Luke held his breath, waiting for Tim's reply. Judging by the frantic messages and the timestamp of the last text, his old classmate shouldn't take long.

  "Finally! Why the hell haven't you answered me? And what the hell?! Why did you talk to my father? You're messing everything up!"

  "Tim," Luke texted back. "Are you still near the orb? Did you find your friend?"

  "Of course I'm not still back there! Dr. Stergios didn't show up, but what was I supposed to do? Live out the rest of my life in the park? Dr. Marlene is fine, by the way. Thanks for asking! Why couldn't more of us pick Lifeweaver?"

  "I don't know," Luke wrote. It was the truth, too. He didn't have a clue. Were four people of the same class some sort of maximum? Did that mean no other Lifeweavers existed on Earth? Questions for another time.

  "Stay away from the orb," Luke said. "If you hear from Stergios, let me know. OK?"

  "What's going on?" Tim asked.

  Luke sighed. "Dangerous. Just stay away."

  Tim continued sending texts, but Luke ignored them.

  "Almost there!" Milla shouted.

  "Hey, Milla," Luke said. "You shouldn't go with us once we're there."

  "Don't be stupid, little brother."

  "No, I'm serious. Relian is dangerous, and your brand of healing only works in dungeons."

  Milla shook her head without looking back. "Incorrect. It works just fine here."

  "It does?"

  "As long as I'm healing wounds from monsters and the like. That boss you're talking about, the one who's riding around in Ray, he's from a dungeon, is he not?"

  "Not originally," Luke said. "I don't think."

  "Well, I'm coming," Milla said. "And that's that."

  Curtis shifted in his seat. "Your brother is right."

  "Excuse you? Don't butt in."

  "There's another dungeon. As the DIA team, shouldn't you go there?" Curtis asked.

  She glared at him through the rearview mirror. "That goes for you, too."

  "No," Curtis said. "I'm not DIA."

  "You accepted Nymh's offer to join."

  "I've changed my mind."

  "Just like that?" she asked.

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  "Don't like people."

  Milla distorted her voice to mock him. "Don't like people. Well, I don't care. I'm coming with you. There are more Integrated who can deal with the second portal. I'm sure it's swarming with people. Also, I have to check what happened with Nymh and the others. We already lost Longstrider."

  "Fine," Luke muttered.

  "Fine," she agreed.

  "Siblings," Curtis grunted, shaking his head.

  "There!" Milla shouted.

  In the distance, the park came into view. Tree tops of green showed between buildings, with the gray orb rising above them, hovering in place. Around that, the Department of Integrated Affairs had built its headquarters.

  "Did you call Johanson?" Milla asked as she sped up even more.

  Luke blinked. He hadn't. After dialing, the tone rang out several times without an answer, and he was about to hang up when Johanson answered. It was just a whisper. "Luke."

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "What's going on, Johanson?" Luke asked.

  In the background, he heard shouts and people running.

  "Ray," Johanson whispered. "Or Relian. He's... Well, he's hurting people. I'm barricaded in an interview room, but it won't hold. We’ve sent out an emergency signal to headquarters in nearby cities. Integrated teams should arrive soon. You should stay away."

  "What?"

  "It's too dangerous."

  "Wasn't he asking for me?" Luke asked.

  "You are a private citizen. It is too dangerous."

  "I'm coming," Luke said, and hung up.

  "Well?" Milla asked.

  "Drive faster."

  "You got it, little brother," Milla said.

  Once they reached the park, Luke fiddled with his seatbelt, figuring Milla would stop. Several cops stood in front of yellow tape, motioning for her to stop. One even pulled out a gun, but she ignored them all. Instead, she drove over the curb, through the yellow tape and onto the grass with an exhilarated shriek.

  The ground sloped down toward the orb, and they picked up speed. Thankfully, the area was cleared of people. It was like a ghost town without the long line of people waiting to touch the orb, and without reporters milling about.

  Milla put her foot on the brake, and the car came to a screeching stop near the main entrance to the DIA headquarters after skidding several feet on the grass.

  "Ouch," Curtis said.

  "Crybaby," Milla muttered as she unfastened her seatbelt and got out.

  Luke followed.

  Luke: "I'm heading into DIA now with Milla and Curtis."

  Penny: "We're on our way, but it'll be a little while longer. Stuck in traffic. Maybe you should wait?"

  Luke: "Can't wait."

  The headquarters had grown since Luke exited the Tutorial Dungeon. In just a few days, they’d added two more floors, and something about the large building breathed permanence. The headquarters wasn't going anywhere. Not in the foreseeable future.

  An angry-looking red screen over a keypad greeted them by the side of the front doors. The word lockdown blinked on it. When Milla punched in a couple of numbers on it, a sequence of beeps followed, but nothing else. It wouldn't open.

  "Stupid thing," Milla muttered.

  Luke stepped up next to her. "Wrong code?"

  "I'm locked out. My code isn't working."

  Curtis's blade tore through the door and wall, cutting through both doorknob and lock. The door fell inward with a thud. He turned to Luke and Milla. "Stop messing about."

  "Way to make a quiet entrance," Milla said.

  Luke hurried into the building, waving for the other two to follow. A long corridor took them past several sets of small offices on both sides. Inside, Luke spotted signs of Relian having come through. Blood. Corpses. Pieces of people.

  "I think he's building monsters," Luke said, his face going pale when he remembered the Flesh Golem and Relian's other abominations.

  "That's fucked up," Curtis said, peering into an office. "That's what this guy does? He's like some sort of necromancer?"

  "Something like that. I'm not sure what to expect," Luke said as they headed deeper into the building.

  With Weaver's Eye on full blast, Luke sensed uninjured people scattered in the offices. Rather than waste time talking to each of them, he raised his voice and told people to run, that they could get out. Some did. Most didn't. They were too afraid to move. He didn't blame them.

  It didn't take long for the three of them to reach the larger room with all the desks, the one where Luke registered after completing the Tutorial Dungeon. Through Weaver's Eye, Luke sensed Ray before he saw him.

  All desks were occupied. Flesh abominations, grafted together from dead DIA employees, took up half the chairs, just sitting there. People were seated in the rest. From what Luke could tell, they were all fine, but they sat straight and rigid, not moving a muscle, and staring straight ahead without blinking. Nymh was among them, as were a couple of other Integrated Luke recognized from her and Milla's party. A couple of cops stood at the other entrance with drawn weapons. None of them moved either, but they were alive. Their eyes were wide with horror. He didn't blame them.

  Right in the middle of the room, Ray sat on a chair, slumped forward with his elbows on his knees, head hanging down. Before, he'd been on the stockier side, but now he looked thin, like he was wasting away. His hair was longer too, longer than it should have been, and matted with blood and gore. Rather than the T-shirt and shorts he'd seen Ray wear in his apartment, before he fled, he now wore a black suit with a black dress shirt underneath. Even from where Luke stood, he could see that the clothes were ruined with blood.

  Milla saw Nymh and let out a low whimper, but kept quiet.

  "Damn," Curtis said.

  Luke stepped out in front of them both. "Ray?"

  That sent a jolt through Ray, who sat up and leaned back, blinking like he'd been asleep. When his gaze locked with Luke's, his eyes teared up. "Luke?"

  Rather than run up to his old friend, Luke just took a wary step forward. "What happened here?"

  "Happened?" Ray asked, blinking again. He looked down on himself, his hands and clothes, then around him at Relian's creations. His face a shade paler, and with his lower lip trembling like it always did when he got hurt when he and Luke rode their bikes or climbed trees as kids, Ray let out a long, low groan. "I-I don't know. Didn't want to."

  Luke took another step forward. "Ray?"

  "It wasn't me, Luke. I didn't," Ray said, raising his blood-covered palms into the air, as if to show his innocence. "Help me. Please help me, Luke."

  Ray got to his feet, took a stumbling step forward, then another, gaining stability as he closed the distance between them. He reached his arms out to his sides as if coming in for a hug, bawling his eyes out.

  Tightening his jaw in anger, Luke brought out the quarterstaff he'd taken from Royce Kent, the archmage, and thrust it into Ray's chest, leaning forward and bracing himself to put extra weight behind it. Ray stumbled back and fell, some of the blood from his clothes ending up on the white polished floor.

  "Luke!" Milla gasped.

  Without pause, Luke stepped forward and slammed the staff into Ray's face. Blood poured out of his nose as he rolled on the floor, screaming in pain.

  "That's not Ray," Luke said, resting the staff on the ground.