Emma wasn't sure what woke her up. Maybe it was a nightmare that she forgot as soon as her eyes were open, or it might have been a slight change in the air that she couldn't quantify or name.

She sat up, rubbing her eyes. As far as she could tell, there was nothing different about the cave. The ground beneath her was solid, the night air cool. There were no sounds besides Nathan's snoring and the occasional screech of a monster outside. Emma had long since grown used to noisy nights thanks to her time living on Lapis, and most of the time she simply tuned them out, but she had also learned to trust her instincts as well. Instead of going back to sleep, she pushed the covers aside and examined the area from her bedroll.

Nathan rolled over in his makeshift sleeping bag, mumbling something in his sleep. They tried to sleep on the beds at first, but the ground was too uneven. They ended up tilting one way or another, making for a dizzying sleeping experience. Instead, they just made cocoons out of the blankets. Britt and Andrea slept quietly in their bedrolls, their blankets pulled over their heads.

Emma crossed her legs, frowning at the runesmith's cocoon. Britt seemed the most upset by the fact that they weren't going to look in the lab, but it was just too risky. Not just because they might find a mess in there—which Emma suspected due to the horrid smell that still leaked through the door—but also because they had no way of knowing what sensitive items awaited inside.

One thing was for sure: airborne pathogens—the ones that Britt insisted didn't exist—weren't what Emma was afraid of. The smell alone was enough to prove that anything airborne was already in the facility. Emma was afraid of cracking open an egg just to find a ticking time bomb inside.

She sat alone for a while, considering ways in which she could make it up to Britt. They had all the books from the library, so that might help satiate some of the woman's curiosity, but with Britt's speed reading skill, she would tear through them in a matter of weeks.

Emma couldn't help but wonder what drew people like Britt to Ember Online in the first place. The woman was wicked smart. If she went to a good college and applied herself, Emma had no doubt that she would graduate with honors and a promising career in whatever industry she chose.

Then again, Janet had a good career in the business world, from what Emma had heard, so maybe Ember Online had just been a hobby for Britt as well.

Emma was more of a lifestyle gamer. Ember was her way to connect with her little sister and to explore a world beyond her tiny apartment. She felt stuck back on Earth—not that she ever intended to leave the planet—and she wanted to travel the world.

When they first moved, Emma thought that South Korea would be the adventure she was looking for, and at first it was, but as the years passed, it lost its novelty. The spark was gone. She got used to the rhythm of life and the demands of her job.

Then she grew restless again.

Emma should have just become a digital nomad. She probably could have made it work. She had a better job than Rayna, so money wasn't as tight.

Rayna…

Emma opened her Menu, once again pulling up the only promise she had of Rayna's wellbeing.

Plus one — You brought an uninvited guest to the initiation without prior approval. This person is of great importance to the world of Ember. Keep her safe and help her grow.

Duration: unlimited

Reward: Teleportation back to Earth for you and anyone else from your planet who wishes to return

Penalty For Failure: The continued existence of the System and the eventual fall of Ember

Emma wished she could rely on her knowledge of Ember Online to tell her if this actually meant something, but so much was different; this could just be another glitch in the System.

The community tab was a positive change, even if Emma couldn't participate. It was one thing that she recognized. She dared to hold on to a smidgen of hope that the System would slowly adjust back to what she was used to. If that happened, at least she wouldn't feel so lost.

Nathan groaned. "What's that smell?!" He rubbed his nose, still half asleep.

Smell?

Emma breathed in, immediately regretting it as the overwhelming scent of rot filled her nose. She gagged, covering her face with her arm. Was it the lab? But they were all still there. Who could have—?

Emma took a closer look at Britt's sleeping bag, her eyes narrowing. She got up and pulled the blanket away.

Emma let out a shout of frustration as she kicked the pillows that Britt had stuffed into her bedroll.

"What's going on?" Nathan sat up, pinching his nose.

"Britt opened the lab," Emma snapped, moving to rouse Andrea, only to find that she, too, was missing. "And Andrea, apparently."

Emma ran back to the facility. The smell intensified inside the hallway and her eyes watered so badly that she almost couldn't see the two women standing outside the lab.

Andrea was doubled over in front of the door, coughing and retching. Britt clutched her stomach, puke lying in a pool at her feet.

"What the hell, you two?!" Emma snapped, breathing through her mouth to avoid the overwhelming stench. "We voted on this!"

"You were going to leave behind priceless research!" Britt said. She tried to look defiant, but the puke that had splattered onto her shirt ruined the effect. "Besides, it's safe. I would bet my life on it."

"You just did," Emma said. "And all of ours with it."

Britt looked away. At least she understood what she did was stupid, but she didn't seem repentant.

"It's too late now," Andrea said. "We might as well see what's inside."

"You voted against this!" Emma snapped, turning on the other woman. "If you really wanted to look inside, you should have voted with Britt, and we could have talked it out. Going behind our backs was wrong, and you know it. I expected more from you, Andrea."

"Don't do that!" Britt snapped, glaring at Emma. "Don't act like you're so much better than the rest of us. We made you leader for one damn tutorial run. That doesn't make you the boss for the rest of our lives. How long are you going to pretend like you have it all together when you're just as scared and clueless as the rest of us!"

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Emma took a step back, the words hitting like a physical blow. Had she been doing that? She was trying to be strong and keep everyone together. Had she gone too far with it?

"You're just trying to deflect blame," Nathan said calmly. He walked up behind Emma, his arms crossed. "You two did something stupid, and you're mad that Emma is calling you out on it. Own up to your mistake and move on."

Emma shook her head. "She's right. We should be a team. I'm not the only one in charge here."

"You're not," Nathan agreed. "Which is why we voted on this. You're not dictating, you're delegating, and you listen when one of us objects." He jabbed a thumb at Britt. "Which is exactly why you're second guessing yourself the moment Guilty Mcgee over there calls you out on a non-existent issue.

"Now, the way I see it, we have two options," Nathan continued. "And since the two of you aren't going to follow the results of a vote, I suggest we let Emma decide. Are we going to take a look inside the lab or are we going to close the door and hope the smell goes away in the morning?"

Britt curled her hands into fists. "I'm looking inside."

"We can always lock you up in there."

"Stop it." Emma rubbed her temples. "We can look inside, but we are not turning on each other like this. If you need to take your anger out on something, go punch a wall. We're not letting one mistake break us apart."

Nathan's cheek twitched, but he backed down. "Fine."

Andrea nodded meekly, not looking anyone in the eye.

Britt didn't look apologetic, but she nodded sharply, ending the matter.

Emma squared her shoulders. "All right. Before we go in, lets assess the risks."

"Anything airborne is already out here," Britt said quickly. "There's no point in—"

"I was never worried about airborne diseases," Emma interrupted. "Those would be a problem either way. If the smell can get out of the lab, so can the air and any diseases carried in it."

Britt frowned. "Then what were you afraid of?"

"Explosions," Emma said. "Dangerous chemicals, half-completed experiments, unknown monsters; take your pick, the list is endless. In a world like Ember, I'm not taking anything for granted."

Britt bit her lip, looking away. "You should have just said that…"

Emma ignored the comment. "No explosions have happened, and no monsters jumped out at us, that's two risks we can likely cross off the list. Are we willing to put up with the other ones or do we close the door and pretend this never happened?"

This time Britt didn't object to the suggestion. Whether that meant she was willing to concede to the decision of the group, or she planned to come back later on her own, Emma wasn't sure.

"I think it's worth the risk," Andrea said, looking up for the first time since Emma arrived. "There could be medicine in there. I don't think they had healers on hand all the time, and we didn't find any medical supplies in the rest of the facility."

Emma didn't respond right away, letting the others think it over. She would vote for going in overstaying, but she wanted everyone to be on the same page. They weren't going to risk their lives without a unanimous vote. Either they all wanted to go in or none of them would, even if Emma had to sit in front of the door until they left.

"I still think we'll find dead people in there," Nathan said. "But I'm willing to risk it if we're all going in together."

Emma turned to Britt.

"You already know my answer," she said.

Emma nodded. "Then we go in. Britt, you'll go first since you'll be able to recognize any runes we come across. I'll go next with my healing spells active. Nathan after that, and Andrea, you take up the rear. Any objections?"

There were none.

"Then let's see what we're dealing with here, shall we?"

They paused long enough to tie strips of cloth around their faces to block out some of the smell. Nathan had the idea of smearing a sweet-smelling oil on the cloth to further mask the scent, but in the end, they decided not to waste food items.

The inside of the lab was not what Emma was expecting. First of all, it was huge, far larger than Gavric's descriptions implied. The smooth walls arced upward, connecting at the center to form a rounded dome. The floor was made of what looked like black and white marble that was semi-transparent like crystal.

The area was lit by the soft glow from the marble floor, making Emma fairly sure that it was somehow magical, which didn't ease her anxiety in the strangely empty room.

"Where is everything?" Britt asked aloud, making Emma jump.

"Were you expecting a bouncy house?" Nathan asked sarcastically.

"I was expecting a fully furnished lab," Britt replied. "Or at least something related to the experiment. Where are all the desks and chairs? The raised platform in the center of the room? This doesn't match Gavric's descriptions at all."

"They would have turned to dust centuries ago," Nathan said. "It's not like this is a recent incident."

"It smells like a recent incident," Andrea complained.

Britt paused, looking back at her. "You're right… something has to be making that smell."

"Hidden room?" Emma asked.

Britt nodded. "Check the walls for any sort of mechanism or rune like the one from the tunnels outside. Don't touch anything until I've had a chance to look at it, okay?"

"Now look who's bossing everyone around," Nathan teased.

Britt stuck her tongue out and some of the tension in the group melted away. Emma was starting to feel more optimistic about their chances of getting past this.

She joined the search, inspecting the walls for anything that might act as a way to open some hidden door or tunnel. There were several shadows scattered across the walls in the shape of people. At first Emma thought they were some sort of creepy decoration, but Nathan apparently knew better.

"Nuclear shadows," he said, his quiet voice echoing in the empty space.

Emma and the others turned to look at him.

"The shadows on the wall," he clarified, pointing at one of them. "They're called nuclear shadows. I learned about them in a documentary about Hiroshima." He glanced around the room. "Whatever happened here started at the center of the room and went off with the force of a nuclear bomb."

Andrea looked concerned. "Does this change the risk factor? What about radiation?"

Nathan shook his head. "If the place is full of radiation, it was too late when you opened the door. I think this was probably something more in line with a magical explosion, though."

Emma hoped he was right. If radiation sickness was anything like it was in the movies, she wanted nothing to do with it.

"I think I found it," Andrea said excitedly.

They all joined her as she showed Britt an almost invisible rune carved into the stone. Emma tried to ignore the shadow that surrounded it.

After inspecting the rune for a few minutes, Britt declared that she couldn't tell if it was booby trapped or not.

"We should take a vote," she said, though it looked like the words pained her. "Do we open the door or not?"

"This sounds familiar," Nathan said dryly.

"Obviously, I vote we try to open it," Britt said.

"I agree," Andrea said. "I don't want to waste all this effort."

Nathan looked over at Emma. "What do you think?"

Emma shrugged. "We're already here…"

He nodded. "Honestly, I was going to vote we open it anyway, just wanted to make sure we were on the same page."

Britt waited for the official confirmation from Emma before pressing her fingers against the rune. It glowed briefly, revealing a plain wooden door embedded into the rock.

"Any last minute objections?" Britt asked, her voice apprehensive.

Her question was met with tense silence.

Britt nodded, pulling open the door.

A wave of odor far stronger than what they had been subjected to thus far crashed over them and Emma took a step back. Andrea gagged and Nathan covered his mouth with a hand.

Britt wrinkled her nose so much it created a line in her face covering. "Yep. This is definitely the source of the smell."

The room appeared to be a spacious supply closet. Shelves were lined up in rows that stretched from one wall to the other, and it looked like the back wall was lined with cabinets. With a cursory glance Emma saw empty beakers, clean wash cloths, parchment, charcoal, quills and ink and various shaped bottles and containers.

In the center of the room five bodies were laid next to each other and the remnants of what looked like a bed sheet stuck out in places. The bodies were so decomposed that Emma wasn't even sure what species she was looking at, but there was a set of horns sticking out of each skull, so 'human' wasn't even in the list of possibilities.

This wasn't the first time Emma had seen bodies since coming to Ember. They weren't able to save everyone that came out of the trials. Not to mention, Lapis was no paradise; At least three players had died over the last two months, one of which was a new arrival that wandered off the path on the way to the city.

This was an overall different experience, however. These bodies had to have been here for centuries—maybe millennia—but whatever preservation spells kept the other supplies usable had also slowed down the decomposition process. Emma didn't know enough about dead bodies to estimate the equivalent time, but the little bits of flesh hanging off of blackened bones made her stomach churn.

Britt found a sheet and recovered the bodies. "I don't think we can bury them," she said. "But they deserve some dignity."

Emma nodded jerkily, swallowing hard. "Grab everything that isn't bolted down. We can look at it outside." She glanced warily at the clean sheet. "I don't want to be in here any longer than we have to be."

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