I picked up the strange crystal tablet sitting on the table in the middle of the room and ran my finger across the front of it experimentally. Even though it appeared to just be a large slab of crystal, with no external hardware or power source, it worked just like the tablets from back home.

 

There wasn’t much on the tablet, just a single question: Which teammate would you like to respawn?

 

I thought about it for a moment, and tapped one of the options. The air in front of me shimmered, and after a few seconds Dusty materialized in front of me.

 

“Whoaaaa… I’m back!” Dusty declared triumphantly. “Don’t take this the wrong way boss but, why me? Wouldn’t Deadbeat be a better selection.”

 

“I figured your polearm would be more useful than the knives she was carrying when she died,” I said. “Plus I figured she deserved a break after getting ripped limb from limb.”

 

“Why do you think she was ripped limb from limb,” Spooky asked. “The last time we saw her she was being pulled into the river.”

 

“And unless that river was bottomless, which I admit could be possible for all I know, she would have just climbed back out again. I very much doubted those flower women, the Alarunes Nyx called them, could have beaten her to death, but if there were enough of them they could have restrained her and maybe pulled her apart. Those vines of theirs were thick,” I explained. “I fully admit they could have killed her some other way, that’s the only reason I could see.”

“What about magic?” Bandit asked.

 

“If they had anything that dangerous, they should have used it against the rest of the team,” I muttered. The tablet in my hand flashed, and the message on it changed: ‘Which area would you like to enter next?’

 

My fingers hovered over the tablet for several seconds. Neither of the two remaining options was all that appealing, and both would be far more difficult for my squad to take down, I just didn’t know which was worse. After considering for several seconds I made my choice, I’d go with what the squad had said before, and tapped ‘Baths’

 

As soon as I did, the room’s exit swung open. I stepped up to the door and nearly did a double take. The previous floors had been dark, and slightly creepy, but this area was the complete opposite. It was clean, brightly lit, and immaculately decorated.

 

I was standing at the bottom of a long series of terraced marble pools. We were going to have to fight our way up, level by level to make it to the top.

 

Bob wandered up next to me and looked at the massive structure. “That’s a lot of stairs.”

“Stairs? That’s the part you’re worried about? This is the magic wing, there could be all sorts of mages up there,” I grumbled.

 

Bob just cocked his head to the side. “Maybe, but I can’t see any mages yet, only the stairs. Might as well worry about what’s right in front of me, and deal with the mages if and when we find them.”

 

“He might have a simple outlook,” Bandit said, coming up behind me after Bob has stepped by, “but sometimes he has it right. No point in worrying about something that MAY happen, let’s deal with it when it DOES happen.”

 

I nodded slowly. “Guess that makes sense.”

 

“If you agree you better get going, Bob’s already half way to that first pool,” Dusty exclaimed.

 

“Fuck!” I hissed when I realized he was right.

 

I managed to catch up to the big bear just as he stepped on the lowest pool level. The entire level was just a single massive pool. Oh, there was a two foot wide walkway along the front, but beyond that there wasn’t a single place to step. There were no sides to the pool, the water just poured over the side. Water poured down from the side of the next pool, creating a curtain of water across from us.

 

Glancing around, I could only see one way across, a series of large rectangular platforms which rose out of the center of the pool.

 

“A jumping puzzle, really?” Dusty groaned. “What is this a fucking video game?”

 

“Do you see another way?” I grumbled.

 

“We could waddle along the bottom of the pool,” the bear replied.

 

I leaned over and looked into the crystal clear water. There were a series of lights mounted around five feet down, illuminating part of the pool. Even with the help I couldn’t see the bottom.

 

“I have a feeling that if any of you go in the water here, you’re not getting out. Even if you survive the attacks, I don’t see you climbing out,” I said. “So, watch your footing.”

 

Stepping up to the edge of the pool I threw myself onto the closest platform. It was a fairly decent size, about four meters square. As soon as I landed Bandit yelled.

 

“Boss, three o’clock!”

 

I pivoted on my heel, ripping the axe off my back as I turned to engage my foe. To my surprise, no one had approached the platform. Instead I could see a pair of young, feminine heads just poking out of the water thirty or so minutes away. They weren’t human, they had gills on their necks, but beyond that I didn’t have a clue what they were. The pair giggled, and waved.

 

“Was that necessary Bandit?” I hissed. “They’re not exactly a massive threat at that range.”

“You never know!” the fox yelled back.

 

When I turned back to the girls, and waved back. One of the girls popped her head above the water, opened her mouth and… my brain immediately went fuzzy. Her singing was so beautiful, it just filled my head and wiped away my worries. I had to hear more.

 

My feet moved on their own, clumsily moving me closer to the woman. Step by step I got closer to that heavenly sound.

 

“Oh no you don’t!” someone yelled as I was yanked off my feet and dangled several inches off the floor.

 

“Let me go! I have to go over there,” I shouted, wiggling desperately, trying to get out of their grip. It was no use, I couldn’t shake the arm clamped onto the back of my armor.

 

“Bandit!” Dusty growled.

 

“I’ve got it…” the fox replied, lowering his crossbow. The second girl glared at him, and barked something I couldn’t hear. I was too enthralled by the song. A large shadow appeared, rising out of the deep and erupting out of the water just in time to block the shot. It appeared to be some sort of armored seal, one that cried in pain as the bolt sunk deep into its flesh.

 

With the first shot blocked it charged the team, trying to take out Bandit before he could strike again. Dusty wasn’t going to let that happen though, the bear jumped up next to his friend, braced himself, and stabbed down with his oversized polearm.

 

The seal tried to turn, but it had far too much momentum and slammed into the blade head on. Dusty slid back almost a meter with the impact, teetering on his feet, but he’d done his job. With the seal out of the way, there was nothing to stop Bandit’s second shot. His bolt streaked across the surface of the pool, before embedding itself in the neck of the singing girl.

 

When her song ended, I came back to my senses.

 

“The fuck was that?” I muttered. “Bob, why are you holding me up by the collar?”

 

“You were about to jump in the pool,” the bear replied simply.

 

“Bullshit! I would never,” I growled.

 

“You were,” Heavy replied, as he jumped to the platform. “You liked the singing.”

I stared at my teammates blankly. “Bullshit,” I repeated.

 

“Sirens are a traditional mythical creature that take the form of beautiful young women, and according to legends they could enthrall sailors with their voice,” Nyx explained using Dusty.

 

As soon as he was done the tan bear smashed himself in the head with his fist. “Stop that!”

 

“Enthralled? Really?” I grumbled. “Nyx I know you can’t transport anything major, but do you think you can manage some earplugs?”

 

“You know your helmet has sound dampening systems, right? You could completely shut out sounds if you wanted,” Nyx said through Heavy. I just stared at the polar bear for several seconds, then connected to the helmet with my augs. Sure enough there was a setting to mute external noise.

 

“Did it work?” I asked. Heavy’s mouth moved but no noise came out. “Excellent, all communication goes through the network from now on.”

 

As I slowly swung back and forth I looked across the pool, and saw the second girl go down to a crossbow bolt. Threat eliminated.

 

I waited several seconds, just hanging from Bob’s paw until I got frustrated. “You can put me down now.”