarrassed. He lowered his hammer slightly. "Oh. Sure. Go ahead."

  I turned away from him, clasping my hand against my hook and bowing my head. My old man image faded away as I shut down my disguise. Even if futile, it’s easier to use weapons without the disguise. My mind raced frantically for a plan, any plan that might get us out of this alive.

  Behind me, I heard Hellene's scornful voice. "So which of your heroic friends sent you to finish what Andy started? Jesse? Heather?"

  "No one sent me," Patrick replied, his tone defensive. "I found you by myself."

  Hellene snorted. "Of course you did. And I'm the Queen of Elska."

  "Well… technically I did have help," Patrick said with a smirk. "You should ask Will about Tavish."

  I barely registered his words as I cycled through possible escape routes. We couldn't run—Patrick would freeze the ground with Glacierbreaker, bonding our feet to the terrain with ice. Fighting him head-on was suicide—his stats and equipment outclassed ours by leagues. Shouting for help was pointless—the guards would follow a Hero's orders without question, no matter what they heard.

  That's when I remembered Hellene's backpack. Out of all those items I'd collected over the years—one specific object came to mind.

  “Serathiel luminae thurion, melwas eirian talúme. Vaelorin silthar? ondras, elenya miriel varune.”

  The Elvish words sounded strange and awkward on my tongue. God, it’s been so long since I had those private language lessons. Here’s hoping I didn’t totally butcher the pronunciations.

  I heard Hellene shift beside me, her robes rustling against the grass. I could feel Patrick's eyes boring into my back, watching my every movement with suspicion. When I finished speaking, I turned slowly, positioning myself in front of Hellene protectively.

  "What was that?" Patrick asked, his hammer still held loosely in his hands. "What did you just say?"

  "It's an elven prayer," I replied, keeping my voice steady despite my racing heart. "I've always liked the sound of it. Elves have a way better language compared to ours."

  Patrick's brow furrowed, confusion replacing the cold determination in his eyes. "Since when do you know Elvish?"

  I shrugged, trying to appear casual. "I studied it for the Thorns Catacombs Dungeon, remember? All those signs in the dungeon were written only in Elvish, pointing which direction to go. And whatever magic lets us speak the language here didn’t cover Elvish. I had to learn it manually to read those signs."

  And pay the elf tutor a few gold coins out of my own pocket too even though it was for the benefit of the party.

  Patrick seemed to consider this, his massive frame shifting slightly as he adjusted his grip on Glacierbreaker. Then, abruptly, he changed the subject.

  "Was it Hellene who cleared out your storage at Tinkerbank Treasury?"

  My mind raced. So that's what this was about. Patrick wasn't just here to kill us—he was gathering intelligence first. He wanted to know who else might be helping me, who else the Heroes Party needed to worry about.

  Perfect opportunity to mess with him.

  "My best friend did it," I said simply.

  Patrick's reaction was immediate. "I'm your best friend," he blurted out, not even using past tense despite our current circumstances.

  I arched an eyebrow. "You think you're my best friend? Why would you think that?"

  Patrick's face flushed. "I'm your only drinking buddy. I get you gifts all the time. I'm the only one in the Heroes Party who's ever been nice to you."

  I couldn't help it—I chuckled. The sound seemed to catch Patrick off guard, his face turning an even deeper shade of red.

  "What's so funny?" he demanded.

  "You think a guy who spies on me for Andy and would literally be an accessory to my murder is my friend?" I asked incredulously. "Patrick, I didn't even ask you to join me when I made plans to leave the Heroes Party."

  Patrick bit his lower lip, looking suddenly uncertain. "You... you only didn't ask because you knew I wanted to be with Jesse."

  I fired back without hesitation. "I didn't ask because I already asked my best friend—who said yes."

  Patrick's face turned crimson, his knuckles white around Glacierbreaker's handle. "If I'm not your best friend," he shouted, "then who is?"

  That's when I felt Hellene press something into my hand from behind—a simple glass disk she pulled from the backpack while partially hidden behind me. Patrick's eyes widened as I grabbed the glass disk from behind and quickly lifted it above me. He was moving his warhammer back for a swing, taking a step forward, as I felt Hellene grab onto my shoulder. This was a contest though Patrick had no chance of winning.

  He might have the superior constitution and strength, but I had the superior dexterity.

  “Oh you son of a-”

  The glass disk shattered against the ground before Patrick could finish the curse.

  A thick mist engulfed me instantly. I couldn't see anything beyond my nose, but I felt Hellene's iron grip on my shoulder, her fingers digging into my flesh like talons. The sensation was oddly comforting amid the disorienting blindness.

  "Don't let go," I managed to say before the mist swallowed my words.

  My stomach lurched as if I were falling, though my feet remained firmly planted. The world twisted, stretched, and compressed all at once. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the mist began to dissipate, revealing our new surroundings.

  We stood in a corridor of mirrors. Our reflections stretched infinitely in every direction—hundreds of scouts with a hook hand and white-haired enchanters staring back at us. Patrick was nowhere to be seen. There was a soft glow from the edges of the mirrors, making everything easy to see. The mirrors around and below us, a white mist hovering above us.

  "By all the gods," Hellene muttered, releasing her death grip on my shoulder. "Your Elvish is a crime against nature. It's like listening to someone gargle gravel while choking on a fish bone."

  I couldn't help but laugh, partly from relief, partly from the absurdity of her criticism being her first concern. It had been an absolute guess that Hellene would know Elvish since she was half-elf.

  I had said two things in Elvish- find a glass disk among my stuff and keep a hand on me after handing it to me.

  "Really? That's what you're worried about right now?"

  "What just happened?" she demanded, ignoring my question. Her violet eyes scanned our mirrored prison with growing suspicion.

  I opened my palm to show her a shard of the glass disk which I dropped to the ground. "Mirror Maze Trap. Found it when I was scouting Mist Dream Dungeon last year. When accidentally broken, it teleports everyone within twenty feet to a pocket dimension—this maze."

  The dungeon always had a layer of thick mist covering the floor, hiding dozens of glass disks which easily cracked when stepped on. I lost count of the times I accidentally triggered these traps. But I always found the whole ‘dimensional pocket’ aspect of it fascinating, it was just like the Inventory Box only people could actually get sucked in.

  So I kept one of the disks with other stuff at the Tinkerbank Treasury. Fredrick was damn lucky he didn’t accidentally crack it and trigger the trap when he took my stuff.

  Hellene's eyebrows shot up. "And you just happened to have this conveniently tucked away?"

  "I collect things, remember? It was mixed in with all that 'junk' you were complaining about." I gestured to the endless corridor of mirrors surrounding us. "There's a magic portal at the end of this maze that'll take us back to where we teleported from."

  "And Patrick?"

  "He's in here somewhere, just not with us. The magic separates people who aren't in physical contact when they teleport."

  Before I could explain further, a tremendous crash echoed through the maze, followed by the distinctive sound of shattering glass.

  "Was that—"

  "Patrick," I confirmed grimly. "Breaking through the mirrors instead of solving the maze."

  I said a quick prayer of thanks to whatever deity might be listening that Hellene had maintained her grip on me during the teleportation. If we'd been separated like Patrick was, our chances of survival would have plummeted dramatically.

  [Skill activated: Enhanced Perception]

  The world around me sharpened—sounds became clearer, scents more distinct, and my vision cataloguing every reflection around us. Another sound of breaking glass made me wince, Patrick was only half a mile away at my best estimate.

  "Stay close to me," I instructed, sensing her shadowing me as I walked. I didn’t look ahead though, I looked upward.

  The mirror walls towered a good twenty feet high around us, their edges jagged and sharp like crystallized teeth. Looking up, I could see a thick swirling mist obscuring the ceiling of the maze.

  "How are we supposed to escape before the brute catches up to us?" Hellene whispered, wincing as another crash of shattering glass echoed through the labyrinth. "He's literally breaking through the walls."

  "There's a mirror ceiling above the mist," I explained, pointing upward. "It reflects the entire maze layout. With my heightened senses, I can see through the fog to map our route."

  I squinted, focusing my enhanced vision. The mist gradually thinned in my perception until I could make out the reflective ceiling. The entire maze spread out above us like an architect's blueprint—corridors, dead ends, and at the far northwest corner, a circular chamber that had to contain our exit portal.

  It took me five tries with this Mirror Maze Trap before I caught onto this trick.

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  "Follow me," I murmured, leading Hellene down the leftmost path.

  We moved in silence, our footsteps barely whispers against the glass floor. Another crash of shattering mirror rang out, but to my relief, it sounded farther away than before.

  "He's going the wrong direction," I whispered, allowing myself a small smile.

  Hellene nodded, the tension visibly easing from her shoulders. After a few more minutes of careful navigation, she muttered, "It's completely unfair that he can simply smash his way through while we have to solve this ridiculous puzzle."

  "Trust me, the maze is punishing him for it," I replied, guiding her around a corner. "Magical traps like this don't appreciate brute force. They tend to respond... creatively to those who try to cheat."

  The breaking sounds grew increasingly distant as we progressed, confirming my suspicion that Patrick was being led astray with each wall he destroyed. After about ten minutes of careful navigation, we emerged into a massive circular chamber.

  In its center stood an imposing stone archway, easily twelve feet tall. Within its frame swirled hypnotic patterns of light—blues, purples, and whites dancing and intertwining like liquid stars.

  "The exit portal," I confirmed, approaching it cautiously. "But we've got a problem. If Patrick reaches this exit within thirty minutes of the trap triggering, he'll be automatically teleported back to the Hallows of the Crown like us. We need to make sure he get’s stuck here past the half hour mark."

  Hellene's eyes widened. "Because then...?"

  "Then he’ll be teleported to the entrance of the Mist Dream Dungeon," I explained, feeling like for once we might actually get a break. "It’s at least ten days' journey from the capital. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about him interfering until after we beat the Reflecting Water Dungeon."

  Assuming of course Patrick still planned to not let the Heroes Party know I was alive. It was obvious he was hoping to kill me and keep it quite at the grave site. He could send a warning by messenger bird to the Heroes Party from near Mist Dream Dungeon, but I doubt he’d admit to them I was alive AND I also tricked him with a magic trap.

  All these details about the trap were revealed if you scanned the glass disk. But I was pretty sure Patrick didn’t get a chance to do so, too busy trying to knock my head off with his hammer.

  I heard the sounds of breaking glass and felt my heartbeat pick up speed. He must have reached a edge of the maze and changed directions. Only this time he was definitely going in the right direction, he was heading straight towards us from what my enhanced hearing told me. Every crack and splinter sound of glass getting closer by the minute.

  I turned to Hellene, desperation clawing at my chest. "I need you to cast Instant Grace on me. Then step through the portal."

  Hellene's hands were already moving, her fingers tracing arcane patterns in the air as she began her incantation. The words sounded foreign and made the hairs on my neck rise up.

  Those same words tumbled from her lips at twice the speed compared to before though, each syllable crisp despite the rapid pace. All that practicing of saying rhymes quickly had paid off. A warm, tingling sensation washed over my body as the spell took hold, my limbs suddenly feeling weightless.

  "Now go," I urged, gesturing toward the swirling portal. "I'll slow him down."

  Hellene fixed me with a hard stare, her violet eyes flashing. "Absolutely not."

  "Hellene—"

  "It's both of us or no one," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. "I'm not leaving you behind to face that brute alone."

  I wanted to argue, to insist she save herself, but another crash—much closer now—cut my protest short. Time was running out. I simply nodded, touched by her loyalty even as fear clenched my gut.

  I sprinted back into the maze, following the sound of shattering glass. The Instant Grace spell made each step feel like I was gliding, my movements quicker and more fluid than normal. I darted through the mirrored corridors, the reflections of myself multiplying with every turn.

  Using the ceiling as my guide, I navigated toward Patrick's position. The crashing grew louder, more violent. He was close now, perhaps only two or three walls away.

  I skidded to a halt, my mind racing. Sneaking up on him was impossible—even with Darken Stealth, he'd see me coming from a dozen different reflections. So the option of trying an attack with Initial Strike and Opportunity Killer couldn’t work if there was zero chance of getting behind him.

  So it looks like I won’t be trying to kill him today…

  I didn’t want to admit I felt relief at that. Given everything, I should be disappointed. But as a therapist told me years ago in another life, it was more important to understand what you feel versus what you ‘should’ feel.

  There was only one viable approach with Patrick- I needed to be bait. I needed him to chase me away from the exit, keeping him occupied until I was confident he’d miss the thirty-minute mark but at the same time get back to the portal in time myself.

  A single misstep would mean both Patrick and me would end up together either at the grave or at the dungeon entrance, leading to a quick death.

  I drew my dagger and sliced my palm open, wincing at the sharp sting. Blood welled up immediately, warm and sticky.

  [HP: 148/151]

  I smeared the blood across my leather armor, creating a gruesome tableau of injury. I wished I hadn't used my last Disguise Self charge—it would have been perfect for creating a more convincing illusion of fatal wounds.

  Finding the perfect position, I leaned heavily against a mirrored wall, leaving a smear of crimson handprints. I arranged myself in a pose of exhaustion, one knee on the ground, breathing heavily as if barely conscious.

  The next crash was deafening. Patrick's warhammer shattered the wall directly in front of me, sending glass fragments exploding outward.

  The mirror shards didn't fall as I expected. Instead, they hung suspended in the air for one breathless moment, glittering like deadly diamonds. Then, as if pulled by invisible strings, they shot directly at Patrick with terrifying speed.

  As I told Hellene, magic mazes didn’t like it when you cheated.

  Most disintegrated against his enchanted armor, bursting into fine crystal dust that sparkled in the air. But I noticed with grim satisfaction that several found their mark, wedging into the small gaps between his armor plates. Patrick barely flinched as blood began to seep from these tiny wounds.

  I didn't waste a second gawking. The moment the shards launched their assault, I bolted, using the distraction to sprint around a corner. Instant Grace made my movements fluid and fast, my feet barely touching the mirrored floor.

  "Will!" Patrick's enraged voice echoed behind me. "Come back here, you coward!"

  I darted through the labyrinth, glancing up frequently to track my position against the ceiling's reflection. Each turn was calculated—never moving directly toward the exit portal, but never straying so far that I couldn't reach it when needed.

  The thundering footsteps behind me grew closer, then farther, as I manipulated our chase. Occasionally, I'd slow just enough to let Patrick catch a glimpse of me disappearing around a corner, my blood-smeared form a tantalizing target always just out of reach. Sometimes it was just a bloody hand print on a wall to point him where to go.

  "Stop running!" he bellowed, his voice bouncing off the mirrored walls. "We need to talk!"

  "Sure thing," I called back, deliberately letting him hear me. "Right after you put down that hammer!"

  Another crash of breaking glass told me he'd chosen to go for a more direct path rather than follow my twisting route. I changed direction, consulting the ceiling map again. Eight minutes had passed since we began this deadly game of cat and mouse. Taking into account the ten minutes before then, just twelve more minutes and Patrick would be someone else's problem.

  The chase continued, my confidence growing with each passing minute. I was faster, smarter, and had the advantage of knowing the maze's secret. Patrick was powerful but predictable, his frustration making him sloppy.

  "Will, I'm not going to hurt you," Patrick called, his voice closer than I expected. "You need to trust me!"

  I almost laughed at the absurdity. "That's rich coming from the guy who helped Andy try to kill me!"

  Ten minutes into our chase, I was feeling almost cocky. Instant Grace still flowed through my veins, making my movements unnaturally swift and precise. I had this under control. Just a bit longer, and—

  A high-pitched whine cut through the air, a sound I recognized instantly from countless battles. My blood turned to ice.

  Bull Charge.

  Pure instinct took over. I leapt straight up, pushing off with everything I had, Instant Grace amplifying my jump to impossible heights. My body twisted in mid-air, contorting to make myself as small a target as possible.

  Then the world exploded into glass snowflakes.

  I barely registered Patrick's movement through the shattered mirror corridor. One moment I was suspended in mid-air, the next my heightened senses captured him in terrifying detail below me—a golden-glowing meteor of destruction streaking through the maze at impossible speed. The air itself crackled as his armored form rocketed past, pulverizing everything in his path.

  No mirror shards this time—the walls disintegrated into a fine crystalline dust that filled the air around me. I squinted desperately, terror gripping me as countless microscopic glass particles swirled like a blizzard. One flake in my eye could blind me, and I had no hands free to shield my face as I fell.

  The golden aura surrounding him left a phosphorescent trail as he shot beneath me. I'd seen this ability demolish stone walls and turn monsters into red mist. Nothing survived direct contact with Patrick during Bull Charge—especially not simple glass.

  Bull Charge was one of Patrick’s most devastating abilities, letting him charge at inhuman speed while covered in an invincible aura.

  Then came the stop. As inhuman as his acceleration had been, his deceleration defied physics even more dramatically. One instant he was a golden blur traveling a hundred miles per hour, the next he was standing perfectly still, his massive form halting with impossible precision exactly where he wanted to be—directly beneath my falling body.

  I was still falling, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  Patrick's eyes met mine as gravity pulled me toward him. There was no malice there, only cold determination. He casually lifted his arm, the massive warhammer extended outward, and caught me with an almost lazy backhand from the weapon's hilt.

  The impact was catastrophic. All air evacuated my lungs as the blow connected with my midsection. My body folded around the blow like paper, then launched backward with terrifying force. I sailed through the air in a helpless arc, limbs flailing uselessly.

  When I crashed against the mirrored floor, my body instinctively curled into itself like a wounded caterpillar. Pain radiated from my torso in pulsing waves that threatened to drown my consciousness. Every breath brought fresh agony—cracked ribs at minimum, possibly broken completely.

  [HP: 75/151]

  [Acquired Status: Hemorrhage]

  The notifications made my stomach drop even further than Patrick's blow had. Half my hit points gone from what had essentially been a casual swat. He hadn't even used the hammer's striking end. Just a love tap with the hilt, and I was already halfway to death.

  I’m pretty sure I also looked it as I coughed up blood, the metallic taste not unfamiliar. And as if to add insult to injury, I could feel Instant Grace wear off.

  “It didn’t have to be this way you know.”

  The crunching sound of broken glass under steel boots could be heard as my former friend walked towards me.

  “Elane didn’t even see it coming when I freed her. Just used a dagger from behind for a quick cut and it was over for her.”

  A part of my brain which refused to be distracted pointed out how there was eight minutes remaining before time was up. I tried moving, but my spine wasn’t ready to straighten out yet. The best I could pull off was a sitting position as Patrick’s large figure came closer.

  “That’s what it really was, I freed her, not killed her. She was suffering in this place and now I sent her to a better place.”

  He was practically standing over me now, my blue eyes just a shade lighter than his. One pair of eyes looking down coldly, one pair looking up with reluctant resignation.

  “You’re suffering too… so I’m going to free you. That’s all this is Will, me freeing you.”

  “That excuse is so rotten, I’ve smelled goblin turds which stink less.”

  We both turned out heads to see a half-elf enchanter standing at least ten yards away, a few destroyed mirror walls between us and her. Patrick didn’t even take a defensive stance as Hellene quickly mumbled incantations while waving her staff.

  I tried opening my mouth to tell her to stop and run, to tell her every single one of her offensive spells wouldn’t even tickle Patrick.

  What we didn’t realize, was he wasn’t the target.

  [Acquired Status: Telekinesis Target]

  I feel no shame in admitting I made a very high-pitched scream as my body was suddenly lifted up in the air and pulled towards Hellene. This wasn’t some gentle carrying of my body with it’s internal bleeding and cracked ribs. It was a invisible force treating me like a damn sack of flour which continually squeezed and jerked me around in the air.

  “Stop you hag!”

  All Hellene did was practically cackle like a hag as she was dashing down a mirror corridor with my body flying in the air to follow her. Between the motion sickness and the occasional wish for my body to either stop hurting or die, I noticed Hellene must have cast Instant Grace on herself because she was definitely moving with a speed and grace I hadn’t seen before.

  I didn’t have long to notice though before I slammed into a mirror wall when Hellene turned a corner, cracking both it and probably another rib.

  [HP: 68/151]

  I could see the old woman glance back before continuing her running.

  “Damn sorry boy, try going limber.”

  “How does limber stop the wall.” I slurred out as I heard Patrick breaking a glass wall behind us. Bull Charge was his only ability which actually involved speed, all his other abilities were about standing still and taking hits. Bull Charge also had a fifteen minute cool down so I was safe.

  Hellene cursed again as my body slapped painfully against another wall with turning.

  [HP: 62/151]

  Okay, I wasn’t ‘safe’ but safer than before… maybe.

  It was becoming a sick, but fascinating cycle as we travelled through the maze. I’d begin to feel motion sick and nauseated then an accidentally slap against a wall would snap me out of it. I couldn’t really blame Hellene though for keeping the Telekinesis spell going, who could say for sure if I could walk or even run in my current state.

  And as we moved deeper in the maze, I noticed the occasional streak of colored sand on the floor. Another one of my knickknacks proving useful in a life and death situation. Hellene must have used my colored sand as markers to get back.

  I knew I shouldn’t feel relieved when we finally reached the chamber with the portal because we weren’t in the clear yet. I had no idea how much time remained at this point, between the spinning in the air and occasional wall hit, I felt like a human pinata.

  Hellene grabbed hold of me and tried to slow my fall as she released the spell. Her thin arms weren’t much help though and I gave a yelp as I fell on my butt. I quickly scrambled to my feet as the enchanter spoke.

  “It’s going to be close, two minutes remaining,” Hellene said, looking back to where the sound of broken glass could be heard over and over again. I didn’t for a second doubt Hellene’s estimation. She probably had a even higher Intelligence stat then me which meant tracking time down to the seconds was child play for her.

  We walked to the archway, limping more in my case, until we were right next to it. Neither of us tried to convince the other to leave first. I knew she wouldn’t let me stay to handle Patrick alone and she knew I wouldn’t let her do the same.

  By my best estimate, there was only one wall between us and Patrick before a urge to cough up more blood came. I quickly spat it to the side as the final mirror wall broke apart, shards still trying to cut the large man to ribbons no matter how futile it was. I really needed a healer for this Hemorrhage status.

  “One more step and I’ll destroy the exit, trapping us all here,” Hellene said, raising a open palm and aiming it at the archway. For the first time since we saw Patrick, I saw genuine fear on his face.

  “You’re bluffing,” Patrick said, but his voice quivered with uncertainty. Hellene gave a cold laugh which made even me want to shiver.

  "Why do you think I'm bluffing about trapping Elane's murderer in a cold, desolate place?" Hellene asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "After what you did to her, I'd gladly spend the rest of my days in this glass prison if it meant you'd suffer the same fate."

  “Will, she’s bluffing right? I mean could she even destroy it?”

  The way he turned to me with his questions, you’d think we were just the same old good buddies with him looking for insight from his ever useful scout.

  “I… honestly don’t know. I’ve never tried destroying the exit of a pocket dimension trap for obvious reasons,” I said with a shoulder shrug, trying to keep the urge to spit up metallic blood down. A lightning bolt or fireball from Hellene’s hand might destroy the archway. It might just as easily though not do a thing. It was a gamble of our lives.

  Or at least as far as Patrick was concern it was a gamble. He had no idea of the true conditions of the trap being that we’d all teleport to a dungeon entrance if we didn’t jump through the portal by the half hour mark.

  And with his stats practically making him invincible, I was willing to bet it’s been a long time since Patrick felt like his life was at risk.

  “Okay how about we just consider this a… um a draw? I’ll let you guys go through first and count to three hundred seconds before walking through myself. That’ll leave you plenty of time to get away,” Patrick said as he tried to give his best genuine smile. Heather was a master of giving gentle smiles while planning to screw you over. Patrick though based on his twitching eyebrow and the hands clenching his hammer hard, didn’t quite master the technique.

  From the way Hellene sneered as she rolled her eyes, I wasn’t the only one smelling the bullshit.

  “Of course dear, now close your eyes and start counting,” Hellene said in a sickeningly sweet voice. The second Patrick closed his eyes, I felt Hellene grab me and pull us both back.

  “You know what dipshit, make it ten seconds. Only fair with the portal closing in five.”

  I didn’t get to hear a response as my body was engulfed in warmth, eyes closed as lights danced over my eyelids.