Amanda nodded, then smiled. “I guess I should try it then.”

  “Not like this, though,” Joel pointed out. “Be smart with it. If Jenny didn’t get that last one, you’d have been in a bad spot before I got there to help you.”

  Amanda grimaced and gave a small nod. “I hoped you wouldn’t be mad.”

  “This isn’t me mad.” Joel stared at her. “You’ve seen what happens when I’m mad.”

  She nodded. “Sorry.”

  “I hope so,” Joel gave her shoulder a pat. “Now, let’s go. You stick with me. Pick your targets and don’t get too far ahead. If I get stuck dealing with something, I can’t help you if you range too far.”

  “Got it,” Amanda said and slipped in to stand beside him.

  Joel nodded and gestured for them to follow. They hurried across the parking lot before a cry over in the park had them stop and check. The cry was a cheer as the member of Dale’s group did something flashy with his sword. The pair of dead hellhounds at his feet must have been the result, and none of them were injured or looked concerned by what had happened.

  Joel shrugged and led his group inside the store. The place was empty, but also a bit of a wreck. Anything made of glass was shattered. Which meant that it would be shattered in the real world too. There was rubbish lying about. Discarded food. The smell was getting bad too. Whatever meat was left out had spoiled by now. Things wouldn’t be pleasant in here, but there were still signs of people coming through.

  They pushed further in. Joel kept an eye on his surroundings. The building had a foreboding feeling around it. A shadow moved and Joel turned to face it. At once, that foreboding feeling shifted, and he frowned at himself.

  “You felt that too, right?” Amanda asked.

  Joel nodded.

  “Feel what?” Luneira asked.

  “A shadow.” Joel pointed his sword into the back of the ruined store. It was filled with torn up boxes. Storage for one of the businesses in here. “Just… something.”

  Jenny blinked into the room and looked around before walking back out. “Nothing that I can tell.”

  “Could it be another wraith?” Joel asked.

  “It’s possible,” Jenny agreed. “If it is, they’re being very cautious about it.”

  “Great,” Joel said and sighed. “Let’s go. I just want to clear this place out. Make sure nothing’s going to come through an incursion and then we can leave.”

  Amanda nodded in agreement and the two vassals closed in. Joel led them deeper into the store. The cafe on the corner was trashed. Little displays in the front that held baked goods was pushed over. The coffee machine had been stolen entirely. The kitchen was just a mess of tumbled equipment.

  Moving on, there was just more mess the further they went in. A bric-a-brac store had been entirely demolished. Shelves strewn about, with toys, kitchen utensils and other junk all dumped on the floor and sifted through by looters. Joel frowned, thinking about it, before turning and walking into something that caught on his face.

  Joel had a moment of terror as he saw the thread. As thin as a hair and sticky enough to cling to his skin as he pulled back. Right before a shadow shifted.

  Joel stared in horror as a patch of garbage moved. Eight spindly legs stretched out and Joel squealed as the cat sized spider launched out from its hiding place in the debris and slammed into his chest. He’d thrown up his arm though and caught it around the abdomen as its fangs gnashed an inch from his neck.

  “FUCK!” Amanda shrieked, before swiping the spider away with her hand.

  On the ground, Joel snarled as he stomped on it. The body popped, and the legs flailed as it tried to escape. Joel wasn’t letting it escape. He just kept stomping, crushing its body until it finally stopped moving. Then stomped it twice more, to be certain.

  “Joel?” Amanda hissed.

  “Hmm?” He looked up and froze.

  The mound of debris was moving. His heart stopped as he realized they weren’t dealing with one objectively small monster spider. But dozens of them.

  “RUN!”

  Rather than head back, Joel snagged Amanda’s hand and dragged her forward. They raced away from the ruined store and past the shopping center, that was in a similar state of disarray. He didn’t find any more threads to walk into, and other than a hellhound that yipped and fled at the sight of four opponents sprinting towards it, there were no more surprises.

  At least until they burst out of the store and watched that same hellhound collapse with an arrow in its side.

  “Took your time,” Jess called.

  Joel frowned. “You.. but… How did you get here so fast?”

  “Fast?” Marlene frowned. “We’ve been here like ten minutes. We were just about to go in and find you.”

  Joel narrowed his eyes and looked back at the store. “You think anyone would mind if we burned this fucking thing?”

  Chapter Six

  “You’re sure this is going to work?” Jenny asked.

  Joel nodded as Amanda handed him another jerry can filled with fuel. “The first night, when all of this happened, there were a bunch of fires. In the morning when we woke up, the fires were gone and the buildings that burned were still standing,” he explained. “I’m fairly certain that nothing we do within Morpheus affects the real world. Even dying, we just… vanish like we never existed.”

  “How much more do you think we need?” Amanda asked.

  Joel looked over at the front entrance of the shopping center. “Depends how Marlene’s doing at the other end. Maybe one more and I’ll just throw it in there with the cap on and see if it’ll blow up or something.”

  “Alright, I’ll stop Luneira filling anymore,” Amanda said as she walked back into the parking lot.

  Joel kept an eye on the front of the store. That’s why Jenny was here. If those spiders rushed out while he was distracted, that would be bad for everyone. With his hands empty, though, Joel peered into the dark interior.

  “JOEL!”

  “Fuck!” he jerked and spun around. “What?”

  Amanda touched his arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I was fine until you started yelling,” Joel grumbled.

  “I was yelling, because you were just standing there,” Amanda pointed out, before looking at Jenny. “Like that.”

  Joel turned and faced the wraith. Jenny had a slight scowl on her face. The same one she wore when she was concentrating on something. But… even after waving his hand in front of her face, she didn’t budge. Her chest still moved as she breathed, but she was completely unaware of anything going on around her.

  “Jenny?” Joel touched her arm, feeling she was slightly tense. “JENNY!”

  She still didn’t react. Joel reached up and cupped her face and forcibly turned her to look at him.

  “Is this the part where you kiss me, master?”

  Joel blinked, and Jenny blinked. And all at once, her eyes widened. “Master!”

  “Ahhh…” Joel pulled his hand back. “Jenny, you okay?”

  “I… yes.” Jenny frowned. “How did… when did you touch me?”

  Joel looked at Amanda and frowned. “Okay, there’s something going on here. Let’s burn this and be done with it”

  “Agreed. This is creepy as fuck.” Amanda said with a slight shudder. “How are we going to light it?”

  The answer was a simple one. Though it took a few tries, Joel used his sword to chisel a brick out of a pillar in the front of the shopping center. Then, by striking it against the edge of the blade, it produced a spark. After getting the hang of the motion, Joel set the tip of the sword on the ground over a trail of leaking fuel. It took him a few hits and a replacement brick after the first shattered in his hand, but eventually a spark landed on the fuel trail and a line of flames raced off into the entrance.

  “Wait!”

  Joel turned and spotted Luneira rushing over with the filled jerry. Not that it mattered. Joel took it and, with an underhand toss, lobbed it over the rising flames where it smacked into the floor and slid along in the fuel further inside.

  “That’ll do,” Joel nodded. “Let’s get around to the other side. Make sure everyone else is safe.”

  Amanda grimaced, and Joel gathered Jenny and Luneira to follow. They raced around the roadside, rather than the park side. Not wanting to miss anything that might be hiding there. Joel would rather know about it now than later. They hurried to the far side, noting the smoke pouring out of the other end of the store. Until they reached the side closest to home and froze as they noticed Jess standing on her own.

  “JESS!” Joel roared as he charged over to her.

  She stood still, not moving at all. Joel spun around, looking for the others, but couldn’t see them either. Marlene, Timothy, Dan and Ben. Not even Buster. Joel wasted no time grabbing Jess and pulling her around to face him. She blinked and smiled before frowning.

  “Joel?”

  “Where’s Marlene?”

  Jess frowned and turned her head, then pulled out of Joel’s arms. “Marlene!?”

  “Master!” Jenny called. “Footprints!”

  Joel froze and looked over. Sure enough, there were footprints in the fuel poured over the floor. Several sets of them. Like they’d walked in one by one, following the same trail. Right into the store, that was now on fire, thanks to Joel.

  “Shit,” Joel stood. “Shit, this… shit.”

  “Why did they go in there?” Jess asked.

  “Something got me too,” Joel said, his face grim. “Makes you just stand there. Like you’re zoned out and not paying attention. It got me and Jenny.”

  “I will accept punishment for my failure.” Jenny bowed her head.

  Joel didn’t respond to that. He’d deal with it later. Right now, he had friends inside a burning building.

  “Fuck,” he swore and drew his weapon.

  “Joel?” Jess called.

  “I have to try,” Joel grunted back as he followed the footsteps in, mindful of the smoke drifting along the ceiling.

  It had only been a couple of minutes. Fire would spread quickly, especially with the amount of fuel he’d poured in the other end. So he only had a few more minutes to find his friends and get out once more. And the feminine grunts as his companions followed him in only made him growl in response.

  “Let’s go.”

  They made their way in. Clumping together with Joel in the front. The footprints traveled further inside. Past the cafe, before turning and heading into the empty shop where Joel had checked on their first pass. And there, in the room, were the rest of his friends.

  Ben and Dan were laid out on the floor like they had gone to sleep. Timothy was face down, snoring. While Marlene knelt in the middle of the floor, eyes open, staring in abject terror at the dark figure before her. And that was just about the only way to describe it.

  The figure was little more than a black cloud, with a long, spindly arm extending out to grab Marlene by the forehead. It was almost like holding back a child while they swung their arms at you. Only Marlene was slumped, as if being drained of her strength.

  “Wait your turn, boy,” a voice, like a whisper on the wind, ruffled his ears.

  Joe looked around and froze as he saw the blank look in Jess’s eyes. Amanda, Luneira and Jenny were equally frozen in place.

  “Such strength,” the voice chuckled breathlessly. “You will be such a meal.”

  Joel heard skittering, and he realized what was happening. He turned back to the door as a pair of garbage covered spiders crawled into the room. Behind them were a lot more. Joel could only watch as they rushed in, swarming over his companions. None of them moved, and the spiders treated them like objects as they swarmed him.

  “BOLSTER!” Joel snarled, only to freeze in shock as nothing happened.

  “Try again,” the voice hissed.

  “BOLSTER!” Joel shouted, but got no response.

  Instead, he lunged and swung at the first spider to reach him. The blade caught it in the front legs, ripping them free and sending the spider tumbling to the side as a second lunged. This one Joel hacked in the middle with an overhead blow. The t-shaped tip pieced deep into the spider’s body and it let out a pained shriek as it scrambled along the floor, trying to pull free.

  “BASH!” Joel tried to knock the spider free.

  “Not that either,” the voice giggled mirthlessly.

  The bash still worked, though it lacked the stunning ability and a portion of the power it normally would have. Joel knocked the spider back and frowned in confusion.

  “This can’t be real,” he whispered to himself.

  “Oh, it’s very real,” the voice answered with a sigh.

  Was it, though? It was one thing waking up in Morpheus. But Morpheus had rules. Even if it didn’t explain them clearly, those rules were in place. And while they bent a lot, some strange ability to nullify abilities, while also summoning spiders, freezing a bunch of people and locking them in a trance… Clearly, this was some kind of boss fight. But not at all in line with the prior expectations of a fight within Morpheus.

  “This isn’t real, is it?” Joel asked as he turned to the spiders that spread out before him. Buster wasn’t here either, so Jess’s summon ability was locked out too. But Buster had already been summoned.

  “Shall we test that theory?” the voice asked.

  One of the spiders climbing over Jess paused before the blonde blinked in shock. “Joel?” she whimpered as the spider flexed its fangs. “Joel, help me!” she cried out as the spider bit down into her neck.

  Jess’s eyes bulged as she clutched at herself. She screamed and Joel’s heart lurched as he watched her eyes turn bloodshot and her skin began to melt.

  “Help me!” Jess cried. “Joel?!”

  “This isn’t real.” Joel looked around and set his eyes on the monster that appeared to be consuming Marlene.

  “FOOL!” it hissed and grabbed the cleric’s head.

  The sound of snapping bone as it snapped her neck made Joel grimace. But he didn’t hesitate as he stepped up to the dark cloud. It reared up as if to strike him, but Joel wasn’t worried. The spiders swarmed around, but none were coming near. This whole situation was a trap. Where it had gone wrong, Joel didn’t know. Only that it had, and the most likely source of whatever caused this trap, was right in front of him.

  So that’s where he started. Joel swung his enormous blade, and the shadow let out a furious howl as part of it tore free.

  “HOW?!”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Joel said and grimaced as he swung back once more.

  The shadow pulled back, throwing itself against the wall. Spiders swarmed over it, trying to protect it. But when Joel swung his sword, they scattered, and the shadow solidified enough for the blade to catch. It howled in pain as Joel pulled them from the wall, using the end of the sword like an icepick. He yanked hard, dragging the being free, before dumping it on the floor. There, it twisted into the shape of a child.

  A girl in a tattered dress. Clutching a teddy.

  “Help!” she begged. “Help me, please?!”

  Joel closed his eyes and swung down with all his strength.

  “JOEL WAKE UP!”

  Joel jerked at the sound of Jess’s screaming. He whirled around, still within the store he’d first seen the shadow. Only now, everyone from both his group and Marlene were inside. At the door were dozens of garbage covered spiders. Jess was shooting through the gaps that Ben and Dan were leaving. Amanda was hovering back, looking nervous, while Luneira and Jenny… grappled with a shadow.

  “BOLSTER!” Joel snarled, feeling the familiar rush of power flood his body.

  Jess’s head snapped around, hearing his voice, and she looked relieved. “Dammit, Joel, what happened?”

  “Something I need to finish,” Joel growled as he turned to the shadow.

  The shadow jerked free of Luneira’s slime form. It looked like a fight between a liquid and a gas. Whenever the gas pulled free, it was an arm, leg, or face that tried desperately to escape, only for Jenny to blink into the picture and slash at the protruding part, causing it to recoil with an enraged scream.

  “What the fuck is that?” Amanda squealed.

  “That’s the thing that had me,” Joel snarled.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Joel shrugged and raised his sword. “Doesn’t matter, so long as I can kill it.”

  The shadow thrashed, and Luneira let out a pained shriek as part of her liquid body shredded as if a massive claw ripped through her body. That gave a large enough space for Joel to plunge in his sword. The shadow thrashed beneath the weapon and Luneira reformed around it.

  “Luneira, keep clear of the blade,” Joel ordered.

  Then he shoved forward. His sword sank into the shadow that screeched in pain. Joel ignored that as he gripped the hilt and dragged the sword down, before pulling it to one side and yanking it part way back out. The more he twisted the blade around inside the shadow, the harder it fought. Being held by Luneira, though, it didn’t get far. Every attempt to escape was met by at least one blade as either Jenny or Amanda lunged in with a knife.

  All the while, Joel continued to cut, stab, and twist his sword inside the shadowy creature. Tearing it apart from the inside, until finally there was a deafening shriek. All at once, Luneira seemed to collapse in on herself, before pulling free, just short of injuring herself on Joel’s blade. She pulled back, reforming into her battle form as a twisted husk of a creature lay on the floor. It looked like a desiccated corpse, curled over itself like a dead spider.

  “Nope,” Amanda snarled as she stormed over and stabbed it. “Fuck this bitch, I’m not letting her get back up,” she growled as she continued stabbing the body.

  “JOEL!” Jess snapped.

  Joel turned and saw the wall of spiders had grown even larger. That made him reach back and snag Amanda by the wrist. “Enough.”

  “Fucking right it is,” she snarled.

  “We need to get out of here!” Joel yelled out. “Ben and Dan, get ready to let me move up.”