The Shadows are not just powerful. They’re intelligent too. One doesn’t get to become a member of that insidious order with raw strength alone. For that reason, it is not only their power you must be wary of, but you also must take care to not get caught in whatever web they’re constructing to ensnare you.

  -Arvad Malachi

  Lusha smiled as her husband sealed the last exit.

  She immediately charged at Morpheus since he was the first to recover.

  She stabbed at him with her spear, but he responded unnaturally quickly, dodging with a side step and countering just as quickly.

  Lusha ducked under the slash, the Shadow’s blade passing uncomfortably close over her face.

  She spun her spear around and swung the sharp tip towards Morpheus. He brought up an armored gauntlet and blocked the blow, though he was sent sliding back from the force.

  Lusha twirled her spear, and pretended as though she were going to hurl it at the Shadow. He bought the feint, which allowed her to throw it at her true target.

  The other, more lithe Shadow.

  Lusha had noted that one rushing towards one of the sealed, caved in exits with her weapon, an intricate rapier, glowing with heat.

  That one spun on her feet and tried to bat aside her spear.

  Lusha smiled.

  Sparks erupted as her spear grinded against the Shadow’s blade. Intense, compressed, green tinged winds spiraling like a drill at its tip.

  The winds exploded, sending the Shadow flying back high into the wall.

  Morpheus smirked, “An Art? Now? Fool.”

  “Oh, I know all about your Sentient Armor, Shadow,” Lusha smiled, her irises glowing and changing to a green color as her hands went to her sides, drawing two curved swords. “From what I was told, your armor needs time to adapt to a foe’s Affinity. And even once fully adapted, it only negates Arts, not Ether as a whole. Even should you two adapt to my Wind Affinity, I can still stall you both just fine.”

  She could hear the Shadow sneer, “Hybrid abomination! How did you learn about-”

  He paused, before audibly clicking his tongue, “Tch! That damned Arawn. His failures simply refuse to stop impeding us! So, Anila Tufani’s spawn DID survive. There is no other way you could have gotten your hands on that information.”

  “I will neither confirm nor deny that,” Lusha shrugged. “Perhaps we have spies that have infiltrated deeper into your ranks that you believed. Perhaps one of your high ranking officials turned traitor. Perhaps we got the intel another way. Who knows?”

  “Your attempt to instill distrust and discord is amusing,” Morpheus snarled, “but it will do you no good. Now that you have used an Art against us, it is only a matter of time until we defeat you, tainted hybrid!”

  “Is that what you think?” Lusha smirked, winds billowing around her as, with an incantation-less Art, she coated her blades with winds, sharpening them. “Let me tell you both something. I didn’t send Zareb away to sacrifice myself to buy time. No. I did it because from what I’ve seen thus far from you both, I’m confident I could take you both.”

  Morpheus barked laughter as his partner landed behind her, “Is that so? My, the arrogance from you is astonishing. Just what is it that led to you believe that we’ve shown everything we can do?”

  Lusha shrugged, “Just an educated guess.”

  So, they’ve shifted their focus to killing me. Finally! Void, it’s about time they realized they weren’t going to be able to escape with me interfering… she thought with annoyance.

  She gestured for them to come at her, “Why don’t you prove me wrong, then?”

  “Gladly,” Morpheus sneered as he and his partner charged at her at the same time.

  The resulting clashing of blades caused the entire chamber to shake.

  ***

  Galen stumbled as the tunnels suddenly shook. Tufani caught him by the arm and hauled him back up before he could hit the ground.

  “What was that?!” he questioned.

  Tufani looked down the tunnel, eyes squinted. Her eyes seemed to… no, they were DEFINITELY glowing as she gazed in the direction they’d come from.

  I thought I’d been imagining that… he thought as he looked at her eyes with childish wonder.

  She noticed his gaze, and flushed, “W-what?”

  “Your eyes are glowing,” he noted.

  She sharply looked away and cursed under her breath something in Elvish.

  “I thought I’d seen them glowing before, but I always figured I’d just imagined it. Here in the dark though? There’s no mistaking-”

  “Is now really the time?” she interrupted.

  Galen blushed, “Uh… I guess not…”

  “Then drop it!” she snapped as she began to move forward again. “We need to keep moving. How much Ether do you have left in your Capacity?”

  “I should be the one asking you that. I probably have more than you,” he answered.

  She tossed him a glare.

  He quickly added, “Uh, I’m not trying to offend or brag! Remember that I don’t have just my own Capacity to draw from.”

  He thumbed at Redian sheathed at his back.

  Tufani huffed as she looked away, “Cheater.”

  Galen shrugged, “Considering our circumstances, I’ll take every advantage I can get.”

  “A fair point.”

  Tufani didn’t respond further as she began to run again.

  He followed, and repeated his earlier question, “So, what was that shaking earlier?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. I think I detected some Ether, though we’ve been running for quite a while now. If I could still pick up on it, even remotely, then whomever it’s coming from is very powerful.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Galen connected the dots, “So it was probably Aleksi and Lusha fighting Morpheus and Callista?”

  Tufani nodded, “It’s likely. The Ether didn’t seem to be coming in our direction, so it’s likely stemming from their bout.”

  He shuddered, hoping his mentor and his wife were okay.

  The next few moments passed in silence as they ran through the tunnels, the way illuminated by the flashlights they’d taken from the group that Tufani had… had killed.

  That still didn’t sit well with him, but he knew now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

  Just then, Redian chimed in his mind, “Hey, boss!”

  Galen perked up, Yeah? What’s up? Have you-

  “Damn right!” Redian smirked. “I’ve managed to pierce through the interference! My Ether radar is functional again! It’s still hindered a bit, so my range isn’t as good as normal, but it’s usable! Plus, the further we get away from where the Shadows are, the clearer and stronger my senses get.”

  He mentally cheered, Awesome! Can you lead us to the surface?

  “Right on, boss! Just take the lead from that elf girl and I’ll lead you to lead her! Some good old leadception! Thankfully, it seems you’ve been heading in the right direction.”

  Galen nodded, ignoring the “leadception” part, and verbally called out, “Hey, Tufani!”

  “What is it?” she asked, not slowing down in the slightest.

  “Redian says his radar is working again!”

  A moment of silence passed. Just when he was about to ask what was wrong, Tufani asked, “What’s a radar?”

  He nearly stumbled at the question. He’d been about to ask if she was being serious, but she REALLY wasn’t the type to joke. He wanted to slap himself as he remembered her upbringing. Of course she wouldn’t know what a radar was! It wasn’t like the Dominion shared knowledge of their technology, especially not with their slaves. Plus, he didn’t even know how far the Dominion’s technology had reached.

  Was it on par with Earth’s technology? Was it lesser? Or the more frightening possibility, had his home world been surpassed?

  He didn’t know, and he’d rather not make assumptions.

  “What I meant was that Redian has regained his ability to sense our surroundings. Something had been hindering it. Maybe it was the Shadows’ doing, or maybe some other technology the Dominion brought in this attack. Either way, Redian has managed to pierce it and clears his ‘eyes’ so to speak.”

  He saw Tufani nod, and she asked, “So? What does that mean for us?”

  “Redian says he can see and map out the tunnels pretty far. Plus, he remembers the way to the surface. Thankfully, we’ve been heading the right direction. I can take the lead and get us to the most direct route while avoiding any more enemies. At least, that’s the idea.”

  Tufani nodded again, and gestured for him to move in front.

  With a burst of Ether enhancement, he did.

  Redian guided him through the network of tunnels, and with the Sentient Weapon’s aid, he and Aria managed to avoid running into more enemies. There had been several close calls, and the number of enemies had been alarming. Eventually, Redian realized the way they’d originally entered the tunnels from was the same one that the Dominion was using to send their soldiers down to hunt for them.

  As a result, they’d started to look for another way out. Aleksi mentioned that there were several entrances and exits that could be used, so it hopefully wouldn’t take them too long to find one. Galen also hoped that the others would be able to find an escape free of the invading force.

  After a certain point, they had to take a break as they began to tire. Even Tufani was huffing and puffing as they shut off their lights and sat against the wall. They made sure to keep an eye out, with Redian being the main one keeping watch since the sword had the best range.

  They sat in silence, trying to breathe in as much Ether as they could to refill their Capacity.

  Redian, how much further? he asked the sword.

  “Hmmm… hard to say. At the pace you two have been running, maybe another ten minutes?”

  That’s not too bad. Any enemies?

  “I can’t tell from here. But I don’t detect any from where we’re at.”

  Good, that’s good. How much time do I have before the Ether Intolerance medication wears off?

  “Around fifty minutes.”

  We’ve been running around for forty minutes?! he balked.

  “Give or take. Technically forty two minutes and eleven seconds. Twelve seconds. Thirteen-”

  Okay! I get it!

  Galen looked to Tufani. At least, he thought he was looking at her. With him no longer using Ether to enhance his vision, no Ether crystals around, and with the flashlights off at the moment, he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face.

  She seemed to sense his gaze nonetheless, as she asked in a whisper, “What is it?”

  “Redian says we should be about a ten minute run from the next exit. You think you have enough in you to make it?”

  “Now that we’ve rested a bit, yes. Easily.”

  “Good to go now?”

  Instead of verbally answering, he heard her stand.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” he muttered as he turned on his flashlight.

  Tufani did as well, and they both burned Ether and took off in another sprint.

  Even with the aid of the power, Galen’s legs still burned by the time they neared the exit.

  “Hold on, boss!” Redian called out.

  Galen began to stop while signaling Tufani to do the same.

  Enemy? he asked the sword.

  “Yeah. Multiple. A single group of eight. They haven’t noticed you yet.”

  He clicked his tongue, and relayed the information to Tufani.

  She nodded, and asked, “What do you want to do?”

  “If they haven’t noticed us… maybe we can repeat what you did with the last group?” Galen suggested. “You could begin discreetly casting that vacuum Art of yours and use it on them before they realize we’re here.”

  Tufani looked him in the eyes, “You realize that if we do this, that I am going to kill them, right?”

  He hesitated, but mustered his resolve and nodded.

  Her eyes widened slightly, as if surprised by his permission. Then, she nodded, a look of approval and respect in her blue orbs.

  “I’ll have Redian tell us when we’re getting close enough that we have to turn off our lights again. Then, you’ll lead the way while starting the Invocation for your Art.”

  “What if they notice the build up of Ether from me before I can finish Casting?” Tufani questioned. “While I think I’m decent at concealing my Ether signature, if they have people with good enough senses, they might pick up on us sooner than we’d like.”

  “In that scenario, I’ll try and hold them off. Catch me in your Art if you need to. Since I know its effects, I can prepare myself for the loss of oxygen and move out of the Art’s area of effect.”

  Tufani nodded, and they began to move.

  Redian gave the warning as Galen had instructed, and they shut off their lights.

  They waited a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the dark, after which Tufani took the lead as she began to whisper the Invocation for her vacuum Art, “Stagnant winds, I command you…”

  Galen noted how her eyes had begun to glow, then changed color as he’d seen before whenever she used an Art. Her irises turned from sapphire blue to emerald green as they neared the corner, beyond which awaited their foes.

  Redian yelled in Galen’s mind, “Heads up, boss! Two of them are looking our way!”

  He shot Tufani a look of alarm. He’d been about to repeat the warning, but it seemed she understood from his expression alone.

  She nodded, and after he ran past her, he heard her continuing, “Heed my call and flow according to my will…”

  Galen noticed two enemies charging at them alarmingly quickly. Redian lent him his aid, enhancing his instincts with its own that it had accumulated from all its previous Wielders.

  The first enemy that reached them was a large armored man. The feeling of Ether coming from him was strong, and he instinctively knew that the man would be physically stronger than him. So, he followed the instincts of Redian’s previous users, many of which had fought against physically stronger and larger foes.

  As the man brought down his weapon, a large, two handed battle axe, Galen sidestepped while simultaneously closing in on the man, and slashing at his side, right at a weak point of the armor. Redian’s blade cut through easily, and left a deep cut on the enemy’s side, causing him fall to one knee.

  Galen continued to move forward, meeting the second enemy that had noticed Tufani’s building Art. This one was still physically fit, but much less imposing than the first. He wielded a simple sword and shield.

  He knew this one wouldn’t go down as easily, but he didn’t have to defeat him. He just needed to buy time. Time that he had sufficiently bought as this second enemy hesitated upon seeing how easily Galen had dodged and countered his ally’s attack.

  With his Ether sense, he could feel Tufani several paces behind him had raised her arm and finished her Art with a clench of her raised fist, “Swirl and take with you that which gives life. Aerial Void!”

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