Lyra and Milo ran flat out through the twisting maze of corridors, torches flaring to life ahead of them and guttering out behind as panic pushed them forward.

  “Don’t listen,” Milo said through clenched teeth. “Just keep going.”

  A sharp gust of wind tore past them from behind—there for a heartbeat, gone the next.

  Lyra clutched Milo’s arm, shaking. “Why does he always have to do this?”

  From somewhere ahead, Caelan’s voice echoed softly through the stone.

  “Oh, Lyra… do you think you can beat me?”

  Milo dragged her around another corner. “Don’t stop.”

  “I promised the Lieutenant!” Lyra shouted back.

  Another blast of wind ripped through the corridor, faster now, close enough to rattle the torches.

  Caelan’s voice came again, faint but amused. “What did she promise, Lyra? Tell me… or you know what’ll happen.”

  Elyria’s laughter followed. “And I’ll tell the Lieutenant it never happened.”

  “Hey!” Caelan’s voice snapped from a different angle. “That’s my thing.”

  “You didn’t invent it, Captain,” Elyria shot back. “How much you want to bet Keira’s doing it to Solara right now?”

  —

  Upper 3rd Floor

  Solara stalked down a narrow corridor, boots echoing sharply. “Master Sergeant, I swear, if you’re playing that stupid game again—”

  A small rock clattered behind her.

  She stopped instantly. “Keira?”

  Keira slammed into her side and started tickling her mercilessly.

  “Quit it!” Solara laughed, trying and failing to shove her away. “Keira, knock it off!”

  “Oh, boo,” Keira said cheerfully. “There are only a few emeralds on this floor. It’s fine. Besides, can you imagine the look on Lyra’s face right now?”

  Solara snorted despite herself.

  “I saw that!” Keira said.

  “Alright,” Solara admitted, still smiling. “It’s funny. I’m sure my little rising star will put it in her report.”

  “You mean snitch reports?” Keira teased.

  —

  Lower Levels

  “I’VE FOUND IT! THIS WAY!” Milo shouted.

  Lyra sprinted toward him as the sound of Caelan and Elyria laughing echoed closer and closer behind them.

  They burst into a small chamber housing a spiralling staircase. Milo grabbed Lyra’s hand, and they bolted downward.

  “WAIT!” Caelan shouted from the corridor.

  Lyra smirked. “Nope. The boss is ours.”

  “I’ve got a message from the Lieutenant!”

  Milo glanced at Lyra, panic flashing across his face. “Don’t you dare. We’re so close.”

  Lyra slowed… just for a second.

  “That’s not going to work,” she said, smiling.

  “SPECIALIST!” Caelan yelled. “IF YOU STOP THE CORPORAL, I’LL PROMOTE YOU RIGHT NOW!”

  Milo froze. “Lyra—we’re almost there. You know the Lieutenant would kill him.”

  Lyra stopped dead.

  She turned slowly, her grin widening. “Do you know what I like most about you?”

  Milo blinked. “What?”

  “I know you’ll forgive me.”

  Caelan and Elyria burst into the room just as Lyra grabbed Milo and hauled him back up the stairs like a feral animal.

  “YOU WILL NOT STOP MY RISE!” she roared, tackling him to the floor.

  Caelan jogged past them, laughing. “I trained you well, Lance Corporal.”

  Lyra snapped a sharp salute, eyes sparkling. “Yes, Captain. You won’t regret this.”

  Milo groaned. “Oh. You are so dead.”

  “WHY?” Lyra demanded.

  Elyria jogged by, calling over her shoulder, “When the Lieutenant finds out how you got it.”

  Caelan’s laughter echoed from below. “SHIT—THIS IS SO MUCH MORE LIKE IT!”

  Lyra deflated, letting go of Milo and slumping. “The Lieutenant’s going to kill me.”

  Milo sat up and gently patted her head. “There, there. He does it to all of us. Want some lunch to make it better?”

  Lyra nodded quietly.

  Caelan stood grinning like a moron as Garron sat comfortably in the centre of a large circular chamber. Open fires burned evenly around the room, chains dangled from the ceiling, and thick cobwebs clung to the upper stonework like the place hadn’t been disturbed in years.

  “This,” Caelan said happily, spreading his arms, “is way more like it.”

  Elyria nodded. “See? Not a total waste of time—WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?”

  Garron didn’t even look up.

  Around him, Mynxi was riding a black fog wolf in slow, lazy circles.

  Elyria’s eyes went wide as she stormed over. “CHIEF—WHY IS SHE RIDING A MONSTER? MYNXI LANGSTON, you know better! Little one, please stop playing with it!”

  Mynxi smiled brightly. “Okay, Ely.”

  She flicked her wrists.

  Two knives snapped into her hands and sank cleanly into the wolf’s skull.

  “Bye-bye, Mr Monster,” Mynxi said cheerfully. “Thanks for playing with me.”

  The wolf dissolved into fog.

  Mynxi launched herself toward Caelan, cracking tiles as she hit the ground and shot straight up into his arms. “Hi, Dad! Did you find any strong monsters yet?”

  Caelan laughed as he caught her. “Not yet, little one. But I think there might be a super, super strong one down the stairs.”

  Mynxi’s eyes lit up. “Can we go fight it, Dad?”

  Caelan glanced over at Garron, who was calmly enjoying a drink while Elyria lay into him.

  Caelan winked at Mynxi and put a finger to his lips. “Shhh.”

  Mynxi copied him immediately.

  The two of them began tiptoeing around Elyria and Garron, barely holding in their laughter.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “DON’T YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP!” Elyria snapped.

  Both Caelan and Mynxi deflated instantly.

  They sighed and shuffled back.

  “Hey, Chief,” Caelan said casually. “Thanks for watching Mynxi.”

  “If you can call it that,” Elyria shot back. “She was riding a monster, Caelan.”

  Garron laughed and cracked open a fresh beer. “Aw, my little buddy’s never a hassle, right?”

  He held out his fist.

  Mynxi leaned out of Caelan’s arms and bumped it with her own.

  Garron mimed an explosion, staggering back.

  Mynxi went full slow-motion. “Nooooo… the Chief is too strong!”

  “Yes,” Elyria said flatly, rubbing her temples. “Why don’t we just skip over the part where I was asking WHY MYNXI WAS RIDING A MONSTER?”

  Caelan walked over and slung an arm around Elyria’s shoulders. “Want to stop for food?”

  “…Anything to drink?” Elyria asked quietly.

  Caelan smiled. “Funny you should ask. I’ve got a secret bag I swap out on Lieutenant inspection days. This is my true emergency bag.”

  He opened his pack.

  Out came bottles, snacks, two large blankets, a pillow, and a stack of paper with coloured pencils.

  Mynxi instantly dropped to the floor and grabbed the pencils. “Ow!”

  “They came into town the other day,” Caelan said. “Some super-duper new paper someone found.”

  “Can I keep them, Dad?” Mynxi asked, clutching them tightly.

  “Only if you go for a nap after lunch,” Caelan said. “Deal?”

  Mynxi thought about it for a full second.

  Then she gave him a big thumbs-up. “Deal, Dad!”

  Caelan started laying out one of the blankets, nodding toward Garron. “So… find anything good down here?”

  Garron took a slow drink and sighed. “Hate to word it this way, with the state of your ego… but you were right again.”

  Caelan’s face lit up instantly. He shuffled closer like a shark smelling blood. “Are you willing to put that in writing for the Lieutenant? And—about what exactly?”

  Elyria, already stuffing her face and washing it down, didn’t even look up. “Don’t do it, Chief.”

  “All three tiers,” Garron said. “On this floor.”

  Caelan leaned in even closer, eyes wide. “Then what happened? Oh, please tell me.”

  Garron’s expression went flat. “It spread.”

  Caelan shot upright like he’d been hit by lightning. “WOW. Video games were a waste of time, huh? WOW. I FUCKING CALLED IT!”

  Garron eyed Caelan’s bag. “Is that the good stuff?”

  Caelan tossed him a bottle without hesitation. “Duh.”

  Garron twisted the lid off, then his voice went serious. “Staff Sergeant or above.”

  Caelan froze mid-grin. “Wait… you’re not joking?”

  Elyria frowned, swallowing. “So what do you think the next level will be like—wait, what are you doing…”

  Caelan sat there rocking slightly, staring at nothing. “…Finally. Finally. I can try it. They said I was mad… mad I say…”

  He started laughing under his breath.

  Garron leaned closer to Elyria. “I think you might need to put him down for a nap as well.”

  Elyria waved it off. “Nah. He’ll be in his own head for the next hour anyway.”

  Garron muttered, “You wouldn’t think it, if you watched him fight.”

  Caelan snapped back, giddy again. “Oh, don’t be like that, Chief. Come on, buddy, we can take it on.”

  Garron nodded slowly. “I was actually going to suggest it. Honestly… the way you split the groups up, it might be our only approach.”

  Mynxi dropped her paper and pencils, then dead-eyed the group. “What are you saying, Gar-gar? I always fight with Dad.”

  Garron hesitated. “It could be dangerous, Mynxi, please don’t—”

  Mynxi folded her arms, turned away with a huff, and started smacking the tip of her tail against the stone.

  Elyria moved around and sat beside her, rubbing her head. “Come on now, we’re having a lovely time. We don’t want grumpy Mynxi, do we?”

  Mynxi stayed in a sulk.

  Elyria lowered her voice. “You know… I would feel super-duper safe if I had someone like you around. Someone who isn’t as silly as your Dad. Do you know anyone super-duper?”

  Mynxi sniffed. “…I’m super-duper.”

  Elyria smiled. “So will you stay with me? Keep me safe from the big scary monsters?”

  Mynxi nodded firmly. “Dad, you and Gar-gar can fight it. I’ll keep Ely safe for you.”

  Caelan ruffled her hair. “That’s my girl.”

  He looked toward Elyria. “Does anyone know how long until the next bell?”

  “About forty minutes,” Elyria said.

  Garron nodded. “One thing I noticed—when we reached this floor, it was only a few minutes before the bell sounded. But the numbers didn’t increase. They just refilled.”

  Caelan’s smile faded into focus. “How many emeralds did you encounter on the third floor?”

  “Five,” Garron said.

  Caelan hummed. “So spawn rates differ per floor.”

  Garron glanced around the room. “Also… why was so much time given for whatever this is?”

  Elyria shrugged. “Maybe so if one group fails, the others still have time?”

  Caelan snorted. “Nah. More likely, the idiot in the sky is testing something. Or adding more floors for the next one. Or who knows.”

  He pointed upward with his bottle like he was accusing the ceiling. “The goddess of copy-and-paste. What a perfect world you’ve built. Our lord and saviour, Todd Howard, would be proud.”

  “All praise Todd,” Mynxi said immediately.

  Elyria groaned. “Will you and your sister please stop teaching her this stuff?”

  Caelan smiled as if it were entirely reasonable. “Not my problem. She learns from the best.”

  Elyria rolled her eyes.

  Upper Levels – 4th Floor

  Keira was laughing like a maniac as she slid sideways across the stone. “ALL PRAISE TODD!”

  A pack of emerald wolves surged after her, snapping and pouncing. Keira weaved between them like she was dancing, boots twisting as jaws missed her by inches.

  Solara was a few steps away, already mid-fight. An emerald-tier death charged her head on—Solara met it with a single clean slice straight down its side.

  “You'd better be kidding me!” Solara shouted, eyes flashing as the creature staggered.

  Braen came in from the right with an upward swing of her warhammer, the blow burrowing straight through the monster’s guard and meeting an emerald jaw with a sickening crack. The emerald flew backward, shockwave rolling out as it slammed into the far wall.

  Braen didn’t stop. She yanked her tower shield off her back and caught an emerald rushing her, the creature swinging an emerald-forged warhammer into her guard.

  It hit with enough force to rattle the floor.

  Braen held it anyway, jaw set. “Are you joking me right now, little Lieutenant? FOCUS!”

  Aidan was back-hopping away from another pack of emerald wolves, breathing hard, snapping shots without even looking as he angled his pistol toward the emerald, trying to press Braen.

  “What do you expect by now?” Aidan shouted. “He thinks if he talks about it enough, it manifests!”

  Keira landed in the middle of the room and took one steady breath as wolves crept in from every angle.

  “One shot—full mag,” she murmured.

  She spun her sniper up, fired in a blur, and five emerald wolves dropped almost instantly.

  One of those rounds skimmed past Braen’s hair by a whisper.

  Braen’s eyes twitched.

  The emerald with the warhammer tried a low swing—Braen dropped her shield and punched it clean in the face. The monster cratered into the wall.

  “Corporal!” Braen barked. “Take over for now!”

  Aidan’s voice went flat. “Oh, of course, Staff. Great. You idiots, have really done it now. Everything was just fine.”

  Braen strode straight over to Keira as Keira swapped mags like it was a hobby.

  Braen picked her up by the head with one hand and slowly turned her around so Keira was dangling, boots kicking lightly.

  Keira grinned up at her. “Hey, beautiful. Thanks for watching one of my idiot brothers.”

  Braen brought her close, calm and quiet, eyes hard. “What have I told you about your bullets, Master Sergeant?”

  Keira opened her mouth—then her eyes flicked past Braen.

  Behind her, Aidan shouted, “WATCH OUT! YOU STILL HAVE AGGRO!”

  Braen didn’t even break eye contact.

  She let her warhammer drop.

  The second the emerald came within reach, she grabbed it by the back of the head and buried it into the stone. She planted her boot on the back of its neck and held it there like it was nothing.

  Aidan, still dodging wolves, shouted, “Ammo! I need my bag!”

  Keira pulled her bag off with one hand and handed it over.

  Braen took it with a tired sigh and threw it across the room.

  Aidan caught it and yelled, “Love you, sis!”

  Keira yelled back, “Don’t you ever forget!”

  She turned back to Braen with a grin. “So Staff, maybe you want to—”

  Keira pointed down at the emerald pinned under Braen’s foot.

  Braen put more weight on it.

  The emerald cracked.

  The shockwave from the break didn’t move Braen a millimetre.

  Keira’s grin turned into a nervous one. “Sorry, beautiful?”

  Braen lowered Keira back onto her feet, as if she were putting away a toy. “You’re lucky you’re my third favourite.”

  Keira lit up. “Oh, nice. Who did I overtake?”

  Across the room, five emerald wolves cornered Aidan. They launched together, jaws wide.

  Aidan took a slow breath. “Deep breaths. One step at a time.”

  He relaxed his shoulders, gripped his pistol with both hands, and stepped forward—

  Before his boot even landed, all five wolves yelped and hit the floor around him like they’d been cut loose.

  He stood there for a beat, still breathing, still calm.

  Keira whooped. “WOOOOH! That’s my brother! Just wait until Mr Giggles hears about this!”

  Aidan started smiling. “Sis, you know Milo hates that name—”

  An emerald death slammed into him out of nowhere, sending him flying into the wall.

  Keira and Braen moved at the same time—

  Aidan’s voice came from the floor, annoyed. “Ow. It’s fine.”

  Solara walked over, eyes sharp, taking in the room like she was counting bodies.

  “Sorry, Corporal,” she said. “Alright, who’s explaining this then?”

  Braen rested her warhammer against her shoulder and spoke evenly. “Up until this level, I was confident the Corporal and I could push on to the final floor. After seeing this floor, I thought it best to hold position and get your thoughts before proceeding, Lieutenant.”

  Solara nodded slowly. “Then let’s start with the obvious. Why are there emeralds here at all? We’ve encountered them before, but never like this. Never clustered.”

  Aidan cracked his neck as he walked over. “They weren’t like this when we first reached the floor. We cleared it in a few minutes. Then the bell went. Not even two minutes later—bang. Another wave.”

  Braen’s voice lowered. “And it was different this time. When they formed a True Emerald in that second wave, the rest of the monsters behaved differently. They lined up. That scarf—” she gestured vaguely, “—it split apart and merged with the others. Almost like it was redistributing itself.”

  Keira’s head snapped up, eyes lighting like a kid at Christmas. “Oh, please tell me you saw a True Emerald, Bro. Every detail. I’ve been dreaming of watching Staff take one on.”

  “Not just that,” Braen continued. “Once the scarf merged, the emerald reverted. Not fully—but closer to a mid-tier.”

  Solara went very still. “No. No no no no no. That’s a problem.”

  Keira waved it off with a grin. “Relax, Lieutenant. We beat the boss, grab the loot, and drink in a few hours.”

  “That’s not it,” Solara said. “The Captain’s been talking about distance and scale for years. How wars actually end. If—”

  Keira’s grin stretched wider. “Bitch, are we getting monster armies?”

  Solara shot her a look. “How do you come up with this rubbish? Ready up, Master Sergeant. Whatever’s on the top floor needs to be eliminated.”

  “What’s got you so worked up?” Keira asked, racking the bolt.

  “They’re advancing with tiers,” Solara replied. “True Emerald was the ceiling. If we’re seeing them on both the third and fourth floors—”

  A massive roar ripped through the dungeon, the floor shuddering beneath their boots.

  Aidan clasped his hands together like he was praying. “Sis… please. I know it’s your dream, but—”

  Keira’s grin turned feral. “Oh, that better be a dragon, or I’m burning this whole war to the ground.”

  She laughed as she started toward the stairs at the far end of the room.