The tension was palpable as we walked. Even Jon Umberling had stopped chattering and grown quiet as we descended further through the tunnels, his glasses flashing in the lights we carried as he kept his head lifted to stare at the ceiling. The soldiers were all wary as well, and the collected anxiety was catching amongst the rest of us. I walked arm in arm with Lyre, who was constantly glowing, holding tight to his magic in preparation for anything. The silence was eerie, with the sounds of our footsteps and the rustling of our gear being the only noise. Whenever anyone did talk, they kept their voices low, and the whispers echoed in an unsettling way. Peter stayed close to Lucas, almost like a dog at heel, and made soft clicking noises.

It was hard to tell the time of day from underground, but Raella said that we left Gno’s temple late in the afternoon, so it felt like we were making camp very soon after leaving. When we made camp for the night, some of the tension released, and some of the soldiers began to converse amongst themselves a little less quietly, though all of it was still very subdued. I don’t think anyone slept well that night, even though it seemingly remained quiet and calm.

Despite that calmness, in the morning things became even more subdued and tense. Even before Captain Kaphryn approached, our group could tell that something was wrong from the murmurs and nervousness of the soldiers. Captain Kaphryn approached Raella to quietly tell her that at least three of her men had disappeared in the night. “We suspect that more of us will get picked off through the day,” she said, her face grim. “You’ll be safer in the center, but make sure you stay together in groups of two or three and report immediately if anyone goes missing.”

Greyjon looked at the Captain in surprise. “We didn’t hear anything last night.”

Kaphryn nodded. “Neither did we,” she said as she moved away from us, and the displeasure was clear in her voice.

Greyjon frowned but nodded and we were allowed to choose our assigned partners. Lexie immediately gripped Lucas’s arm, and he grimaced at her as Peter happily trilled. “Okay, that’s one grouping. Peyton, stay close to me and Raella.” He glanced over at where Lyre and I were practically attached at the hip and grinned. “I assume you two will keep an eye on each other?” I nodded.

“We’ll keep an eye on our scholar,” Chase said, pulling on Zolambi’s sleeve and ruffling Jon’s hair so that his glasses went slightly askew. Jon straightened his glasses and frowned at her, his face mildly flushed.

Greyjon glanced over at Asterollan. “You can’t continue to brood by your lonesome. Choose a grouping.”

Asterollan clapped a hand onto my shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on the lovebirds,” he said, his tone light and teasing. I smiled at him.

“Okay, everyone stays close. Don’t go anywhere alone. Make mental notes to check for your partners at regular intervals. If someone is out of your sight for even a second, say something.”

“What if we have to pee?” Lexie asked curiously.

Lucas sighed and planted his face in his palm. “You should have chosen Peyton as your partner,” he grumbled, frowning at the girl through his fingers.

Greyjon looked annoyed. “We can readjust the groups if we need to,” he said.

“The spider can watch us pee,” Lucas said, sounding equally annoyed. “Or we can decide on pee partners as we walk. It looks like we’re about to start moving.”

“What if we have to poop?” Lexie whispered as the soldiers ahead of us began to move, and we gathered ourselves and followed after.

“Nobody is waiting for you to poop. Wear a diaper,” Lucas whispered back.

“Ewww,” Lexie commented dramatically.

I chuckled as she continued to pester him with other scenarios as we walked, marveling at how he acted like a big brother to her. Every couple of minutes I would swivel my head around to look at Asterollan, who was trailing behind Lyre and me. Finally, I said, “Maybe you should walk ahead of us so we can keep an eye on you.”

He looked a little startled at the suggestion, but compliantly moved to walk ahead of us. I found myself staring at the back of his head as we walked, absent minded and tense and waiting for something to happen. I kept reminding myself to breathe. I’m sure my nervousness was quite obvious, because Lyre kept squeezing my hand in reassurance.

Late in the morning as we reached a larger, almost cavernous section of the tunnel that opened into a crossroad that split three ways. there was a commotion behind us and we all stopped as Captain Kaphryn moved from the forward position and went to investigate the issue. Soon she was moving back through the ranks, quietly ordering the soldiers to arm themselves and form a protective circle around us. She didn’t shout the orders, and actually sounded quite calm, but her face was pale and her eyes kept darting around, checking the walls and the ceiling. Glancing up, I could see that our dim lights didn’t reach that high. As she walked past us, Greyjon grabbed her shoulder. “What happened?” he asked.

“Several more of my men have disappeared from the rear. The Underlings are picking us off.” She moved on to pass her orders towards the soldiers at the front as we each looked around at each other. Lexie paled and looked significantly less amused, kneeling to pet Peter, who was making soft clicking noises, its many eyes glittering in the lights. Several of us began to shift into a tighter grouping. I could hear Peyton gasp suddenly, saying, “I can hear their minds. They’re so close. They’re everywhere.” I twisted my head, trying to spot what she could sense.

As the soldiers moved in to surround us and form a protective barrier, several of us lit up, glowing with our magic. Asterollan also reached for his magic, and the significantly brighter glow of his power lit up the stretch of tunnels that we were in like a miniature sun. I heard Jon gasp in terror, and looked over to see that his head was tilted back to stare at the ceiling.

And then I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes as shapes began to drop from above. I heard Peter screech, an inhumanly loud sound, and watched the spider spread its front legs wide, taking a defensive posture over Lexie. Then I heard soldiers screaming and shouting as a fierce battle erupted around us.

Something thumped to the ground next to me from above, and I turned to face it. A figure seemed to unfurl and loomed over me, humanoid in shape, but much taller, and I gaped at it, feeling for a moment like everything was moving in slow motion. It was thin, all wiry muscle and almost translucently pale grey flesh. It had an almost perfectly round head with no discernable eyes or nose. What it did have were long, pointed ears, even longer than those of the elves, that swept back and around the head, and a large mouth filled with rows of needle-sharp teeth. I stared at the teeth in shock, almost too distracted to see it pull its thin, elongated arms up to grab me until the sight of its many fingered hands and long sharp nails loomed into my vision, reaching for my face. Suddenly time seemed to speed up as I screamed, and felt Lyre’s arms tug me back and out of the creature’s reach as Asterollan’s new fiery blade sliced through the thing like paper, causing it to let loose a high-pitched squeal of pain.

I clapped my hands over my ears as several other Underlings squealed in response to the death cry, and looked around at the surrounding chaos. I could see that Raella had summoned a barrier over Chase and Jon, and was focusing on it as Chase focused on striking out with small blasts of fire at any of the creatures dropping from above. I could see that Greyjon and Peyton had moved to help some of the soldiers toward the forward position, both brightly glowing with their magic and using various spells as they swung their swords.

Asterollan dashed past me, and I could see that he was rushing to help the rear defense, where Zolambi had already moved to assist, glowing brightly from the magic he wielded.

Looking up I could see there were many more of the Underlings crawling across the ceiling of the tunnels, so many that they formed a writhing mass of pale flesh. The sight made my skin crawl, and without thinking I reached for my magic, hearing the faint crackle of the electricity that arced across the glow that sprung up around me.

I reached my hands up and unleashed as much lightning as I could summon, bright bolts of plasma jumping across the ceiling and arcing from body to body, causing the creatures above to stiffen and seize and scream and fall. For a moment the sounds of battle seemed to fade away as many of the dwarven soldiers on the ground stared up at the crackling display in shock and the subsequent rain of bodies. I could feel Lyre grip my shoulder tight, shouting, “No! Nothing big! You’ll bring the entire tunnel down on us!”

I gasped and released the spell and my magic, but realized the damage had already been done. The tunnels shook around us and along with the bodies of the Underlings I had killed, rocks were starting to tumble as well, and I could hear a different kind of shouting take hold as everyone and everything nearby screamed and scrambled to avoid the falling rocks and the quickly crumbling tunnel. I felt Lyre pushing me forward at a run, felt the guilt swallow me as I watched a nearby handful of dwarven soldiers crushed by a massive boulder.

Lyre stumbled somewhere behind me, shouting my name. My heart felt suddenly crushed as I turned around, trying to squint through the dust or hear his voice through the cacophony. I shouted for him, trying to stumble back toward where I had lost him, when something bright hit me. Strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me, pushing me forward just as more rocks crashed down where I had been standing.

I gasped and closed my eyes and felt myself hit the ground. The light vanished. I lay on the ground, breathing heavily, trying to organize my scattered thoughts. I could hear rocks shifting and settling, the last gasps of the cave in I had caused. I could hear shouting – distant and muffled – and the weird shrill screams of the Underlings, some not as muffled. I could hear someone else breathing heavily nearby.

I opened my eyes but found that I was in complete darkness, so I reached for my magic to light up the area I was in. I could see some dust still settling, swirling in the air. Looking around, the first person I spotted was Peyton. She leaned heavily on her sword, her hair a disheveled mess. As the glow from my magic lit up the area, she shifted forward and leaned down next to another figure – Captain Kaphryn, who was groaning as she shifted herself into a sitting position. Then Peyton dropped down next to another figure – Greyjon, I realized after a moment.

I glanced behind me at the rocks that blocked the tunnels where we had been standing moments before, and spotted a mess of familiar golden curls. I stumbled over to Asterollan’s prone form and realized he was half buried and unconscious, with blood dripping down his face. I started to frantically work on pulling the rocks off him, tossing them to the side. I don’t know how long I worked, but I felt myself getting sweaty, and could feel hot tears streaking down my face. This had all been my fault. We were underground. I should have realized… I tried to push thoughts of Lyre out of my head as I worked to free Asterollan.

Kaphryn and Peyton joined me after a few moments, also working to shift the rocks. When we had him freed enough, Peyton gripped his shoulders and pulled him free. I fell to my knees, clapped my hands on either side of his face, and lit up like a beacon, pouring as much of my power into healing him as I could as I whispered his name over and over.

For a frighteningly long moment there didn’t seem to be any change. And then a slight frown creased his brow and he groaned, and I collapsed onto his chest, sobbing. Asterollan sat up and wrapped his arms around me.

I looked up at Peyton. “Greyjon?” I asked, not really wanting to voice the rest of the sentence.

She stared back at me, and very briefly shook her head.

I gaped at her, and avoided looking over at where his body lay. “This is all my fault,” I gasped after a moment, feeling sick to my stomach.

“It is,” she said simply.

I pulled away from Asterollan, feeling awful. I hadn’t really expected to be reassured, but hearing confirmation of my guilt felt a stab to the heart. I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths. As I did, I heard her grunt and fall forward.

I opened my eyes in time to see several pale, thin humanoid figures approaching us. One of them was holding a hand up, a strange tendril of light and shadow flowing between a crystal it held and Peyton, who had fallen forward on her knees. She looked strained, and as she lifted her head I watched as a dark spot formed on her forehead and spread across her face.

Asterollan was standing, reaching for his magic as he shouted, “She’s being tethered!”

Gasping, I started to stand, but a strange sensation gripped me, causing me to fall forward onto my hands and knees. I could hear Asterollan and Kaphryn also crying out and shouting. It felt sudden and sharp and focused in my chest, like a sudden thump, like a large bird had gone hurtling straight into my chest at full speed. And then I felt a burning sensation spread across the skin of my forehead and I screamed.

When the pain died down, I opened my eyes to find complete darkness. I could hear Peyton and Asterollan gasping nearby, and Kaphryn groaning and struggling, and the sounds of footsteps all around us. I attempted to reach for my magic so that I could have light, but nothing happened. I could still sense my power, but it was like I couldn’t reach it.

Something began to glow very nearby. Almost like a torch, but it was a light bioluminescent blue-green, and very dim – but by that very pale light, I could see the wide toothy smiles of the Underlings that had captured us.

I had never considered myself the sort of person to faint in terror before that moment. But everything – my terror, my panic, my guilt and sadness – became so overwhelming that I felt like I was going to have an actual heart attack. My senses shut down, I felt my vision blur, and felt the world fade away.