There is a sound, like air cracking, and roars from back through the tunnel. I look at Aidan, and we exchange worried glances. We rush through, hearing the sounds of combat.

“The Inquisitor may have found us. If he has… flee into the dungeon. You’ll be safer in there.” Aidan shouts as we run.

“I thought it was filled with enemies.” I shout back, not a stray pant in my voice. “Wouldn’t it be dangerous to go alone?”

“Honestly, mate, not as dangerous as fighting the Inquisitor and his lackeys. They’ll tear you apart. Elijah, the Inquisitor, he’s a real piece of work, evil to the core and dangerous to boot. He has access to the system. Do you know that you can give the system to someone else?”

“I do. Avelihn told me.”

He stops, looking at me. I stop, my feet scraping on the ground. “What?”

“You felt like telling me anytime soon you’ve seen her!?” he asks

“Yeah, she came to me a while ago. Or, more accurately, I came in her…”

“Curse of Lust, eh?” he chuckles. “Not bad, I wouldn’t have minded tapping that particular keg.”

“I’m just glad she seemed up for it, instead of forcing myself on someone.”

“Well, she never let me, even when I had the curse of lust. She’d just shackle me to a tree until she got far enough away that some other poor sap was the target.”

“When you had? You mean you don’t anymore?”

“No, I don’t. I’ll explain later.”

We continue running, even though the sounds of fighting have stopped. Coming out of the darkness, I see the small village from a different angle, slightly higher. Then I catch a familiar scent. Nysali is here… so is Avelihn. “Wait.” I say to him, and he nods at me. “I smell it too.”

In the centre of the room, a small, opaque bubble is surrounded by werewolfs who shuffle about uselessly. Me and Aidan take a few steps down, and the werewolves look at us both together. Some look at me more than Aidan… I’m not sure what that means.

“Avelihn’s in there. So is Nysali.”

“Who?”

“A girl I raped on my first night. She got access to the system.”

“Ah, shit. Let’s hope she doesn’t want to kill you. Though if Avelihn’s brought her, I doubt it. All Avelihn seems to want is to protect the Incarnates, and not much else.”

I look at him. “Really? You trust her?”

“I spent a good few years traveling with her, on and off. I found no reason to distrust her.”

I look at the bubble, and try and use my Psi-chip to talk through the cloud of swirling white cloud.

“Avelihn.” I say, licking my brain, a horrible but realistic metaphor. “Is that you?”

“Ah, Ryan. So you are here. Aidan, tell the wolves to stop. We need to talk.”

Two minutes later, Aidan is sat on his throne, I am on the left of him, and Nysali is sat as far as possible away from me, and I avoid her gaze.

“Aidan, I didn’t expect to find you here, though it’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise, Avelihn. I had thought you died - I didn’t hear from you for years.”

“Yes.” She says, looking down at the ground. “Elijah managed to capture me. I spent a few years in a cell.”

Aidan growls. “I see. I’m sorry, if I had known…”

“You would have killed yourself trying to get in. Please, it’s fine. I don’t want to speak about it. I do, however, want to speak about the dungeon you’ve found.”

Aidan is silent, and he clenches his jaw. “How did you know?”

“I can feel it on the surface now. It’s grown in strength. Which means…”

“Rallagh will soon detect it, and they’ll send a team. I know, I know. I had just hoped it would not be so soon.” He says, then looks around the room forlornly. “Guess it’s time to move on again.”

“Perhaps not.” Avelihn says. “I believe we should clear the dungeon. We have perhaps three of four days till someone notices it. That’s enough time to clear it and begone.”

“What if Elijah comes?”

She laughs. “I have never seen a man more afraid of the dungeons in my life. He may come, but he will never enter, nor will he let anyone else inside. If he comes, and we’re still in the dungeon, I have… ways to aid us, as one of the system’s creators.”

“Even so, Avelihn, we don’t have the power to clear it yet. Only two of my wolves that I know I can trust have access to the system, and you know why I can’t help much.”

“Why?” I ask. “You’ve been an incarnate for years. Surely you’ve got some power behind you?”

He sighs, but Avelihn speaks with a note of sorrow in his voice. “That, is my fault. When I harbored the incarnates, I focused them more on building an elite team, one with members loyal to the king, rather than empowering themselves. I was afraid of what they could do, even after making the system, so I gave them false information, I stopped them from getting as strong as they could be. Aidan’s not as powerful as you might think.”

“Yeah, and it’s something that has fucked us over a couple times. I never even got a class, you see. They dragged me out of the starter area, killed my boss for me. I’m an incarnate, but I’m neutered. My two are stronger, because I don’t need a class to give them one.”

Avelihn looks at me. “I think it’s important that you get your class as soon as possible.”

Nysali shifts, and watches me. “So that’s what this is?” she says, jerking a thumb back as the ghostly crossbow-wielding women floats lazily in the air behind her.”

“Yes. You’ve a class. I believe I’ve seen it before, but only once. Spectre.”

“Avelihn, before you came in, what time of the day was it?” asks Aidan. “I’m starting to feel it. That old, residual pull.”

Avelihn looks at me. “About to go nighttime, unfortunately.”

Nysali stands up, pulls the crossbow from the side of the bed, and points it at me. “Try it, dog.”

Avelihn moves her staff to lower the crossbow. “He won’t go for you. He may go for me… but the Curse has rules. Generally, it doesn’t like going after the same person twice.”

“We’re pretty far from the village. He might go after one of my wolves, but I doubt it. We aren’t the greatest looking creatures. No, he’ll go to the Wet Tent. He’s about to meet Fenni.”

ALERT: CURSE OF LUST HAS STARTED.