They didn’t like being left behind.

  Penelope pushed the guilt out of her mind as she took off down the tunnel. If the monsters came for them, they’d be sitting ducks, but this run was already a bust. Her goal now was to get as much of the floor explored as she could.

  “What happens when you reach the other entrance and Freddy’s team isn’t here yet?” Jeru floated in front of her as she jogged towards the crossroad.

  “Then I’ll have more time to explore until she does.” Penelope kept the four in front of her as she took a sharp right. As soon as she could see down the right tunnel, she sent two to the projectiles forward, while keeping two in front of her and four from her second cast behind her.

  “Door on your right, then left.” Jeru moved to the end of her spell’s range and pointed to his right as he looked back at her.

  Penelope pulled one of the balls back and stationed it in the middle of the door on her right as she jogged by. When nothing attacked her, she kept moving towards the 100-foot mark Jeru was keeping. The projectile that had been standing guard swapped with one of the other ones in front of her as that one went to stand in the middle of the other door.

  “Nothing in here either…” Jeru shrugged. “It’s a big space and lots of places for things to hide before they jump out and go BOO!”

  Penelope guided one of the balls into the room. It stretched farther to her left and right than she could see by the glow of the single projectile. The wall across from her was well illuminated, with the room only being 30 feet wide.

  “Exploring is for after I find the other entrance.” Penelope reminded herself as she backed out of the opening.

  “What are you going to do when you reach the other side and they’re not there?” Jeru tilted his head.

  “Double back and explore where that room goes.” Penelope pointed her thumb at the opening closer to the safe zone. If I didn’t have to relive that funeral, I’d just keep resetting until I had the square mapped out.

  Jeru eyed her, the gaze of his black eyes building the discomfort she felt the longer he stared at her.

  “You’re running.” Jeru finally looked away as they reached the end of the tunnel.

  Penelope looked left and right at the two tunnels branching off. While the left path led into darkness, the right one ended at the glowing barrier. She hesitated for a moment, then pushed a pair of projectiles into the room that her path deadended into.

  “They don’t want me to lead them.” Penelope struggled to contain the fear bubbling inside her. “I had one person who I felt like I might be able to talk to. One person who saw me for what I am, and they’re gone.” She clenched her fist as a shiver ran through her.

  “You’re spiraling.” Jeru vanished as his voice transitioned to her mind. “It’s okay to grieve for the ones we lost. That timer forces you to keep moving forward and doesn’t give people much time to process what’s happened before the next threat rears its head.”

  Penelope closed her eyes. “I’m just alone. Everyone wants me to be something that I’m not or to not be something that I am.”

  “You still have me.” The sensation of a gentle hug wrapped around her arms.

  A lone tear rolled down Penelope’s cheek as she hugged herself. Her heart was still thundering in her ears, and the crushing weight of expectations was still suffocating her, but there was a little ray of hope in the middle of the storm raging around her.

  Thanks.

  “I’d say you could stay like this for as long as you need, but I’ve seen movement in that room.” Jeru reappeared inside the room. “Send me a light.”

  A numb tingle played on Penelope’s fingers as she moved four of the deeper into the room.

  “There’s definitely something in here, but I can’t see what it is until you walk in.” Jeru looked over at his host. “They haven’t attacked yet, so you can still walk away.”

  No. I need this. Penelope pulled the two balls from the left and right tunnels into her left palm and walked into the room.

  The room was huge. The light from her four projectiles wasn't enough to show her the edge of any of the walls. Eight was the most that she could handle at the moment, and with the two that were hovering in the door, that left her only six that she could play with. There was too much space in the room for her to be able to illuminate. She sent one of the ones in her hand to fan out with the others. Spacing the projectiles every forty feet gave her enough light to know that there wasn’t anything close, but she also had to spread the in a semicircle in front of her, which gave her less visibility than her maximum range.

  Scritch, scritch

  Penelope took a few timid steps deeper into the room. “I know you’re in here!” She scanned the shadows. “I can hear the Wulf’s claws scratching the floor!”

  An pierced the on her left.

  “It’s a Caster!” Jeru flew to where the projectile had been canceled. “Get the light off of you!”

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  A pair of finger-sized frozen projectiles bounced off her chest.

  “Ugh!” Peneleope threw the spell in her hand to the left and pushed the five remaining balls out as far as they could reach. She sprinted forward as she spaced out and rotated the hovering balls. Once she was deep enough into the room, she had to pull the two balls off of the doorway.

  Three of the balls of light winked out as the Shadow Caster sniped them.

  Can you tell where it’s at? Penelope couldn’t see where she was going, but the floor was flat, even though it was very uneven. And long as she kept her steps small, she wasn’t going to stumble because of a divot or mound on the floor.

  “It’s on the west side somewhere, but there are monsters behind you!” Jeru pointed east, towards the safe zone. “This room has to be at least 350 feet wide!”

  A fan of sliced across her face. The she was wearing left her face exposed, though it provided a little protection to the back of her head. The sharp projectiles cut her cheeks, but none of them lodged in her skin.

  Fine. You want to play hide-and-go-seek? Penelope faced the doorway and pointed her wand at the opening. Hide from this! “LIGHT BEAM!”

  The stream of light shot out to its max range of 100-feet. Penelope twisted to her right, dragging the beam of light as she ran forward. The spell only illuminated 20 feet on either side of the beam, but a large portion of the room was lit up as Penelope whipped her wand back and forth.

   blasted towards her as the shadowy form of the Demon in charge retreated into the shadows.

  “Gotcha!” Penelope ignored the extra cuts as she cancelled the beam and ran towards the western wall. She recast and sent all of the in that direction.The Shadow Caster roared as the floor mechanic triggered.

  WHOOSH…SCREECH

  Penelope saw the other wall and the door the Demon was running for.

  “TORNADO ALLEY!” Penelope sacrificed two of her so she could create twin twisters to bar the door.

  The Demon hissed as it angled away from the barrier. Ice cracked as it slammed its fist into the ground. The stone froze over in an area a 100 feet around the Shadow Caster, sending ice under Penelope’s feet.

  Penelope slipped on the slick surface, sliding across the floor until she hit the wall. She kept her wand in her hand and used the rough surface of the wall to steady herself as the barrage of peppered her.

  “Incoming.”

  The three-foot-tall bug creatures sliding across the ice towards her were hairy, unlike the other bug types, which had all had chitin covering them. The Wigon, as their nameplate read, also has rows of sharp teeth in their mouths instead of mandibles. Their spindly legs were still insect-like, despite also being covered in short, gray hair. Their thorax was bare, almost like it was still in the larva stage.

  “LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope triggered her AoE spell in a cone in front of her. The first hit slowed the monsters, so she blasted the trio twice more.

  Ding!

  Experience +6

  Experience +6

  Experience +6

  The corpses slowed down enough that they only bumped into her, but that didn’t stop the pair of Chums that jumped on the bodies and then flew at her.

  The blue-feathered avian bipeds snapped their toothy beaks with the clawed hands at the end of their wings outstretched.

  “LIGHT BLAST!” The wave of light did little to stop their charge. Penelope bent over, tucked her head between her knees, and covered her head with her arms. “LIGHT BURST! LIGHT BURST!”

  The impact drove the air out of her lungs, leaving her choking and gasping for breath under the corpses.

  Ding!

  Experience +6

  Experience +6

  Her fingers shivered as Penelope reached into the side pocket of her silver robe and pulled out a . The spicy liquid burned her throat, but it also pushed away some of the chill that the ice under her as well as the that were bouncing off her robe.

  Penelope slipped while she wiggled her way out from under the feathered corpses. She was glad to see the Demon standing just out of range, its glowing blue eyes making it easy to see under the lone hovering by the ceiling just in front of it.

  The sluggish way her thoughts were moving let her know that she was getting low on mana, so she drank a as well. The cool, minty liquid drawing another shiver out of her as the cold replaced the warmth she’d felt moments ago.

  Penelope pointed her wand at the grinning Demon.

  “Now it’s just you and me.”

  “NO.” The Demon pointed at the doorway she had entered from.

  A Shadow Knight walked into the light. Four Wulfs padded in front of them, the flabby creatures growled as they stared at her with hungry eyes.

  “No more playing.” The Shadow Knight growled as it pointed its short sword at her and raised its shield. “Now you die.”

  Penelope cast twice.

  The second cast canceled the one overhead, but with the eight balls and their echos floating waist-high around Penelope in a ring, the sudden lack of the one she’d been using as lighting didn’t diminish how far she could see.

  A pair of her main shot at the closest three Wulfs. Penelope was so focused on getting in position to use on the other Caster that she almost didn’t notice the pull on her projectiles.

  The mental command was ripped out of her control, and the projectiles slammed into the Shadow Knight’s shield. Without any spells in between them, the lesser Demons attacked.

  “LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope turned her attention back to the charging monsters. “LIGHT—”

  A ball of ice hit her in the back of the head. The impact knocked her forward, dropping her to all fours as she slapped her palms on the frozen floor to catch herself.

  “LIGHT BURST!”

  Ding!

  Experience +6

  Experience +6

  Experience +6

  Dead monsters didn’t stop moving, and on ice, their momentum was a certainty. The three corpses slammed into her, sliding her the rest of the way into the wall.

  Her fingers clawed under the flabby yellowish monster as Penelope tried to find her wand. A low growl alerted her that she hadn’t got them all.

  Penelope looked up to see sharp teeth brushing by her cheek. Her scream died in her throat as the fourth Wulf crushed her windpipe. There was a tug, then blinding light.

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild