Nobu spent the early years after the Break working as a rogue. Work was hard, considering he wasn’t able to deal as much damage as fighters or as versatile as sharpshooters, but he excelled at fighting under harsh situations like extreme cold or in dark areas with low visibility.

  It took him near a decade, but he finally earned enough to make the transition to a “shade”. It allowed him to disappear into shadows and move at ease in dark areas or areas with no visibility.

  Just like the subway tunnels under the city.

  The two older players followed up the rear as Nobu walked ahead. The unfinished subway station was left far behind, but the tunnels looked to be completely built. Everything from the tracks to the evenly spaced emergency lights gave him the impression the subway tunnels were nearly operational before the Break.

  Behind him, he could hear Halmae fan herself with her hands while the man, Grim, let out a slow breath.

  Even Nobu had to admit, it was uncomfortably warm down here.

  “You see anything up there?” Halmae whispered.

  Nobu wanted to shush the older player, but fought the urge. Instead he turned and shook his head. Before she could ask any more questions (or make any more noise), he swiftly moved further ahead and put additional distance between himself and the other two. As he did so, he could hear Halmae grumble but she said nothing more beyond that.

  The three of them moved in silence, just the way Nobu liked it.

  The subway tunnel was still as they moved through. And as soon as Nobu was about to turn back and suggest they return where they came from, he spotted it. The glow from a larger light, likely the next station ahead.

  But [dark senses] told him more about what they were approaching. He could feel the temperature jump up 5 degrees as instantly felt the humm of power in the air.

  “What is that?” Grim asked.

  Nobu turned back to his comrades.

  “I don’t know, but we should prepare ourselves.”

  Quietly, he reached behind his back and pulled two long daggers from the sheaths that hid their blades from any light.

  Halmae smiled. “Finally,” she said, shrugging the massive greatsword from her shoulder.

  Nobu waited a second as the two fighters activated skills that would no doubt greatly increase their strength, defenses and power as they moved forward. For a moment, he thought to ask the old woman about her injuries and then thought better of it. Even if she were injured, it was safer to have her with them than to turn back.

  “Let’s go,” Nobu whispered.

  As they made their approach, what Nobu had assumed was the lights of the station proved itself to be otherwise. The heat was increasing with the light, meaning the source of the light was throwing off massive amounts of heat.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  After walking a slight bend, they found themselves at the next station platform. Unlike the last one, this was obviously earlier in the construction timeline. There was no platform separate from the subway rails. In fact, as far as Nobu could tell, there was no access point from the ground level. It was just a massive open space with a pair of rails that ran through from an opening on one end before disappearing into the darkness beyond on the other.

  Other than a series of load bearing pillars, there was nothing here.

  At the center of the station, was an object roughly the size of a fire extinguisher glowing with enough light to throw dark shadows from each pillar.

  “That’s it isn’t it?” Nobu asked.

  The shade took a step towards it before a hand gripped him by the shoulder and pulled him behind the cover of a pillar. Grim leaned his face in close and held a finger to his lips before pointing at another pillar.

  Nobu followed the older man’s gaze until he spotted her. He had almost forgotten Heekyum in all this. Halmae had mentioned that the girl had run ahead, but he just assumed she found a way back up.

  “What is she…?”

  Nobu's question was answered almost immediately when he saw Heekyum duck back behind a pillar just a second before a hulking figure carrying the biggest one-handed sword he had ever seen crossed the other side of the pillar.

  It wore a shredded cloak over heavy armor that made it look even more formidable than it obviously was.

  Nobu looked back at Halmae and she nodded in confirmation. Whatever it was, it was the same opponent that had easily bested her in the subway platform earlier.

  “We need to get her out of there,” he whispered.

  Grim and Halmae traded looks before shaking their heads. Instead, they signaled at Nobu to hold his position while they circled around.

  They want to retrieve the target item, he thought.

  The reward was a sizable amount, 6,000 Gold just for confirming the item’s existence not to mention another 14,000 Gold for retrieving it. Not that any of that mattered to Nobu, or Heekyum and Garou for that matter. They had been assigned merely to accompany these two on their board quest.

  Nobu poked his head back out and peeked at Heekyum. Then, why is she here?

  The three of them had no stake in the quest reward. In fact, Nobu would’ve preferred to leave immediately after confirming the item’s existence. But Heekyum had not only left Halmae behind earlier, it looked as if she was going after the item on her own.

  Even as he watched, Heekyum moved from cover to cover, getting closer to the item while the huge figure patrolled the area. Whatever it was, it clearly suspected someone was here.

  But Heekyum was quick-footed, moving exactly at the right time to avoid being spotted by the obviously more powerful creature. That is, until she leaned her weight against a pillar and it groaned under the force.

  Groan might be an exaggeration, creak would be a better work.

  Regardless of what it was, the item’s keeper heard it. Even under a tattered hood, the head snap was clear from a distance. Without missing a beat, it ran full tilt at the pillar Heekyum had chosen to hide behind.

  With each footfall, the station echoed with the boom of its weight.

  Nearly on instinct and without thinking, Nobu activated [double step]. He launched himself forward and within four quiet steps, he had moved nearly 40 feet and readied an attack on his unsuspecting target.

  The scimitar moved almost too fast for his eye to follow, but it perfectly parried Nobu’s own attack and if not for an abundance of caution, it would’ve left Nobu open to a fatal counterattack. Instead, Nobu pulled his strike and quickly retreated.

  He was about to call out for backup when he felt it. A dull pressure on his chest, almost like something had bumped into him. Without thinking, he pressed a hand to his chest and felt it before he looked down to see it. Something hard and long.

  Even before he saw it, he knew what it was. An arrow.

  He looked up at the massive creature, but it only held its scimitar, waiting. But then he saw her holding her bow and knew the reason why there was no arrow in her hand.

  “Heekyum?

  Nobu pulled his hand from his chest and saw it was already covered in blood. In fact, the wound looked to be pumping blood unnaturally quickly through the wound.

  Confused, he looked back up at Heekyum, but she was already moving and moving quickly. And as Nobu watched, she quickly fitted another arrow onto her bowstring and took careful aim directly at him.