To her credit, Luna didn't push more, though she did throw up an extremely dramatic pout. They'd discussed potential eventualities when planning and had already decided not to fight unless they had to. Unlike Yutaro and Kenzo, these men weren't actively trying to kill him, even if their maniacal leader was. For better or worse, Rix still felt uncomfortable with the notion of initiating something that might take the lives of people who didn't deserve it. He didn't know these men. Perhaps they were the ones on guard duty precisely because they'd chosen not to pursue Rix. He didn't think it was likely — Han didn't seem like the type to tolerate that sort of insubordination — but it was possible. To kill indiscriminately would make him no better than those who had killed his parents.

When Rix killed, it would be with intent and purpose.

Beyond that, fighting made things chaotic. They could be wounded, or tied up until reinforcements arrived. With fades randomly throwing themselves into the mix, it all felt like it upped the risk profile just a little too much.

But he did have an idea of how to take advantage of that.

He explained his plan to Luna, and after she agreed, they set off. Given that they were close to the border, it didn't take them long to cross the threshold into the High Whisper zone. After about ten minutes, they stumbled upon what they were looking for — another group of fades.

There were three this time, another new variety, and Rix couldn't help feeling a moment of horror as he first laid eyes on them. They were easily the most unnatural he'd encountered yet. They stood upright on two thick limbs that ended in things that closely resembled human hands. But that was where the resemblance to anything human ended. Their torsos were long and flat and the colour of coal, almost cockroach-like, but standing tall rather than lying flat. They had no head to speak of — just a long, slim, teeth-lined maw that ran vertically down the entire length of their bodies. It looked like the closed jaws of a lunar flytrap plant. Their upper limbs were smaller, maybe two feet long each, but they ended in hook-like appendages that seemed made for pinning prey in place.

As they caught sight of Rix and Luna, the trio turned in unison. The one to the left let out a high-pitched squeal. The one on the right seemed to tremble for a moment, then two jets of something pale and sticky shot out of its torso towards Rix and Luna. They dodged, splitting in opposite directions. The attack was seemingly liquid while airborne, but as the projectile struck the ground where they'd been standing, it grew firmer, holding its shape to form a silvery thread back to the point of origin. It almost looked like a strand of spider's web on a grand scale.

He shared a look with Luna, who shrugged. "They'll do, right?" she said.

He nodded. It didn't matter the type of fade. They were just the distraction.

The creatures were already moving to engage. At that point, they were less than a thousand feet from the ruin, not close enough for the fades to have felt the pearl on their own, but Rix and Luna were about to change that.

They didn't try to fight at all. Their focus was merely on keeping the fades' attention, keeping them in pursuit. It wasn't difficult. Like every other fade he'd encountered, this lot was single-minded once they had a target. Though they were High Whisper in strength, Rix and Luna were faster. They ducked and dodged between the trees, keeping constant visibility while never exposing themselves to a real attack.

The web made things tricky. Whenever one of them lingered a bit too long in place, another volley would quickly follow. He didn't know what would happen if one of those attacks landed, and he didn't particularly want to find out, but that didn't seem to be a risk when they were focused.

At some point, when they'd worked their way most of the way back towards the ruin, the fades suddenly hesitated. It was a similar gesture to the one made by the earlier group of fades, a faint glimmer of recognition.

"That's my cue," he said.

Luna nodded. "Good luck," she called, dancing backwards to avoid another of the fades' attacks.

Rix raced off into the jungle. His job was to get to the other side. The two sections of crumbling wall provided two entrances to the main temple room. From their vantage, the sentries could see both, as well as, presumably, the pearl. But when they'd fought the last batch of fades, that had changed. If the men met them in one entrance, they'd have their backs to the other.

That gave Rix a window.

The room was littered with rubble, taller than a man in many places. With the guards distracted, there would hopefully be enough cover for him to skulk between.

The most dangerous part of the plan was the approach. There was at least thirty feet of open space he needed to cross to enter the room. But he could see no other way.

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

Luna had been stalling so he had time to position, leading the fades in a little circle. As he arrived at his target location, he heard the first hints of their approach in the distance. The two guards were inside exactly where he'd left them, and it seemed they heard it too, as they were already standing with their backs tall, weapons raised, eyes locked on the gap on the other side of the room.

"They never bleeding stop," one growled.

"Han better remember we did this," said the other, the one with the giant sword. "We could have been out hunting that little dreg."

Rix grimaced. So much for 'they could be okay guys.'

Moments later, the fades barged through the opening to be met by the Iron Hand's blades. From his hidden vantage, Rix checked and double-checked. Both guards were completely focused on the fight. So, channelling his days as a youth on the streets, he slipped from his cover and crept forward.

He was only exposing himself for perhaps five seconds, but the time seemed to stretch. He didn't know how attuned their senses were. Every gentle footfall on the hard soil felt like a cacophony.

As he drew closer, the assault on his senses grew. It was threefold: the prickle of the entropy field quickly shifted to a gentle throb at the base of his skull. The pearl, too, was more intense, a sense of something alluring and vaguely familiar. But beneath those two layers, something else suddenly pulsed, something he hadn't felt when they'd been here earlier. He could only describe it as a sense of vibration, a calm before a storm.

He briefly thought that perhaps he'd triggered some kind of trap, but whatever it was, the Iron Hand felt it too.

"What the hells is that," one yelled.

"Some kind of attack?"

Rix didn't know what to make of it, only that he wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible. That had been the plan. That's why they'd pulled tougher fades from the High Whisper zone — they wanted their guards occupied for at least a minute, giving Rix time to infiltrate and exfiltrate unnoticed.

But perhaps they'd done too good a job.

"These bastards are strong!" cried one of the guards.

The other nodded. "Might need backup."

The first guard reached into his robe and pulled out a thin strip of wood about four inches long. He snapped it in his hand, and there was a tiny pulse of mana.

Rix felt a surge of panic. He'd never seen anything like that little charm before, but it seemed obvious that it was a communication device.

More Iron Hand were on the way.

He was momentarily taken again by the vision of being swarmed by the full weight of the gang, but that seemed unlikely. Assuming Han was hunting Rix on the other side of the realm, it would take him at least twenty minutes to arrive. By that time, the fight here would be well and truly over. No, it made more sense that the charm was a signal to someone more local, other Iron Hand that had stayed behind to dive. They would be fewer, but far quicker to arrive.

That meant Rix had a choice to make.

He was just a few feet from the first piece of cover now, a pile of brown rubble several feet high. Based on the length of the room, he thought he could be in and out in thirty seconds. It wasn't long, but was it too long, nonetheless? Rix wrestled with himself for a moment, then pushed on. The plan was in motion now. That pearl was his ticket to safety, and it was so close. He could literally feel it.

As he slipped into the temple proper, he felt another of those strange pulses, stronger this time. The air around him rippled and twisted, as though reality was buckling at the seams. One of the guards cried out, though Rix couldn't tell if it was in response to that shift or a turn in the battle.

He accelerated his pace, almost breaking into a run as he slipped between the ruined remains of some foreign civilisation. The broken piles were often unrecognisable, but even in that scrap he could pick out things here or there, chairs cut to strange shapes, shards of shattered crockery painted with creatures he didn't know.

Every step carried him deeper into the entropy field, dialling the throb in his head up higher and higher. Glancing back, he saw the guards embroiled in a tense melee, their attention fixed solely on the fight. The far half of the ruin was now split many ways by the fade's sticky strands. The men were able to hack them down, but that took time and attention, and they were outnumbered.

There was no sign of Luna. She'd be lying in wait in the jungle outside, prepared to step in should the situation call for it. Stealth was a mission better accomplished alone.

Rounding another stack of rubble, Rix saw his prize. The pearl was exactly as Wing had described it — a fist-sized violet ball, glossy and perfect. The Iron Hand had artfully placed it on one of the few pieces of furniture in the temple that seemed whole, an ornate grey stone altar that rose to hip height. Taking a breath to fortify himself, Rix raced towards it.

The pain in his head rose to a shrill scream, but he ignored it. His fingers closed around the pearl, and he felt a surge of elation. He spun, eager to make the return journey. But then another of those pulses rolled through the temple, this one powerful enough to cause him to momentarily stumble.

And then the axis of the world changed.

He had no other way to describe it. One minute, his feet were planted firmly on the ground; the next he was falling backwards, striking the floor hard, which drove the air from his lungs. All around him, things were in motion. Before he could even gather himself, all manner of detritus rained down on top of him, clouding his vision. A hunk of something heavy and solid slammed into his arm, bouncing off his mantle but causing the pearl to fall from his grip. He let out a curse, but it was lost in the crash of falling rubbish.

When the world settled and he managed to drag himself to his feet, he stared out at the room in confusion.

He wasn't on the floor at all.

The surface on which he now stood was what had previously been the temple's back wall. It was as though gravity itself had shifted. Stranger still, the effect seemed to be localised. The entire back third of the temple had reoriented itself to this new gravity, but the rest seemed unaffected. Across the room, everything was as it had been.

It was impossibly disorienting, made worse still by the steady pulse of the entropy field in his skull.

The fades — which Rix was mentally referring to as weavers — seemed completely oblivious to the situation, single-minded in their goal, and that meant the guards were still locked in combat. But they couldn't ignore the commotion. Their attention was clearly divided, their eyes darting between their foes and the back of the room.

They both noticed Rix at the same time.

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