The enormous marble doors had push plates at a natural height for human hands, so Bronwyn gave one a shove. The door glided open noiselessly with almost no effort. Another expanse of marble stretched before them, bordered by high marble walls, and Bronwyn realized it was a courtyard. Another door sat closed on the far side, about a hundred paces from where they stood.

“Should we keep going?” She turned to her friends, catching herself by surprise when her mirror-self also turned to look at them.

“What else can we do?” Morgan asked, and Olivia shrugged.

“My Elemental Form is off cooldown. I’m ready.”

“Okay.” Bronwyn stepped forward and found that Morgan had increased his pace to stand next to her; Olivia lingered a few paces behind. As they’d taken their second step into the courtyard, a smooth grinding sound reverberated through the square, and Bronwyn braced for more statues of freakish insect monsters to appear.

She was sort of right—a single gigantic square of marble spun in front of them, revealing a statue that resembled an enormous stone tick. “A tick? You have to be kidding me,” Morgan said.

The statue was the size of a passenger bus, though a bit wider and less lengthy. Still, Bronwyn didn’t relish the idea of fighting something that size. “Maybe it's not that big under all the marble …” she started but was interrupted by a resounding crack that echoed so sharply off the surrounding marble walls that the three of them clapped their hands to their ears in reflex.

Vast chunks of marble slid away from the massive, glistening carapace of the monstrosity. The slabs of stone, all larger than kitchen countertops, cracked and shattered as they landed, in a horrific cacophony, as the monster within began to stretch its six legs and two long, razor-tipped front limbs.

“How the hell do we fight something like that,” Morgan said, trotting to the side, splitting their group. Bronwyn knew it was a smart move—no point staying clumped, so she fanned out in the opposite direction. The marble had stopped falling, and the giant bulbous body of the horror quivered, and it started to shimmy its legs so that it rotated, tracking Bronwyn with its huge, bulbous red eyes. Black, bladed pincers beneath its eyes snicked open and snapped shut with such a crack that Bronwyn felt the wave of sound ripple over her. It would shear them in half if that thing bit one of them, even Morgan with his improved bones.

Suddenly a hissing jet of superheated steam tore through the air, impacting the monster just below its snapping mandibles. Bronwyn saw flakes of carapace chip away in a fine powder, and the monster shrieked, spinning to face Olivia and placing the thick chitin of its front claw in the path of her spell. Suddenly a tremendous surge of Energy, palpable to Bronwyn, gathered near the creature’s mandibles, and she saw a ball of orange light spinning rapidly there. She started to shout a warning, but then the ball lanced out in a beam, something like a laser, and flashed through the air toward Olivia.

The beam hit her square in the chest, but though it flashed and cascaded over her, it seemed harmless. Olivia backpedaled but appeared unharmed. That’s when Bronwyn saw Morgan flopping over the ground, smoke rising from his black-clad body. Bronwyn activated Solar Shell and started running toward him. She heard the monster’s enormous feet clacking on the hard marble floor as it raced toward her; she heard and felt the air woosh as it swung a claw at her, and, though she didn’t look, she flinched, waiting for the impact.

It didn’t hit her, and she kept running. When she got to Morgan, she spun, putting the giant tick in her view, and saw her double dancing away from it, having distracted the creature for her. Bronwyn knelt, flipping Morgan onto his back, and saw that his shirt was burnt entirely away from his torso. His skin was blackened and smoking, and he was utterly insensate, though not dead.

Bronwyn glanced back toward the tick and saw it was still chasing her double while Olivia hounded it with attacks. One moment she was flinging a wave of plasma on its back. The next, she was trying to drill off one of its legs with a beam of smoking magma. Her attacks caused it to scream and redouble its attacks, but it didn’t really seem all that hurt to Bronwyn’s eye. She knew Olivia had a lot of Energy, but she couldn’t have enough to keep this up for much longer, and if that thing could fire that beam again, one of them was going to die.

She stood up to shout a warning, but then she felt a cold tug at her Core, and she realized she’d been so preoccupied that she hadn’t realized her Mirage Double had been pulling Energy from her to maintain its existence through attack after attack. The tick had “killed” it several times now. A quick glance at her status screen confirmed her fear—she was almost out of Energy. She bent, scooped up Morgan, and ran for the doorway they’d entered through. “Olivia, run! My double is about to be gone!”

Olivia turned to her, her face determined, but when Bronwyn’s words registered and she saw Morgan’s limp form, she ran for the door. Bronwyn got through a second before her double “died” again, and she felt the tug and then the spell fading away when she couldn’t provide the required Energy. Olivia was hot on her heels, and when they were both a dozen paces from the door, she turned to look through to see what the monstrosity was doing. There it was, sitting hunched in the center of its square, baleful red eyes staring right back at Bronwyn but unmoving.

She pulled another of the flasks she’d gotten from Thun out of her necklace and stooped to pour the fluid into Morgan’s mouth. Heat flushed his cheeks instantly, and his blackened chest seemed to glow from within as the charred flesh fell away and pink new skin took its place. His eyes sprang open, and he opened his mouth in a deep gasp, and then he was rolling over and springing to his feet. “Aaaaahhh!” he screamed into the air, looking around wild-eyed.

“Easy, Morgan; we had to run away,” Bronwyn said, reaching out a hand toward his shoulder, but he shrugged her away and started running.

“He did it last time, too—I think those potions do a lot more than heal; it’s like his body is filled with electricity.” Olivia watched him dispassionately as he sprinted around, ran up the stairs a short way, and then jumped down to repeat the climb.

“He got hurt saving your ass, you realize?” Bronwyn said.

“Really? I wondered why that beam didn’t hurt, but I didn’t see it hit Morgan.”

“It was like when he guarded me against the lightning. I think his skill decreases the damage, but still, it seems crazy to take a hit like that on purpose.”

“Well, I’m certainly grateful, but we need to develop a much smarter strategy if we’re going to beat that monstrosity.” Olivia turned and looked back through the open door at the hunched, glowering form of the giant tick.

“I’m not sure we can. One hit from its beam put Morgan out of commission, and if it snapped us with those mandibles, it would be lights out, I’m sure.”

“My spells were hurting it, but not enough.” Olivia rubbed her temples in a slow, rhythmic circle, then continued, “I burned through almost all of my Energy, throwing spells at it while your double kept it occupied.”

“We need to get smart. If I were leading a group against a boss, I’d plan the whole fucking thing out before we set foot in the encounter. We’re damn lucky the dungeon let us flee and didn’t lock us in.”

“Well, this isn’t a game; hopefully, the unlocked doors are a reflection of that fact,” Olivia replied. Morgan came jogging up as Olivia finished her sentence, red-faced and sweating, his long, lean torso shirtless.

“That was a nightmare,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, it was; thank you for taking that hit, Morgan. I’m not sure I would have lived.”

“I don’t know; my guard ability reduces the damage by half. I think a hundred percent of that beam would cook one of us.”

“Perhaps. Though, if it’s fire-based, I might be able to take it with my elemental resistance. I’m happy not to test it, though.”

“I don’t blame you. It wasn’t a picnic, and neither are those damned potions! I’m grateful to be healed, but those minutes of feeling like I’m on PCP are for the birds.”

“Probably great if you chug it as a last resort during a fight, though,” Bronwyn said, grinning.

“Yeah, true.” Morgan’s eyes were distant for a moment, and then a maroon shirt appeared in his hand, and he shrugged into it, buttoning the front with little, audible snaps. “Well, I don’t see many options other than camping here until Olivia figures out how to make a portal; we need to figure out a way to kill that thing.”

“I agree, but there’s one thing you guys should think about,” Bronwyn said, making eye contact with them both, “That’s the first ‘boss’ in this dungeon. Don’t you think things are just going to get harder going forward?”

“Well, then we’ll need to get stronger and smarter, too,” Olivia said, turning to look at the glowering, red-eyed monster.

“Bronwyn, how long can you keep that double of yours going?” Morgan asked.

“A long time, unless it gets hit or ‘killed.’ Then, it draws a big chunk of Energy.” Bronwyn called up the spell and then read the description aloud:

***Mirage Double - Basic: You use your specific Energy pattern to create a double that will act in your defense. Further mastery of this spell will allow for more functionality. Energy cost: 200, Cooldown: Medium.***

She was still smarting a little from the realization that she hadn’t gotten a class refinement at level twenty like Morgan and Olivia had. She was still a Summer Banneret, and she wondered if she had to get refinements from the Fae now. Still, her stats had improved significantly. She pulled them up and contemplated the math:

Energy Affinity:

5.6, Solar - 7.6

Energy:

1057/1057

Strength:

102

Vitality:

55

Dexterity:

48

Agility:

64

Intelligence:

44

Will:

36

“So basically, it can ‘die’ 5 times before I’m out of Energy.”

“I like that it can distract that thing, but it seems like you have to be targetted first, right?” Morgan pressed.

“Yeah, at least at the basic level.”

“Have either of you tried to push a skill past basic with practice?” Olivia asked.

“Sure, I did that with spears and swords to a greater extent.” Morgan looked at Bronwyn, waiting for her answer.

“Actually, I’ve been too damn busy. Always traveling around the plains or busy with other stuff. I’ve just improved through real combat.”

“Bronwyn, what if you and Morgan did some sparring, and you used that Mirage Double repeatedly? If you could get it to level, you might get a double that you can send in to attack.”

“That’s not bad!” Morgan said. “We could work on your spear mastery too, and I could use the opportunity to try to improve my Void Step. I’ll use it as often as I can during our sparring.”

“Meanwhile, I can keep studying spatial connections, and we can all keep cultivating to improve our Cores.”

“Hah, so training montage time? Before we mess with big ugly in there?” Bronwyn laughed.

“Yeah, I think so. If we can use your double proactively to lure that thing away, we can set up a triple shot that might tear through its armor. Plus, we’ll need all the strength we can get going forward, don’t you think?” Olivia moved from the center of the field of marble toward the stairs, a blanket appearing in her hands.

“What are you doing?” Morgan asked.

“If we’re going to be here a while, I’ll set up a camp. This marble isn’t going to be comfortable to sit on.”

“Damn, you’d think with massive magical containers I’d of thought to pack some furniture. Why do I just have a bedroll and blankets?” Morgan asked, following Olivia.

“Keep it in mind next time you’re looting a vanquished enemy stronghold; at least I have a bunch of furs I took from Urghat we can sit on,” Bronwyn said, summoning a loaf of the Fae Queen’s travel bread. “Dinner’s on me, but that means Morgan has to cook next.”