James staggered at the sudden loss of Mana. James screamed in pain, and he could hear Onyx bark. He had just lost all his Mana at once and felt like he was on fire.

'What the hell just happened?' Rocko messaged him.

James gasped in pain, trying to catch his breath. Sasha stood next to him, supporting his arm. "Warn your dog not to attack!" Sasha said urgently.

James shook his head to clear it. Onyx was growling, teeth bare and head low. "Stand down," James said. He tried to put some authority in his voice, but the residual pain was intense.

Onyx backed off a step but kept a wary eye on the three outsiders. Once the pain subsided, James looked at Sasha and asked, "How were you able to step through the portal?"

Sasha looked at the other two guards, who shrugged. They had yet to say anything the entire trip. Sasha turned back to James, "You said this is how you left the boss' house, so we followed."

'I checked your notifications,' Rocko sent him. 'It appears that you spent 100 Mana four times. Since you only have 380 Mana, the other 20 Mana came from your health. I know of this. It is called Mana Burn. It is where you spend more Mana than you have. For each Mana point you don't have, and you lose 10 Health. You just got Mana Burned for 200 Heath!'

"Fuck me!" James sighed.

"Maybe later," Sasha said with a smile.

"It was Mana Burn. I had to pay Mana for each person who entered the Astral Portal with me. It was more than I had." James explained.

"A lesson learned makes you smarter. But this may be an issue if we are not able to get into the house tonight," Sasha lamented.

James was using Heal Self III as he was talking. "No, we should be fine. I need to Meditate and get my Mana back."

Sasha didn't appear convinced, "Even with your Mana restored, when we return from wherever this is, you will experience Mana Burn again. Unless you only send us through?"

James sat down and shook his head, "Now that I know, I have something to help."

'Can I take a Potion of Mana while they go through the Portal? That way, I get an extra 50 Mana?' James asked Rocko.

'Yes, you could also spend a couple of Free Attribute points on Willpower or Intelligence. Or you could use your Mana Crystal,' Rocko suggested.

'I would rather not have them know about the Mana Crystal. But this is HUGE. This is how we can get the sisters to travel with me,' James shouted. He couldn't conceal his excitement at the discovery.

'You seem fixated on those young women.' Rocko replied.

James sighed, 'As I mentioned a thousand times. It would be nice to have some people I trust, watching my back.'

Rocko considered his words, 'It is helpful. But there is also some danger. You don't know how to travel with them, and if something happens to you while you are there, they will be trapped in that space. But, it does open up possibilities.'

'You seem pessimistic, all of a sudden.' James asked.

There was a bit of a pause before Rocko responded, 'I realize I did not act properly in my dealings with you earlier today. For that, I am sorry. So I am acting a little conservative in my approach to this.'

'We will be talking about it after this. And trust me, we will be talking about it.' James clarified, 'must now, we have to rescue a few people.'

James didn't take long to get his Mana back up to full with Meditation. Now that he knew what to expect, he planned on using the Mana Crystal to fuel most of the Mana for the Astral Portal. When he exited Meditation, he found Onyx lying across his lap. She was not a lap dog, but you would be hard-pressed to convince her of that. One of the guards had his eyes closed and rocked back and forth, humming.

When he looked at Sasha, the lizard-like man shrugged, "He said the whiteness of this area made him feel unwell."

James nodded. He could see that. The space was vast and empty. It would be looking at an open ocean: nothing but water in all directions. Pushing Onyx off his lap, he stood up and stretched his legs. They were a little cramped from sitting in one position for so long with 40 kilos lying on them.

'I'm back. Full Mana. Are you nearby?' James asked Rocko.

'Glad you are still alive. Yes. I will appear as soon as you appear in Real Space. Not that I can do much.' Rocko confirmed.

"I have never travelled in Astral Space with others before. So this is going to be a new experience for both of us. I will lead us to the boss' house, and then once we are all there, I will open a Portal for us to step through." James looked around and got nods from the two paying attention. The third still had his eyes closed.

James moved to where his room was in Astral Space. It only took four steps before he was there, and he was confident he was in the right spot. When he turned around, he could see the other only a few meters away. He beaconed them with this hand. They started to walk toward him but were not moving very fast. It was like they were taking baby steps.

'They are not moving very fast,' James reported to Rocko.

'Can you still talk to them?' Rocko asked.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

Sasha nodded, "Of course, but we can't seem to move towards you. It is a very odd sensation."

"You have to will yourself forward. You don't move with your feet; you move with your mind. Guard One looked at Guard Two with a crooked grin. Guard Two gave him the finger in return. After a few attempts, the three men were able to reach James. James did notice that Guard Two took longer than the other two.

"This is where I left the house. It is my room." James explained.

"How many exits?" Sasha asked.

"One," James responded.

Sasha shook his head, "Not good. Too easy to trap us. Have you ever been to the basement?"

James shook his head, "No. I have been to the kitchen, dining room, parlour, my room, your boss's office and the hallways in between."

Sasha cocked an eyebrow at the list, but James shook his head. "No, I have never been to her rooms."

"I understood that you could travel to places you have not been to. Is this not the case?" Sarah asked.

"I can go to a city I have never been to, but I am drawn to the general area, not a specific place. I would need the room described in detail, and even then, I can't guarantee I would find it," James explained.

"Then the boss's office is the best place. It has three exits, and they will either be in the room when we arrive or have already cleared the room," Sasha suggested.

James had no better idea, so he nodded and got his sword and shield up. When concentrating on Ferdinand's office, he felt his centre move slightly, but not very much. With the readjustment, he paused. At this point, he would feel a hand on his shoulder from his teammate, telling him they were ready to breach. He felt a sense of wrongness that the hand wasn't there.

"We are ready," Sasha said after the long pause.

James focused on the spot he wanted the Portal to open and the direction he wanted it to face. He wasn't sure if he would have that much control, but it was worth trying.

&&&&& REAL SPACE &&&&&

James opened the Astral Portal facing the space in front of Ferdinand's desk. It was on the right-hand side of the room, against the wall. That wall had several cabinets and a single door that led to Ferdinand's secretary's office, but James was confident he could position it properly. Before the Portal was fully formed, James was already stepping through. There were several people in the room that James could see, but an unknown goon stood in front of him. James picked up on three details as he used Shield Bash on the goon. The first was that Ferdinand sat at his desk with a quill in one hand, a bloodied face, and his other hand had the fingers bent at an odd angle. The second detail was Veronika sat in an armchair across the desk from him. Her left hand was bound to the chair, her right was pinned to the armchair with a dagger through the back of her hand. The third detail was the man in the chair before the desk seemed to be in charge of the situation. That meant that everyone important was sitting and everyone standing was a target.

The Shield Bash staggered the goon and James Thrust his blade at the man who was sitting. The sword missed as the man Dodged the attack and rolled out of the chair. James continued to the next target. A second goon had stood behind the man in the chair. There were a lot of people in the room and he was mostly confident that the people behind him would carry their weight.

The second goon already had his sword out and dropped into a fighting stance when Onyx latched onto his sword arm. With their arm hindered, James stabbed the man with his sword. It would have been a clean hit, but the goon activated Dodge and side-stepped the attack. Trying to shake off Onyx and Dodge attacks from James was too much for the goon, and James was able to skewer the man a couple of times. The last hit caused the man to stagger. When James pulled the sword out, he gave it a little twist and was rewarded with a great deal of blood spraying out. The goon slumped back as Onyx dragged him off his feet and onto the floor. James turned to the first goon to see Sasha already had the man on the floor and was stabbing him multiple times in rapid succession. The strikes were mainly in the upper chest and throat. Turning the other way, James saw Guard Two had pushed the young girl back from Veronika and, in an exchange of sword and dagger blows, suddenly punched her in the face. The young woman flew backwards and crashed into the overstuffed armchair Ferdinand liked to sit in that faced the fireplace. Both the young woman and the armchair toppled over, neither moving when they came to a stop.

'Halt or he's dead!" a voice said behind him.

James turned to face the desk, his shield raised. The man who had Dodged his attack earlier was standing next to Ferdinand with a dagger at his throat. The large goon was on the other side of Ferdinand with a serrated sword in hand. James, Sasha and Guard Two stopped and looked at the man.

"You're too late," the man shouted. He then burst out laughing with glee. "You're too late. The old fool has already signed the guild over to me. There is nothing you can do."

James noticed that even the large goon looked at his boss with concern.

Sasha spat on the dead man on the floor in front of him, "No one will follow you, you useless cunt. Everyone knows the best part of you dribbled down your daddy's leg."

The man screeched, "You have to! Uncle, tell him he has to. You signed the papers."

Ferdinand grinned, "Yes, Alejandro. I did sign the papers."

"See," Alejandro shouted, standing up a little straighter. "I already bought off the rest of the teams or had them killed. You're alone, Sasha. I didn't kill you only because I couldn't find you. HA!"

Ferdinand rolled his eyes.

Rocko sat on Ferdinand's desk, staring at Alejandro, "Seriously? Is this guy for real?"

As only an evil lizard-like man can, Sasha grinned, "I am going to enjoy making you scream."

Ferdinand looked up at Alejandro, "Look at the signature, nephew. I didn't sign with my name but yours."

Alejandro gasped, shocked, "What? That can't be." Moving forward, he leaned over the paper to read it.

Guard One appeared out of thin air as his sword cut through the neck of Alejandro. The blade bit deeply into the desktop. Alejandro's head bounced on the desk and then rolled off. Rocko screamed and disappeared. Poor Sasha was caught in the fountain of blood that sprayed from Alejandro's torso until it slipped to the floor.

That left the large goon, who quickly attempted to jump through the window. James watched as the man bounced off the glass frame. Several of the panes broke, but the window frame held. Suddenly, the large goon staggered and flopped backwards onto Ferdinand's desk. Four crossbow bolts protruded from his chest, and white foam bubbled from his lips.

"What a fucking mess!" Ferdinand growled as Guard One moved to untie Ferdinand's arm, being careful of the broken fingers.

"I told you we should have killed him a few years ago!" Veronika mumbled as Guard Two untied her arm.

James reached into this bag of holding and held out a Potion of Healing to Ferdinand.

"I appreciate the offer, James, but a fifty is not going to do it," with that, he opened up a drawer on his desk and removed a potion that was deeper red.

"They are all I have," James apologizes.

"We will have to get you some stronger ones," Ferdinand said after drinking the potion.

Veronika removed the dagger from his hand and then moved to the young woman who lay unconscious on the floor, "I may be old, you little bitch, but you're not going to get any older." With that, Veronika leaned down and cut the woman's throat.

"What in the Seven Hells are you doing, child. You can't get blood out of those carpets!" Ferdinand shouted.

Veronika dismissed his concerns, "What? Between James and Alejandro, you're worried about this?"

Sasha interrupted them, "Master, we have four teams about to strike the house. We will need your help to guide them and disarm any remaining traps."

Ferdinand looked at Sasha and nodded, "I saw twelve mercenaries when I arrived. Other than these four, there were only two other guild members and two guards. Once the mercenaries realize that this idiot is dead, they will surrender. Take them alive, and they can buy their freedom. The other four I want alive." Ferdinand and Sasha talked as they walked out of the room. James noticed that Ferdinand knocked Alejandra's head out of his path. Guard One followed behind the other two as they left.

"Thank you, George. That was very sweet, what you did for me." Veronika said to Guard Two, touching his arm and smiling at him. Guard Two just nodded and followed the rest out the door.

When the door closed, Veronika moved up to James and hugged him. After a few minutes, she stepped back and looked up at him, "When were you going to tell me you got a dog?"