The small group came to a stop by the treeline, and all of them peered between the trunks, trying to get an idea of what was happening on the field beyond.

  "Not much in the way of terrain for my little turret here," Abraham said, scratching his chin before he looked up. "Maybe a tree will do."

  "Can you fire that thing from a tree?" Curtis asked.

  "It’s very versatile," Abraham said, bringing his large machine gun out of his inventory. He pressed it against the tree, and metal wrapped around the trunk, securing the weapon. "See?"

  "Useful," Luke agreed.

  "Looks like humans and dwarves are fighting against each other. What side do we take?" Milla asked.

  "Neither," Curtis said.

  "Agreed," Penny said. "We are on our own side here."

  "We need the gem," Luke agreed. "Let’s wait until they’ve tired themselves."

  "Hey, lightning lady," Abraham said, nodding toward the battle. "Can you hit them from here?"

  "With some of my spells, sure," Penny said.

  "I can too," Abraham said. "If we bomb them, there won’t be many left. There can’t be more than fifty on each side, even now."

  "You want to bomb them?" Luke asked.

  Abraham shrugged. "All is fair in love and war."

  "What if we destroyed the gem?" Milla asked.

  Nymh: "The Gem of Communication is not in the dwarven city. We are returning to the outpost."

  Milla: "Hold the gems to keep the Deep Dweller from you."

  Luke: "And don’t forget to run."

  Nymh: "Milla, I’ll have words for you when I return. Curtis as well."

  "Oh, you’re in trouble," Penny said.

  Emma gave a small grunt of confusion and shook her head. "So, are we doing this or what? I say we attack them from afar. Time to see what this bow can do. Let’s get this over with so we can go home."

  "I think my spear would reach them even from here," Mateo said.

  Emma reached up and grabbed a branch, hoisting herself into the tree. Abraham scaled a different trunk nearby. Penny looked at Luke and shrugged, joining the two among the treetops.

  "This feels wrong," Milla said.

  "It is what it is," Luke said. "The dwarves are no friends of ours."

  Milla pointed to her own heart. "But they're human."

  "Are they?" Curtis asked. "None of this is real. It is just to prepare us for what is coming later."

  "What?" Milla asked.

  "The void. The system is training us to fight the void."

  "We don’t have time for this discussion again," Luke said.

  "Guys!" Emma called down from the top of the tree. "There are a lot of people coming from that city in the distance."

  "How many?" Luke asked.

  "A hundred, maybe? Perhaps a little more. I think they’re riding horses."

  "We are doing this now," Curtis said. "Come on, Mateo."

  The two of them set off through the trees and out into the field on the other side.

  "Go, go, go!" Luke called out.

  It was time to get the gem to the Integrated side. Hopefully, they would be able to escape before having to deal with the newcomers on horseback.

  "So what do we do, little brother?" Milla asked.

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  "I’m going," Luke said, and settled into a run.

  Milla followed, but she was slower and soon fell behind.

  Before they even made it halfway, death rained down on the field of battle. First, the things that Abraham called bombs, and that was a fitting name. They weren’t missiles, but more like cannonball-like objects that fell into battle on both sides, about twelve of them in all. After smashing into their targets, the bombs exploded. Even from a distance, Luke saw the effect of the blasts. Large groups of people and dwarves were ripped apart, all of them dead in an instant. Machine gun fire followed, and lightning struck from above. First one, then two bolts, followed by three, and four, and five, half a second between each attack.

  "Lightning from a clear sky," Mateo said. "Absolute poetry."

  Arrows from Emma joined in, coming in from a high arc. They fell straight down into the crowd. Like Mateo’s thrown spear, they split apart, thudding into the ground like small spears, piercing through everything living.

  Curtis, Mateo, and Luke came to a stop, allowing Milla to catch up.

  "Maybe we shouldn't go in there while it’s still going," Luke said.

  For once, Curtis went with a cautious approach. "Yeah."

  Both of them turned to Mateo, who looked like he had to restrain himself from running, then let out a low cry. "?Contengamos nuestras manos!"

  The fighting up ahead broke up almost as soon as the first bombs hit. By the time all three ranged attackers were unleashing area-of-effect attacks upon them, the humans were screaming, scrambling to erect shields, pointing them up. A few magical barriers sprang up, too, but they were unable to withstand the barrage. Both groups broke and ran. All that remained was a handful of dwarves, running in random directions, and ten of the humans from the outpost. They, too, were fleeing, heading in the direction of the riders, and one of them carried a satchel on his back, almost like a backpack.

  Luke pointed. "It looks heavy."

  "I see it," Mateo said, and raised his spear over his head, holding it almost horizontal to the ground. He took a step forward and threw, putting his entire weight behind it. "Let me unburden him."

  Luke and the others made it almost ten steps closer before the spear slammed into the fleeing human, hitting him right in the side of the neck, flinging him to the ground without a sound. The others stopped, looked up in horror, and then threw themselves at their fallen comrade, pulling the bag free, as if it was more important than their lives.

  Curtis and Mateo caught up with the humans before Luke, and by the time he made it over to the other two, trailed by his sister, the ones attempting to flee with the gem were all dead. After healing a long but shallow cut on Mateo's arm, they searched the backpack.

  There it was.

  The Gem of Communication.

  It was oval and flat with a glass-like surface filled with what looked like drifting clouds. They all emitted a pleasant glow, as if the sun shone through them. Milla put a hand on it and dragged her fingers across the surface. When she took her hand off, one of the smaller gems was in her palm.

  "How did you do that?" Luke asked.

  "I'm not sure," she confessed, flicking the gem into the air for Luke to catch.

  She repeated the hand movement and came away with another gem. Then she did the same with both hands, each time coming away with a new, small gem.

  "It's getting smaller," Curtis said.

  "Is it?" Luke asked.

  "Trust me."

  Luke copied his sister and soon had a whole load of communication gems.

  "Yeah. It's getting smaller," he agreed.

  In the distance, Penny, Abraham, and Emma were running toward them, waving their hands over their heads.

  "Our friends have arrived," Mateo noted.

  "What are they doing?" Luke asked.

  "Warning us," Milla said, pointing not far down along the road. A dust cloud announced the coming group of riders.

  "Right," Luke said. "It’s time to run."

  "We'll never make it back to the cave before they catch up," Curtis said. "The only option is to stay and fight."

  "No. We need to hide among the trees," Milla said.

  Luke nodded. "Agreed, our priority is getting the gem out of here."

  He took the now much smaller Gem of Communication and put it into his inventory, dumping a dwarven corpse onto the ground to make room.

  "Ew," Emma said.

  The faint voice of Penny could be heard across the field. "Run!"

  Luke pointed to her. "What she said. Run!"

  The four of them set off, heading back to the trees with only minor grumbling from Curtis and a disappointed look on Mateo's face. After regrouping with the other three, the larger group made it back to the tree line where the ranged attackers had launched their assault, just in time for the riders to arrive at the now deserted battlefield.

  "There are a lot of them," Penny said, hunched down in the undergrowth.

  "Well-armored, too," Abraham said. "I wonder if that shiny plate armor can stop my bullets."

  "My arrows would tear right through them," Emma said in a hushed whisper.

  "There are a hundred of them and seven of us," Luke said. "Plus, just look at them. They have lances, and those robed figures are probably mages. Then there's a bunch of archers. I don't think we want to fight them."

  "Then what do we do? Time is running out," Milla said.

  "I wish we had a speed buff from Liza," Luke grumbled. He looked around. "Still, I think we should go."

  "How?" Penny asked.

  "The trees will keep us hidden for a little while, at least," Luke said. "If we bolt, we might make it. If they catch up, we fight."

  "No," Curtis said.

  Luke glared at him. "No?"

  "We won't make it."

  "Not in a million years," Penny agreed.

  Mateo put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "This time, I'm afraid we must stand our ground, my friend."

  "You all want to fight them? Right here, right now?" Luke asked.

  "Want is a strong word," Penny said.

  Abraham pointed up again. "We can get the jump on them, like before, and take most of them out before they know what's happening."

  "Do you even have the mana for that?" Luke asked.

  "Well, no," Penny said. "But I couldn't help but see those gems Simon handed to you. They're like mana potions, aren't they?"

  "Yeah," Luke muttered, handing out a few to each member of the group.

  "So that's it?" Milla asked. "We fight again?"

  "Looks like we don't have much of a choice," Luke said. "Let's just get this over with."