"How is this possible?" Nicholas asked. "They were right here? Where did they all go?"

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"No idea." Drizz replied. "But I've had this feeling for a while now. I feel as if we were being followed."

The group stood on high alert, back to back and watched every corner.

"I can sense magic." Eden said. "It's coming from… above?"

They all looked up at the blazing sun above them, in the moment of hesitation a dagger flew past Drizz' arm, forcing him to scream out in pain.

"What was that?" Nicholas said getting more and more panicked.

"Don't worry about me." Drizz said attempting to seal the wound with a piece of cloth. "Focus on the enemy."

Nicholas became uneasy and the daggers became more frequent. Nicholas could only hope to protect everyone by jumping in the way but was always too slow.

"Don't do that idiot. Stop trying to be the hero and focus." Drizz stood back up and attempted to pull back his bow but failed because of his injured arm.

"s.h.i.+t. I guess I'll have to swap hands." The enemy knew what hand Drizz used to pull back his bow and that was always their target. He struggled to keep his arm straight but was determined to do whatever he had to do to survive.

"I got it!" Eden screamed. "Over there!" She pointed into a cloud next to the sun.

"Are you serious?" Everyone replied, knowing that they had no other choice but to listen to Eden.

"Ok then." Drizz was barely able to lift his arm. He pointed his bow directly at the stationary cloud but couldn't hold it straight for long enough.

"I can't do it." He said falling to the ground from cuts on his legs. "We are going to die here."

The others fell with him knowing that it was true, however, Nicholas refused to give up.

"No!" He chanted. "We aren't done yet."

Nicholas pointed his sword precisely at his target and ejected his sword into the cloud. The force from the sword alone created a shockwave that dispersed all the clouds around it, whilst the stationary cloud slowly dripped blood before a body came cras.h.i.+ng down.

"We got him! Shame about my sword though."

Drizz and the others stood back up thanks to Reela's healing. Crow carefully approached the body and confirmed their death. Eden quickly followed behind and explained the situation to the others.

"So, they were a mage, huh?" Nicholas said.

"Well, obviously," Drizz replied. "It makes sense when you think about it."

They all rested whilst Crow and Eden surveyed the area, looking for the people that disappeared. Upon their return, they told the group the disappointing news.

"We can't find anyone." Eden said.

"As expected," Drizz replied. "Yet again we are stuck and have no way of knowing where to go."

"That's not true," Eden said. "The guy that attacked us was human but he had an orcish letter on him. I translated it using the books I found in people's homes and turns out we are closer than we thought we were."

"What are you saying?" Nicholas asked.

"The orc leader was here. He may even still be here."

The group all stood back up and grabbed their weapons. Nicholas borrowed a sword from a blacksmith whilst Drizz was just able to pull back his bow now.

"Where are they?" Drizz said.

"I don't know. I can sense magic so I'm certain he is nearby. It's just I don't know where."

Drizz was suspicious of the situation. He didn't like how quiet it had gotten and the disappearance of the villagers was too strange to ignore. He wasn't foolish and knew to stay as a group. However, since arriving he was always cautious around someone and wished to investigate that.

"The ghost's bas.e.m.e.nt." He said to himself. "That's where they are."

The others looked at him as if he had said something stupid. They all didn't understand how they were hiding in a tiny bas.e.m.e.nt under a broken old building. It wasn't until Drizz forced them down to explore it, that they found a series of connected tunnels that spread for miles.