Joe’s face was twisted with raw emotion as he stood his ground beside me. I refuse. I absolutely refuse to go that way. We can literally be there in two weeks if we just stick with the Mecharriage. The goal is to get Wendy back. Not wage some war.

Peering into the darkness, I took a tentative step over some tree roots into the passage that was shown to us by the dwarves.

Joe, I don’t know what you’re getting at but Nolgrit says we can get there in three weeks if we travel underground. If we travel on the surface, there is a good chance we will get intercepted or at the very least scare the crap out of some innocent villagers.

Joe shook his head vigorously. Nope. I’m driving with or without you. The plan is the same as it’s always been. We sneak in, grab Wendy, and then we sneak back out. I didn’t sign up to start a war or whatever it is you’re trying to do.

I stopped suddenly, causing Kalli to bump into me from behind.

This is not about starting a war. I want to rescue Wendy just as much as you do.

Forced laughter flooded my ears through group chat. I continued my descent into the underground as Joe replied. I doubt that. I’ll tell you what. You go your way and we’ll go ours. If we get captured, you can storm the castle with your army and break us out.

I sighed and gave up.

I hope it doesn’t come to that.

Calling for our dwarven guide to stop, I turned to Kalli.

Maybe you should go with them again so I can teleport to you if they get in trouble.

With a stubborn look on her face, Kalli shook her head. No. I’m not leaving you again. If Joe wants to be a fool then he’s on his own. I’m staying with you this time.

Desperately trying to come up with a plan, I asked,

Who all wants to go with Joe? It looks like we’re splitting up.

Joe’s reply was quick and harsh. Kiki is not welcome.

Kiki roared back. Like I want to go anywhere with you. You’re such a jerk.

Rundell laughed nervously as he spoke. It looks like it’s just me and you buddy.

The road was still going to be dangerous, so I decided he needed backup.

At least take some guards with you in case monsters strike. When you sneak in, leave someone outside so that they can inform us in guild chat if anything goes wrong.

Run answered for Joe, who had decided to go silent. That sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Melvin.

Humans were not built for underground travel. I watched with envy while the trolls and goblins navigated the uneven terrain without slowing down.

Crawling next to Kalli, we squeezed through a narrow passage leading deeper into the darkness. I looked at Nolgrit up ahead and asked, “Are you sure we will make it there in three weeks?”

Reaching a place where he could stand up, Nolgrit said, “We will make good time down here. Possibly faster than your friends if they encounter any monsters. Welcome to the Thieves Corridor.”

The underground tunnel that we emerged into stretched on as far as I could see in both directions. It was around twenty feet high and ten feet wide. Kalli stood next to me, stretching her arms above her head as she asked, “Where does it lead?”

Nolgrit pointed to the left. “In that direction, the corridor leads all the way to Dabia while the other leads to the coast. Side passages let out all over the continent and there are rumors that the corridor leads under the ocean if you know the right path.”

We had just begun the march when a white streak raced past me. Focusing on it, I realized that it was a group of tiny white cabbits running ahead to scout.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, Nolgrit turned and suggested, “We should set camp here for the night.”

Not used to camping underground, I asked, “So we just sleep here in the middle of the tunnel?”

The dwarf laughed and replied, “If you want privacy, I suggest you find an unoccupied nook and hole up there for the night.”

Looking back, I could tell that the rest of the army was already breaking formation and disappearing into the tunnels leading off of the corridor.

I turned to Kalli who appeared just as unfamiliar with underworld sleep arrangements as I was.

So, where do you want to sleep?

She stuck out her tongue at me in response. With you. Now go find us a spot.

Following her orders, I started looking for out-of-the-way passages to build something. The system map wasn’t much help, showing nothing but a dark cloud for the underworld. I took that to mean that I didn’t have a map.

Recalling my adventures in Earth’s undersea caverns, I scooped up a rock and edited it.

Item:

Map of the Thief’s Corridor(Edited)

Components

Parchment, Ink

Item Rank:

C

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Murphy

Suddenly, my map lit up, detailing not only the corridor itself but also labeling the various passages and what they led to. I picked a rather windy one labeled ‘Dead End’ and guided Kalli to it.

Once we were out of sight of the rest of the army, I deleted some of the surrounding rock to make the area a little bigger. Then I added some support to make sure it didn’t cave in on us and made us a modest little shack with nothing but a bed.

The first thing I did was kick off my shoes and started to climb in bed but Kalli stopped me, giving me an expectant look.

What?

She blushed. Toilet.

After relieving ourselves and learning the painful lesson that I couldn’t delete smells, we climbed into bed together.

“What are you doing?” Kalli whined, looking over my shoulder.

I sat in the middle of a grass field forming a bubble of mana around myself. “I’m trying to watch us sleep.”

Sitting next to me, Kalli asked, “What do you mean?”

Closing my eyes, I probed the dream with my mana trying to find a way out. “Well, since we’re awake in here, I want to see if I can sense the world around us while we sleep. That way nobody can sneak up on us.”

“We shouldn’t be able to do anything when we are asleep except dream.” Kalli reasoned, repositioning herself so that we were back to back.

So far, she was right. All my mana did was flow around my body. My dream body, that was. When I thought about it, was my body in the dream real? Could I exist in my dream without having a body? Could I be something else?

Kalli smirked behind me as she shared the thought. I felt her mana shift around inside of her as she experimented. Suddenly, she giggled and flowed around me. What I saw when I looked up was a ball of fire with two eyes and a smoky grin. “Look, Mel. I did it.”

Still trying to work the concept out for myself, I asked, “How did you do that?”

The fireball giggled, a crimson tongue of flame brushing against my cheek. The contact made her giggle again. “It’s like you said. Well, you thought. Think of what you want to be and apply mana. Anything you want.”

“And you decided to be a fireball?” I laughed, sticking my tongue out at her.

The fireball inflated until it was twice the original size. “Hey! It was the first thing that came to mind. Besides, you’re forgetting the fact that I did it first.”

“Good point.” I conceded, closing my eyes and trying to duplicate the process.

Pulling my mana back inside of myself, I internalized that there was no physical body in dreamland and willed myself to transform. Once I felt it take effect, I sat there waiting for Kalli to react.

She froze for a moment, not even bobbing up and down in the air anymore. “No fair! I never said you could be me.”

I tilted my head back and laughed, playing with my red ponytail as the fireball sputtered and started to transform. Moments later, a perfect duplicate of Melvin Murphy sat in front of me. I was looking at myself and it was weird.

“Talk about an out-of-body experience,” I said, lost in a fit of giggles as I realized I sounded like Kalli.

Kalli’s laughter sounded very weird coming out of my mouth. Then she surprised me by leaning over and kissing me. I closed my eyes when our lips met, not knowing what else to do.

When we pulled apart, Kalli touched her lips and whispered, “Strange.”

“I know.” I laughed. “It felt like I was kissing myself.”

Kalli laughed as well. “Yeah, I think I will stick to kissing normal you.”

Looking down at my feminine body, I admitted, “This does have its benefits.”

Kalli glared at me. “Keep your paws off my body.”

“Technically, it’s mine now,”I replied, shaking my hips seductively.

We wound up wrestling for a while before seeing what else we could transform into. After giving it some thought, I flooded my dream body with mana once again and emerged as a little white tiger. Kalli, who happened to be a troll at the time, squealed, “Aw, you’re adorable. Get over here.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” I said, running in circles around her. “Turn into a female tiger.”

“What for?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ll see,” I replied, giving her a toothy grin.

Kalli scoffed at me and rolled her eyes, “Um, how about no. And ew!”

We played around for a bit longer before I focused on the task of seeing the world around me while I slept. Getting mana out of the dream was a challenge. From what I could gather, my mind created a bubble for me to exist in while it rejuvenated my body. The whole process felt magical.

“Wait a second,” I announced, causing Kalli to jump. “What if we’re doing this wrong? Instead of trying to generate mana in the dream from this tiny body, I need to somehow access the mana in my true core. Does that mean dream me has a core? Come over here, Kalli.”

She was still leery and hesitated to come but when I explained that I just wanted to look inside of her and see if her dream body had a core, she reluctantly agreed.

The first thing I noticed was that dream Kalli didn’t have skin or any normal body parts. Her body was made up of thoughts and dreams and the sort of mana that was lost when you wake up.

The inside of her body was a jumble of what Kalli thought it should look like. Still, mana flowed to and from a central point. Following the mana, I discovered a familiar ball of fire that I knew to be her core. The contract that she had made on her life wasn’t present as it would have been on her true core.

I was about to give up when I saw it. A small line of mana came out of the back of her core and disappeared into nothing. Intrigued by this, I followed the line, passing out of the dream bubble and into…Kalli?

The instant I arrived in her body, I knew that I had found her true core. Brighter than it had ever been, fire fed into it from multiple directions, and the crimson thorn of her oath wrapped it in a thorny prison.

What are you doing in my body? I heard her voice even though I had no ears.

I replied as usual through our connection, hoping it would pass back into the dream.

I found a way out through your core.

Pushing my way through her body, I rode a wave of her mana that I managed to radiate outside of her body. From there I could sense our two sleeping forms slumbering peacefully beneath me.

I experienced an odd sensation as Kalli rode a similar wave of my mana, emerging from my body as I had done hers. Wow, Mel. I can’t believe I just did that. I went through your core and then I was in your body. Are we actually back in the real world?

It sure looks like it. Now, this is the real out-of-body experience.

Kalli felt confused. What’s that?

I didn’t have a chance to reply as a familiar goblin crept into our bed once again. “Emperor. It is time to wake up.”