Shade ran back after just a moment. “Do you think we can coax it into the oven?”

  The corpse furnace continued belching black smoke. Even if he could somehow get the shapeless specter to that side of the room, he had no idea how he could possibly get it to crawl inside.

  “No.”

  “Then my idea might not be as good as I hoped.” Shade held out a candle he had taken from the table. It was melting over his metal gauntlet as he waved it slowly in the air. “Do you ever have ideas where you think it’s a good idea until it comes time to actually start that plan, then you’re unsure and think something like ‘maybe this wasn’t all that good of a plan?’”

  “Sure.” Owin continued backing away as the shapeless specter oozed into the room. It spread out wide and continued on like a deadly flood. “I think you feel that way more than I do.”

  Shade took a step away just before the green slime touched his foot. He tossed the candle carelessly inside, actually managing to burn away some of the specter. “I feel as though I should be insulted, but I have also lived longer than you.” He took another step back. “That’s not true, is it?”

  “I don’t think so. I guess that’s a question we could ask a god. How old am I?”

  “You don’t look a day over thirty five.” Shade kicked part of the specter, splattering slime onto a column. “Well, there goes my mana.”

  “You’re a berserker anyway.” Owin stepped over the broken pieces of table and dragged one of the dead elves away from the approaching specter. “What do you need mana for?”

  Shade grabbed the other dead elf and dragged him away. “What’s our plan here, Owin? Are we just going to slowly walk away from the slime until we’re cornered? Are we taking these elves for a little grim walk? Do you feel especially inclined to explore that other jail?”

  “Is that all that was inside?” Owin tossed the dead elf against the wall in the back.

  “Yes.” Shade tripped over the body he carried. “This is getting ridiculous. Can I get a dexterity class so I can walk without falling?”

  “I don’t think that’s a dexterity issue.” Owin climbed over the barrels and boxes, and jumped over the half wall behind the pile. Green slime had already reached the far end of the room.

  Owin hurried across before the green slime could burn away his mana. Shade would be somewhere behind. The actual location of the skeleton was of little concern. Owin chuckled to himself as he realized how little he was worried for Shade.

  He’d be fine.

  Two loyalist elves stood in the next room, backing toward Owin. They weren’t even aware that the door had just opened.

  “What the fuck is that?” one elf shouted.

  A shimmering creature darted through the air. It was like a luminescent flap of skin a few feet across.

  Fortress Mob

  Warper

  Level 5

  Only level 5?

  Owin watched the mob closely as it folded in its wings and darted with surprising speed at the nearest loyalist elf. It wrapped its fleshy body around the elf’s head and—

  It was like the air popped, and the elf and warper were gone.

  “Oh, nasty things,” Shade said as he walked past Owin. The skeleton was covered head to toe in shapeless specter slime.

  “What happened?”

  Shade just gestured behind him. Owin hadn’t realized how close the specter had gotten. In fact, it had started grabbing the bones like he had suspected and now it filled the whole room. Faint screams from the original jail reached his ears.

  “Oh.”

  “Who are you? What’s happening?” the other elf shouted. He held out his sword and took a few steps back. “An undead?” His voice squeaked as he looked at the slime-covered skeleton walking toward him.

  “Huh.” Owin hadn’t ever considered Shade being scary before. He was too whimsical. Too ridiculous. But there was no reason not to be scared.

  Shade took a sword swing on his left arm, letting the blade spark on his metal gauntlet. He drove the Darkblade into the elf’s face, yanked the knife back out, and made a weird noise as blood squirted.

  “Thwia. Ooo.” The elf stumbled and swung again with a weak attack that bounced off Shade’s leg.

  “What?” The skeleton turned to Owin. “How do they live through this? I feel like we’re torturing them at this point. You know, the intention was to be swift and merciful.” He cocked his head. “You’ve got green behind you.”

  “Oh, right.” Owin closed the door to slow the slime, even a little, and walked deeper into the room. It was made of the same dark stone as the previous room, but this one had no decoration. A metal structure was embedded into the wall on the far end, and a small door on the right led to . . . something.

  Green gas leaked in through small windows near the ceiling and through the larger metal structure farther down. That could only mean more specters, but Owin was hoping it was something easier to kill than the blob-like shapeless specters.

  “What’s a warper?” Owin asked as Shade stabbed the elf again.

  “Disgusting.” Shade wiped the blade on the elf’s clothes. “Why do they bleed so much? Have you ever seen me bleed? Have you seen skeletons bleed? No. This is why everyone should consider shedding their squishy bits and going in their full glory.”

  The small door on the right opened. Owin looked past the elf standing in the doorway at a pantry inside, full of rotten food like the kitchen on the previous floor.

  “Owin.” Shade stood and electrified the Darkblade. “Is it just me or is that elf’s face melting?”

  “What?”

  The figure standing in the doorway looked like an elf in every aspect except the drooping, gnarled skin on its face. Bits of the pale skin shifted before their eyes until the elf’s face was steady and nearly perfect.

  “Is that a specter?” Owin asked.

  Fortress Mob

  Elf Prison Guard

  Level 15

  “It only says it’s a prison guard.” Owin ignited the Incandescent Blade. “What is it?”

  “Nothing is coming to my empty head, so I say we stab it and find out later.” Shade looked at Owin and tilted his head a bit. “Preferably quickly. There is more than a smidgen of slime leaking through.”

  Owin looked back. “Shit.”

  “Hey! What did we say about language?” Shade pointed. “You’re not allowed to swe—”

  The elf’s fist caught Shade’s cheek and launched the skeleton back.

  Owin’s eyes widened. None of the elves they had seen were nearly that fast.

  It turned to face Owin, tilting its head as black eyes flitted. Yellow irises soon formed and glowed gently in the low light.

  “Got it,” he said quietly. The Incandescent Blade burned brightly. “Should be easy.”

  The elf launched itself forward at impressive speeds. Owin planted his feet and swung. Even as the elf’s fist hit and cracked the chitin helmet, the Incandescent Blade easily sliced straight through its body.

  Shade stood from the rubble and spat out a few rocks that had somehow ended up in his mouth. He still held the Darkblade in a tight grip. “That was easier than I expected.”

  “You survived?” Owin took a few steps away from the encroaching slime.

  The top half of the elf tumbled away, revealing a black string-like thing sticking out of the elf’s waist. Before Owin could reach for it or use Examine, the black string shot across the room and collided with Shade. The skeleton was tossed straight onto his back as the string wrapped itself around his spine and wriggled manically.

  Fortress Mob

  Skinweave Specter

  Level 20

  “It says it’s called a skinweave specter.” Owin approached with the sword still burning. “Want me to stab it?”

  Shade electrified the Darkblade and stabbed at himself until the creature died and fell to the ground. He sat up, grabbed the skinweave, and tossed it into the green slime. “Skinweaves take over bodies, I believe. And it foolishly thought I was a dead body.”

  Owin grabbed Shade’s arm and pulled the skeleton to his feet. “You are a dead body.”

  “Not a full one. I have no squishy bits. Only hard bits.” He narrowed his eye sockets. “Forget I said that.”

  Owin did ignore the skeleton as he ran to the pantry door. There were more elves inside. They were fighting some flapping black strings. There was a chest against the far wall, but with the rate at which the shapeless specter was flowing into the room, he would end up trapped as there were no other exits from the pantry.

  “What’s over there?” Owin asked.

  Shade had wandered to the metal contraption on the opposite end. With a tug, he pulled it open and gestured. “The sewers, I guess. Apple-flavored sewer. Or scented? What’s it smell like?”

  “Terrible,” Owin said as he pulled the pantry door shut. “This whole floor smells horrible.”

  “Have you considered that it might just be you that smells so bad?” Shade stepped through the sewer grate. “You know, with this lip here, it might take some time for the slime to catch up.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Just as he finished his sentence, the door burst open and a huge wave of slime spilled in. After collecting all the prisoners and all the extra bones, the specter was bigger than ever. It covered three entire rooms and was still flowing enough to fill a few more. Owin sprinted across the room and joined Shade in the metal doorway.

  “Any ideas yet?”

  “For that? None. For a new dessert? Quite a few, actually.” Shade jumped into the foul water beyond. It was shallow enough that it only went part way up his shins.

  Owin hopped down and scowled at the cold, rancid water. “Let’s go find the stairs.”

  Shade pointed above them on the opposite wall. “There is another door right there.”

  Owin looked at the metal grate, barely able to see it through the green smoke, then back down the sewer pipe that led farther down. “Oh. But . . .”

  “You want to know what’s at the end?”

  “It could be a bone,” Owin said.

  “I’m easily convinced.” Shade started off, splashing loudly as he waded farther into the pipe. “Keep up!”

  ***

  Miya sat in the corner, trying to decipher really anything happening in front of her.

  Arkasti had gathered all of his belongings to head out to the Tundra, but before he could leave, two people showed up.

  The first one Miya had expected. The second was a complete mystery. She had never seen the man before and she couldn’t even guess as to who he might be.

  Both arrivals bothered Althowin enough that she called a “family meeting,” which Miya assumed meant every person living in the compound, but Indulf, Sanem, and Raif were noticeably absent.

  So why was Miya there? She wasn’t more important than anyone else in the compound.

  The room they all sat in was a new one to Miya. In fact, it looked new in every aspect. There were individual, overly cushioned chairs forming a circle around the room with Basolia on a small table in the center.

  Veph had sat down with a harrumph and crossed her arms without saying a word. When she walked in and bumped into Arkasti, she nearly tossed the massive man onto his back. When Chorsay greeted her, she hugged him then continued until she found Althowin. As far as Miya was aware, she had yet to say a word.

  The other figure wore the clothes of a farmer, though his shorts were a little shorter than most would wear them. They were high on his thighs, above the area where his metal prosthetics attached. His pointed elf ears stuck out to the sides underneath a weathered straw hat. While Miya had no idea who the man was, she was certain he knew Althowin for a few reasons. First, he walked in without hesitation and wasn’t stopped by Basolia or Indulf. Second, his prosthetics were undeniably Althowin made. Her signature style was difficult to miss, once one knew what to look for.

  “Veph, how is your timing this bad?” Althowin asked. She sat on the edge of her own chair with her hands on her knees. Her kitsune tail swished behind her as she continually glanced at the silent, large elf.

  “City looks like shit,” Veph said.

  “Your friends visited.” Althowin opened her index. “Looks like all three lived as intended. So, you can go ask Egnatia what the fuck she thinks she’s doing in my city.”

  Sofia Halaby, the Rat, who for some reason was still at the compound, leaned close to Miya. “I can’t believe it’s Veph!”

  Everyone looked at her.

  “Oh!” She tried sinking back into the cushioned chair, but her oversized backpack got in her way. It shifted and spit a stream of smoke.

  Basolia’s shadows appeared and consumed the smoke before it could spread through the room.

  “What happened?” Veph asked. She had a wand in her hand, which she twirled idly. It tapped against her metal fingers with each little movement.

  Althowin looked at the huge elf.

  “Might as well,” he said.

  “We can talk privately,” she said.

  “Might be too late for that.” The man took off his straw hat, revealing a surprisingly shiny scalp. With the hat on, it looked like he had a full head of hair. “A Shard Hero came to my house.”

  Althowin’s eyes widened. “So, your house . . .”

  “Is gone.” He calmly set the straw hat in his lap.

  “And the hero?” Chorsay asked.

  The man looked at Chorsay. “Gone.”

  Arkasti leaned over to whisper something to Chorsay. Althowin’s fox ear twitched.

  Miya looked around and still didn’t understand why she was there. Everyone in the room was a Shard Hero except her. At least, she assumed everyone was. If that elf was still alive after a Shard Hero attacked, he had to be one too.

  Veph stopped playing with the wand and instead pointed it at the mysterious man. “Who is this?”

  Althowin simply watched him.

  “My name is Zezog.”

  The room was silent. Veph immediately slipped the wand back up her sleeve.

  Miya could feel her heart hammering in her chest. It felt so loud there was no way the whole room couldn’t hear it.

  Like it was a command, everyone but Miya and Zezog opened their index. She squinted and tried to read what Sofia’s said, but it was too hazy and unclear.

  “Was it a lizard or a small elf?” Veph said after a moment.

  “A lizard,” Zezog said quietly.

  “Zevvrin Kerekes. He had four shards.” Veph snapped her index closed. “You’ve been alive this whole time?”

  “Living in peace.”

  “Then how’d they know where to find you?” Sofia blurted. She smiled awkwardly as everyone looked at her. “The Three Heads really thought they knew where you were. Seems they were right.”

  “Where did they find you?” Veph asked. She ended up on the edge of her seat, staring at Zezog with hard eyes over her golden mask. “You’ve been missing for decades.”

  “Most people stopped looking,” Zezog said. He folded his hands over the straw hat.

  “Were you just outside Vraxridge?” Veph asked. “It seems idiotic.”

  “And yet, nobody had found him,” Althowin said.

  “What was your wish? To go bald?” Sofia asked. Yet again, she received all kinds of looks.

  “I wished for anonymity. All my life I was hounded. I want to live peacefully.” His face hadn’t revealed even a flicker of emotion. He was stone-faced as he looked between Veph and Sofia. “A Shard Hero’s life is difficult. One of pain and loss. Do you ever wonder what you are missing?”

  Miya folded her hands in her lap. She was the only one without a shard in the room, but she was still surrounded by Shard Heroes. Was she missing something precious in life too?

  Veph looked at Chorsay for a long moment, then snapped her eyes back to Zezog. “Do you know how they found you?”

  “We’ll need to investigate,” Althowin said.

  “Do what you must. I will remain here for now.” He smiled at her. “If you don’t mind.”

  “You know I don’t. Indulf will get the room ready.” She pointed to Basolia, who vanished from the room, making it feel a little brighter.

  Veph reclined, opened her index again, and tapped her fingers on the armrests. “Who all attacked with Egnatia?”

  “Voolyn and two of the Three Heads, I believe. I haven’t seen the Three Heads in a few years. I figured they were working on retiring, but apparently they thought they could kill me.”

  “What about the third?” Veph asked.

  Chorsay cleared his throat and raised his hand shyly.

  “You killed another Shard Hero with more shards than you?” Veph raised an eyebrow. “What would Romoalt say?”

  Chorsay smiled. “It’s not so simple. Others were involved.”

  Arkasti slapped his hands onto his knees. “This is good and all, but what are we doing? You left those heroes alive on purpose?”

  “I don’t need to turn the whole world against me,” Althowin said. “I expected some bad apples at some point, but this many is ridiculous. Next time I’ll use the big bombs.”

  That got concerned looks from everyone but Zezog.

  “Why leave them alive?” Chorsay asked. “I am curious, as is Arkasti.”

  “They wanted to see if I was serious. I think that was enough of a warning. Don’t you?” Althowin produced a smaller bomb from her jacket. “If they come back, they get to taste this.”

  “Please put that away, Al,” Zezog said, just as calm as before.

  Althowin rolled her eyes and slipped it into her jacket. “With that elf and Andres Orben dead, I couldn’t just blast Shard Heroes into oblivion. If people stop visiting Vraxridge, the whole city will hate me. People have lived here their entire lives. They expect me to protect them, not scare away customers and tourists.”

  “Doesn’t matter anymore,” Veph said. “Zezog is here. Just reveal yourself and everyone stops trying.”

  “Mmm.” Sofia fidgeted and grunted.

  “What?” Veph asked impatiently.

  “They won’t stop. They’ll just get more Shard Heroes.” Sofia had her index open. “There’s what? About a hundred 1 Shard, just under forty 2 Shard, under twenty 3 Shard now that Veph’s got another, and less than fifteen above that. If they got all of 'em together, they’d have an army to fight you.”

  Althowin pulled the bomb from her jacket again.

  “What if they get a 6 Shard knight?”

  Althowin set her jaw and put the bomb away. “What are you suggesting, Rat?”

  “Leaving people alive is going to kill someone else.” Sofia shrugged. “The claverstan—”

  “Oh, I don’t want to hear it,” Althowin said. “Look, I appreciate the input, but I will talk it over with my actual team. Did you pay off your loan yet?”

  Sofia seemed to deflate. “No.”

  “Why don’t you go do that.” She gestured to the door.

  Basolia reappeared in the center of the room, casting its shadows throughout, and opened the door.

  Sofia stood, adjusted her racoon hat, and hurried to the door. “Sorry.” She pulled the door shut behind her.

  Everyone looked at Althowin.

  “Fine. Basolia, make sure she knows to come back once she’s paid her debt.”

  “Yes, mistress.” Basolia vanished again.

  “Is she right?” Althowin looked at Veph as she asked. “It’s not enough?”

  “It won’t be. You’re better keeping him secret for now. This isn’t about the goblin anymore. This is about you.”

  “I thought it might be.” Althowin looked at Miya. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  “We do?”

  “A lot.” Althowin sighed and stood. “Arkasti, you’re going to go fuse still, right?”

  “It would be best.” Arkasti gestured to his bags nearby. “I am ready to go.”

  “I will walk with you,” Zezog said. “What is your name?”

  Arkasti stood and bowed his head. “Arkasti Duragoz. Formerly of the Golden Bulls. Now, for the betterment of Verdantallis.”

  Zezog put his meaty hand on Arkasti’s arm. “Tell me about yourself, Arkasti.”

  Basolia reappeared and shut the door behind them, leaving Miya, Chorsay, Althowin, and Veph in the room.

  “Zezog the fucking Barbarian?” Veph asked in a hushed voice.

  “You think he actually disappeared? He was my mentor. My friend. Obviously he wasn’t going to go that far.” She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

  Veph silently gestured to Chorsay.

  “I don’t know what you expect me to say,” he added in a low voice. “She hardly listens to me.”

  “What are we doing sitting here?” Althowin asked. She snapped her fingers.

  Basolia immediately started shifting the room. The chair underneath Miya vanished, but before she hit the ground, a stool appeared and propped her up. Everything shifted around until they were in a studio. Althowin tossed a pair of goggles to Miya, which landed perfectly in her lap.

  Veph rolled up her sleeves, slipped her wand into her waistband, and leaned on the table beside Althowin. “Where’s the goblin?”

  “In a tower.”

  Veph glared.

  “Ask him,” Althowin said, nodding toward Chorsay.

  The old giant rubbed his eyes. “Let’s go talk. I think Miya and Althowin have some work to do.” Chorsay gently put his arm over Veph’s shoulder. She didn’t say a word as she leaned into him and let herself be guided out.

  Miya stayed on the stool.

  Althowin walked over and set a hammer in Miya’s lap. “That was a lot.”

  “Yeah.” Miya fit her goggles onto her head. “Why was I there?”

  “You’re my assistant.”

  “Are Katalin and Ernie part of meetings?”

  Althowin shrugged. “When they need to be. Ernie isn’t what I call a people person. And Katalin is . . . Katalin. She can get fired up at the wrong times.”

  “Why me?”

  Althowin prepped materials as Basolia deposited them onto a table. She spread out two separate piles and muttered a few things for the specter to change out.

  “Doubting yourself will get you nowhere. You did some impressive things with no real training. It took Ernie a week to make a rock like you did, by the way.” Althowin slapped a slab of clay onto the table and gestured to it.

  Miya slowly walked over. “How long did it take Katalin?”

  “About a minute, but she took almost a month to get the health potion recipe right.”

  Miya placed her hammer on the table and scanned the materials laid out before her. She couldn’t even begin to guess what they were making. “I’m not as good as them.”

  “So?” Althowin took a tentacle, heated it, and shoved it into the clay. She gestured for Miya to do the same. “Do you think I was the best alchemist from the moment I tore my way out of the womb?”

  Miya choked on her own saliva.

  Althowin gently patted her on the back. “It was a joke. I was shit out like everyone else. You’ll learn. You’ll improve. Ignore the rest of this bullshit happening. Ernie and Kat have been training with me for years. The next step for them both is to get their shards. They just didn’t know it. Timing worked out. Some day, I’ll make you do it too. But you’re not ready yet. You need to be sure of yourself. Before long, you’ll be one of the best alchemists in the world. Get it?”

  Miya cleared her throat and grabbed the piece of tentacle. She heated it in her hand as she pressed it into the clay. “I got it.”

  “Good because we need to start burning shit and I thought you might enjoy that. Ready?”

  Miya fixed her goggles over her eyes. “Yes. Always.”