By the time they started seeing people in the dungeon, Emma had finished telling her abridged tale. She left out any mention of Britt being a Corvi and the origin of the crack-closing method that Isla had proposed. She also chose to leave out the fact that she had drained a significant portion of the communications device's Miasma. She saw no reason to bring that up currently, seeing as Britt had checked the device when Emma handed it to her. Either she couldn't sense the difference or she had quietly corrected the issue.

In any case, Emma would rather not get yelled at for something that wasn't currently an issue.

It became steadily more obvious as they traveled through the tunnels that the people of Alatha were used to seeing strange sights within the dungeons. At the very least, five unconscious humans and a hellhound didn't seem to warrant any particular concern. Some even nodded politely as they passed, as if they were meeting in a university hallway or something.

It was strange, to say the least, but Emma chocked it up to a cultural thing.

It bugged Britt more than it did Emma, it seemed.

"Is no one the least bit surprised by this?" she said in a tense whisper. "That guy just wished me a good morning!"

Hoka looked back, one eyebrow raised. "By what? The fact that five inexperienced idiots found themselves in a situation they couldn't handle and had to be bailed out by the one who has been coaching them for weeks? No, nothing surprising there." She nodded back at the cart. "They're uncovered, which means they're alive, no reason to pay respects, and I'm walking, not running, which means they aren't severely injured. They'll be back to getting their heads bashed in within a few days." She shrugged. "And it just so happens that I'm the one in charge of training new recruits, your friends being some of the newest we've got. They're not the first ones I've dragged out of here in a cart, and they won't be the last."

Emma wasn't sure that explanation quite covered the situation. The occasional polite nod and a few poorly covered jealous looks said there was far more going on here than Hoka was letting on, but Emma would rather get the explanation from Patty when she woke up than accuse the clearly overpowered stranger of keeping secrets.

"When do you think they'll wake up?" Britt asked Emma. "You said you passed out after closing the other crack, but it couldn't have taken you this long."

"I'm not sure how long I was out," Emma admitted. She had woken up in the cavern with the attractor. Isla hadn't seen fit to hang around and wait for Emma to wake up, so Emma assumed that their deal was completed and walked through the crack. "If I had to guess, it was maybe an hour or two?"

"It couldn't have been more than a few minutes," Britt said. "Closing the crack took you what? Five minutes? You came through fairly quickly after that."

Emma paused, trying to remember if she had included the time it took to close the crack in her story. Had she forgotten to mention her experimentation? Or had Britt simply underestimated the amount of time it took for her MP to refill?

"Closing the crack took a few hours at least," Emma said. "I didn't have a clock, but my MP bar gave me a pretty reliable way to estimate time. I don't think I was out for more than an hour or two, though."

Britt shook her head. "That doesn't make sense."

"I was surprised you waited for me," Emma said. "How long were you all standing outside that crack?"

"Fifteen minutes," Britt said flatly, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Emma blinked. "That…"

That was a significant time difference; one that Emma couldn't account for. If she had been the one with the shorter time, she would have assumed that she was out for longer than she thought, but how could she have spent hours closing the crack just to get to Ashen mere minutes after the others left. It didn't make any sense.

"Sounds like you found a time pocket," Hoka said casually. "Not sure what's confusing about that."

Britt and Emma turned to stare at Hoka, who wasn't even looking back at them as she pulled the cart.

"Time pocket?" Britt asked, the concern in her voice making Emma sure that she at least had a theory as to what a time pocket was. Emma, on the other hand, had no frame of reference for what Hoka was referring to.

"An area where time moves differently than the rest of the world," Hoka explained in a voice that said this was common knowledge. "We call them time pockets. Not sure what causes them, but they're a common hazard when traveling through spawn caves. You could spend a few minutes in the cave while a week passes outside, or you can grow old before your friends even realize you're gone." She nodded back the way they'd come. "Actually, the room I found you all in is a known time pocket, but the difference is minor. I would have come in time to stop you if that wasn't the case. Either way, it's best not to spend too much time in one place when you're traveling underground."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Judging by the set of her jaw, Emma got the feeling that Britt had a few theories as to what was causing the time distortions, but Britt didn't volunteer any information.

"Have you read anything about this?" Emma asked, trying not to be obvious about giving Britt an excuse to share information consequence-free. Patty was already suspicious and Emma could only assume that the others had doubts as well, but so far they had followed Emma's lead and ignored the obvious excuses. Emma was trying to give Britt a chance to get comfortable enough to reveal her secret on her own rather than risk a full party breakup when that particular bombshell became known.

Britt hesitated before nodding in response to Emma's question. "Boundary cracks—particularly older ones—can destabilize the flow of time if left to run rampant," she said. "The bigger the crack, the worse the distortion. If they're a common occurrence in these caves, then the one we closed isn't the only crack down here. It might not even be the biggest one."

"Kiori made it sound like we only had to close one crack," Hoka grumbled. "Pain-in-the-ass fortune tellers wasting my time." She mumbled the last bit and a few of the words were mangled by the translation spell, but Emma was getting a lot of practice in dealing with mentally correcting translation slop.

Emma sat straighter in her seat, her knee knocking into Patty's head by accident. "Wait, Kiori!" How could she have forgotten?! They were closing the crack so they could go back to find Rayna.

The cart rolled to a stop and Hoka turned back to frown at Emma. "You know her?"

Emma shook her head. "I need to talk to her. Can you take me—"

"You're too late," Hoka interrupted. "She's not there anymore. I went back a few days ago to ask some follow-up questions and she'd already packed up and left the city, along with the other five hundred humans in Jeshilon."

Britt's eyes widened. "Five hundred…? Where would they even go?"

Hoka shrugged. "Beats me. Last I heard, they were headed for the border. Suppose I should thank them."

"Thank them?" Emma asked.

"I haven't sparred with Lokan in years," Hoka said with the ghost of a grin. "I think he needed to run off some energy. Took me three hours to convince him that I didn't poach his entire city when I met with Kiori last time."

"We need to go after them," Britt said. "Can you take us—"

"To the border?" Hoka snorted. "Not a chance. Those humans are good as dead, and I'm not interested in joining them. You won't even get a glimpse of the wall before some Emberian brat sticks you full of arrows."

Emma frowned, partially because of Hoka's comment and partially because Britt had beaten her to the punch. Emma needed to find Kiori to get more information about Rayna's location. The archipelago was too big to search island by island. Why was Britt interested in meeting the woman?

"At least point us in the right direction," Emma said. "We'll figure out the rest."

Hoka shook her head in bewilderment. "You guys are serious, aren't you?"

Emma waited, her face set in a determined frown.

Hoka shook her head. "Absolutely nuts, the lot of you. We can talk about this when the others wake up. I'm sure Patty can talk some sense into you. In the meantime—"

"Hoka, there you are!" A Sissani slithered up to them, his slit-pupil eyes a yellow green color that glowed in the dim tunnel. "Linal is looking for you."

"Linal?" Hoka frowned. "Was there a surge?"

"No," the man said. "But there'ss movement on the wallsss. The people of Jerith have sssomething planned."

Judging by the sudden tension in Hoka's shoulders, this was a big deal. She frowned back at the humans in her cart, caught in a moment of indecision.

"Okay, change of plan," Hoka said. "Klinak, I need you to take these humans back to my house. Just shove them on the couches there and get your ass to council. I need to get in that room before Pilta tries to goad Linal into starting a war."

Klinak nodded and grabbed the handles of the cart as Hoka ran through the tunnels at a speed that sent a strong wind rushing in her wake. One of the nearby players lost his hat, the article of clothing flying several feet before he was able to catch it.

Unfortunately, with Hoka went the translation spell.

"Ssskeena ekssi ssslendir?" Klinak asked Emma.

Emma shook her head. "Translation is down, I don't know what you're saying."

"Ih," the man said in a tone that clearly translated to the Sissani equivalent of 'oh'.

Rather than try to find someone to translate, he motioned for them to hold on tight as he grabbed the wagon handles and started slithering through the tunnels at a speed only slightly more reasonable than Hoka's had been.

Emma gritted her teeth, holding onto the sides of the wagon in a way that let her arm act as a makeshift seatbelt for the unconscious players next to her. Britt followed her lead, and they held on for dear life as Klinak raced through the tunnels. Three times, they nearly ran into obstacles and each time the cart tilted precariously on two wheels as Klinak swerved to avoid them. Emma would have been impressed if she wasn't too busy being terrified.

Instead of slowing down when they exited the tunnels, Klinak actually sped up, taking advantage of the open terrain to increase his speed. They arrived at their destination in minutes, Emma's arms aching from the effort of holding on.

Hoka's home was two stories, made almost entirely out of weathered gray stone. A chimney stuck out of the thatched roof, smoke drifting out of it despite its apparent lack of occupants. On the front door, someone had hung a sign saying 'Hoka's residence' and underneath that sign, one that said 'no solicitors'.

Oddly enough, that little bit of familiarity made the place feel homier than most of the places Emma had visited in Ember thus far.

Klinak nodded at the signs. "The transsslation ssspellsss for the town ssseem to be active. I apologize for the ssspeed at which we traveled. There isss an emergency at the moment and I musst be away." He nodded at the others who were still unconscious. "I trusst you can move them yourselvesss."

Klinak hurried away without waiting for a response, heading back the way they had come.

"I guess we just let ourselves in…" Emma said, fixing her hair which had been thrown into complete disarray by the speed of their journey.

Britt glanced back at the city walls with a frown.

"We can't go until the others wake up," Emma said, guessing at her concern. "And we won't even know which way to go until Hoka gets back."

Britt sighed. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Emma said, managing a small smile. "Now I hope you have a spell that can get the others inside, because if not, we're going to have to carry them."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.