Emma managed to stay awake this time, but it was a close thing. Her stomach churned and she ran to the edge of the cavern to puke against the wall. Closing cracks didn't get easier with practice, it seemed—or maybe this crack was just bigger than the last one. There had been plenty of Miasma in the cavern to work with, but it demanded more than Emma could give on her own. If the others hadn't joined her, she wasn't sure what would have happened. The others all lay at the base of the crack; they passed out as soon as the crack was closed.

"What in System's name were you all thinking?!" the new woman demanded, checking to see if the others were still breathing. Emma wasn't sure if she had been introduced, but she probably wouldn't remember it if she had been with the boundary screaming through her head like it was.

"We couldn't just leave it open," Britt said defensively. "It was—"

"Destabilizing the area," the woman snapped. "You already said. Now that we have that part well established, did it occur to any of you to get help? Are all humans this stupid?"

"Obviously, it occurred to Nathan," Britt said sourly.

Emma closed her eyes, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. She grimaced at the smell, but she wouldn't get a chance to change until all of this was over. She moved back to the others, casting Ring of Sanctuary—her AOE healing spell—with the dregs of the Miasma left in the area. She didn't notice any external wounds, but that didn't rule out organ failure or internal bleeding and she wasn't taking any chances.

The long glowing scar that had replaced the gaping crack was already fading from Emma's sight now that she was no longer connected to the boundary. The other cracks in the area stopped spawning as soon as this one was dealt with. They were likely a symptom of the main problem. This was good, as Emma wasn't sure how she could close a crack that only stayed open for a few seconds.

"For your information," the other woman said. "Nathan wasn't the one who came to get me. It was the damn dog."

She pointed at Fluffy, who sat by Helga, nervously sniffing her and whining.

Emma frowned. She didn't remember seeing Fluffy leave. Had he followed Nathan and Andrea out? Or had he slipped away while they were preoccupied with the crack?

"If your dumbass plan hadn't worked," the woman said. "The lot of you would be dead and it would have served you right."

"I knew it would work," Emma said, her voice hoarse. She sat down, closing her eyes and resisting the urge to lean against the pile of unconscious players for support.

"Oh yeah? How? Because you believed it would?!" The woman crossed her arms, glaring down at Emma with a look that might have terrified her, had she been a bit more alert.

Emma shook her head. "Because I've done it before…"

* * *

One week earlier…

"Damn it!" Britt shouted to the cavern ceiling. "Why are humans so impulsive?! Look, you can come with me or not. I'll find a way to get them back here." She pulled a small metal disk out of her Inventory that was way nicer than any of the makeshift wooden charms they had been using so far. "This is a communication device." She pressed the item into Emma's hand. "It should work through the wards, but it won't work across the Boundary. I'll call you as soon as we make it back." With that promise, Britt ran to the center of the cavern and vanished.

"Wait for me!" Emma shouted, taking a step forward. A wall of stone grew out of the center of the cavern, blocking Emma's way.

"Not yet, human," a female voice said from behind Emma. "There is something I need from you first."

Emma spun around, backing up a step.

The speaker was tall, her long amber dress flowing down over her shoulders like magma. Her long black hair fell all the way to the ground, dragging behind her in a silken train that blended with the stone itself. Her skin seemed to be made of various precious stones fused together in a seamless tapestry of glittering colors.

"You're the Elemental," Emma guessed.

The woman nodded. "I am Isla, and I believe you're the only one who can help me with my predicament."

"Predicament?" Emma asked, glancing at the stone walls that blocked her from the center of the cavern. She could see why Britt didn't want to mess with the woman. Anyone who could throw a stone wall in her face that casually wasn't someone that Emma wanted to mess with either.

"My islands have become a dungeon with no laws. It is wreaking havoc on my ecosystem as well as the people who live on my back." She nodded toward the center of the cavern. "This is one of four cracks that must be closed to stop the monsters from spawning in my territory. I ask for your help in closing them."

Emma shook her head. "What makes you think I can help with that?"

Or that she would…? The Elemental had basically kidnapped them and dragged them to a cavern with an active threat, only showing herself after all of Emma's party was dragged to God-knows-where without backup or a way to return.

Well, Britt thought she knew a way to get back, but Emma was skeptical.

Isla tilted her head. "You are a being of Miasma, are you not? Only those who can manipulate energy—be it Essence or Miasma—are able to close a boundary crack." She looked thoughtful. "There is one other on my archipelago who might be able to help me, but it would require revealing myself to more people than I am willing to. I have left that avenue for later exploration."

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"Is that why you didn't show up as soon as we got here?" Emma asked. "My friends wouldn't have gotten sucked through the crack if you'd just shown yourself right away."

Isla frowned. "There was… another obstacle to that particular plan. I wasn't sure whose side she was on."

"Whose side who was on?" Emma asked.

"The Corvi."

Had this conversation happened before Britt's outburst, these words might have surprised Emma, but she could put two and two together. The way Britt had acted in the facility, her knowledge of runes and magic, not to mention her unexplained ability to see the cracks; Britt being a Corvi—a shapeshifter—made perfect sense.

What didn't make sense was why she hadn't come clean. They'd been together for months. Was she that worried about how Emma and the others would take the news? Or was there some other reason that she wasn't allowed to tell them of her origins.

How had she ended up in the tutorial in the first place?

There were several questions Emma planned on asking Britt when this was over.

"Britt is with us," Emma said. "You could have trusted her, regardless of her origins."

"Forgive my candor, human, but I don't trust you either," Isla said. "I need you. The two things are not the same."

Emma crossed her arms. "Then remove the rocks and send me on my way. You can go with your second choice."

"She is, arguably, a much better option for this task," Isla said. "But I need to observe her more before attempting contact. It is… an unusual case. Regardless, even closing one of the four cracks would reduce the number of monsters. I ask for your assistance for the sake of the many thousands of creatures that live on my land."

Emma didn't think she could close a boundary crack. She couldn't even see them. It was basically like asking someone to stop the sun from shining with their bare hands.

There was one other problem as well.

"I'm not closing this one," Emma said. "Even if I can close the cracks—which I still think that I can't—my friends are through that portal. I'm not going to trap myself on this side when they may need my help."

Isla frowned. "A valid concern, but I wonder what you think you are going to do to aid your friends, given that they are in Ashen and beyond the reach of the System."

"If worst comes to worst, I'll punch my way out of whatever trouble we get into. I'll try to close the others, but this one is off limits. That's the deal I'm offering."

Isla narrowed her eyes. "It is interesting, human, that you believe yourself in a position to bargain."

Emma crossed her arms. "And it's interesting that you thought I would cooperate without question after you kidnapped me and my friends," she said with a bit more sass than was likely wise. "I laid down my terms. Do we have a deal?"

Isla said nothing for a long moment, then she gave a single sharp nod. "If you are able to close at least one of the other three cracks, I will allow you to leave through this one."

"At least one?" Emma asked, thinking that the offer sounded too generous.

"One of them is out of reach for you, given its location," Isla said. "And closing one will be a challenge in itself. The reason I chose this one to close was to minimize the damage from the—what was the word the Corvi used?—the only 'attractor' on the archipelago. However, I am reasonable enough to acknowledge your complaints. I must apologize, this will likely be unpleasant for you."

"What—" Emma began.

Walls of stone boxed Emma in, pressing against her sides and head to keep her immobile. Her stomach lurched as her stone coffin started moving through the ground as the tunnel had earlier. She closed her eyes against the sudden rush of terror and focused on healing her skin as the heated stones tried to turn her into a roast turkey.

Thankfully, the trip was much shorter than her previous experience with the Elemental. It was only a few minutes before Emma was released from the stone prison. She fell to her hands and knees, breathing hard as she spammed every healing spell she had.

"Is there no other way to travel on this god-forsaken archipelago?!" Emma snapped, trying not to puke.

"Not safely or quickly," Isla said, melting seamlessly out of the wall nearby.

This cavern was smaller than the previous one and unlike the last cavern, there was no black crystal lining the walls.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with," Emma said, getting to her feet. "How do I close the crack if I can't even see it?"

Isla blinked. "You can't see it?"

Emma took several deep breaths, trying to keep her temper in check. She wasn't sure if she managed to control her expression, but she also wasn't sure if she cared at the moment. "Have you never heard of doing your research?" Emma asked in a forced-calm voice that would have most people backing away.

The Elemental didn't seem to notice. "Well, it wasn't as if I had a lot of time in which to plan this," she said. "I admit, I didn't realize the extent of your abilities until you used magic during your escape attempt. I knew you were drawing Miasma from the air, but I didn't realize that you were doing it on purpose until that point."

"I don't even know what Miasma is!" Emma shouted, losing her ability to stay calm in this situation. "If you're talking about casting spells without Mana, that gave me a headache, and I was desperate, so I basically just did it on impulse. Manipulating Miasma isn't something I can do."

Isla shook her head. "Whether you know it or not, you can." She looked thoughtfully at the edge of the cavern. Emma assumed she was staring at the boundary crack, but she still couldn't see anything.

"Perhaps if you try connecting your magic with the boundary, you might be able to sense it in some way," Isla suggested. "I don't know if it would be sight, but being able to grab and hold the threads of the portal is integral to closing it."

Emma bit back an angry reply. "Where is it and how do I connect to it?" Britt and the others might have moved on by now. Emma was hoping Britt's communication device would work in Ashen so she could call them back when she got there.

Isla moved to the other end of the room. "The crack is here." She held her hand up, indicating a spot about two feet away from the wall. "I chose this one first because it is expelling a large amount of Miasma. Not only will it make a better impact if you close this one, but the Miasma in the air should help to repair the crack over time."

Emma moved to the spot in front of where the Elemental was indicating and frowned at empty space. "And to 'connect' to the boundary, I'm supposed to…?" she prompted.

"Reach out your magic as you might if you were attempting to bond to an artifact," Isla said. "I have seen it done once before, but I don't know if it will work for you."

It probably won't, Emma thought sourly. And then I'll have to convince you to let me go anyway.

Emma did as she was told, mentally reaching out for whatever was directly in front of her. Nothing happened for a long moment, and Emma was about to give up when she felt her mind encounter something in the space where Isla was still looking. Emma latched onto it, feeding her Mana into the connection in the hopes that she could strengthen it further.

It took every point of Mana Emma had left—which wasn't much—before she felt something snap into place.

A black swirling portal appeared in front of her as the rest of the room visibly darkened with billowing smoke that was seeping out of the crack. Along the edge of the portal, thick shining lines flapped in the air like loose threads.

"I can see it," Emma said, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. That was one half of the puzzle done. Now for the other half. "How do I close it?"

"The most effective method is to weave or sew the edges shut until they are able to heal naturally," Isla said. "You could simply tie them together, if you are not… artistically inclined."

Emma ignored the comment, though she certainly planned to just tie them and be done with it. She didn't have time to weave in all the loose ends; she was on a deadline here.

She reached out to grab the first thread.

Her hand passed right through it.

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