THE ROAD in front of us was just a little too quiet. It made my skin crawl as we walked down it, my team spread out around me as we waited with our weapons drawn. I could feel the weight of both swords in my hands as I kept my eyes trained on the cliffs next to us, waiting for trouble to appear. It was a very familiar feeling these days. Ever since our second dungeon dive, I expected trouble to manifest at any time, and now was no exception. Keep your eyes on those cliffs, I told my team. And look out for Elise. She should have been back by now. I heard responses from the two remaining women in my group. Seraphina, who was the other main attacker, was just to my right. The confident and elegant elf had both hands on her quarterstaff, ready to leap into action at a moments notice. Behind us was Mira, our caster. Intelligent but shy, she occupied a vital role on our team, keeping us safe while dealing magical punishment to anyone that might choose to mess with us. And right now, we needed her more than ever. You dont think Elise might be hurt, do you? asked Mira. I could hear the tension in her voice. Shes okay, right? Shes okay, I said, without any real knowledge of whether that was true or not. I was putting on a brave face for my team. If something happened to her, we would know it.
