It was as though Jul stood before one of the endless, impenetrable walls of the B-Nex.

  There was no entrance, no fault or dent, or even just a simple scratch mark on that shifting wall of gray. She probed, she pushed, she tried to weasel her way in, but Jul did not find anyway past Nar’s mental defenses. Even with him fast asleep.

  It was approaching two in the morning, and the Jungle of Divide was sweltering around them, far hotter than it had been during the day. It was also pitch black, as the flora here behaved the same as everywhere else in the jungle and lost its glow for the night period of the Brightnight.

  Kur had driven a hard pace that first day, and they had marched through the jungle without hiding who or where they were. The Atlatl war bands had rushed them three more times, only to crush themselves against their might.

  Their latest fight was not far from where the guides had decided to settle down for the night, and Jul heard the predators feasting on the monster and dinosaur corpses. Unlike it usually was, the monsters and beasts corpses did not disappear now, nor were they regenerated for the duration of the War Quest. What died stayed dead, and whatever destruction they wrought upon the Brightnight would remain, even after delvers left the area.

  Jul took a deep breath, and tried to break through again.

  She had asked Nar if he was willing to let her train her [Awareness of Fear] and [Dreadful Grasp] against him. Even though she’d doubted she would get through to his mind, it helped her to have a target to practice with, and something to push against, and experiment with different approaches without actually harming anyone. Nar, of course, had agreed.

  While she had made huge strides with her [Awareness of Fear] since the Gloom, it was still hard to focus on multiple targets at once, but it was with her [Dreadful Grasp] that she was struggling. It had seemed so easy back when her two fear skills had unlocked, her mind opened to all the possibilities and layers of fear around her. It had felt as though she could have so easily taken control of fear then... Instead, it had been difficult to reach that mental state again.

  Several times she had failed in taking over her target’s fear, and had instead suffered backlash. The worst of it had happened when she tried to fill Silver Fist’s mind with fear.

  She bit her lip at the memory of the Lord of the Giant Canopy’s rage as it roared inside her mind, the sound amplified by the fear she had been trying to push into him rebounding back into her. It had nearly knocked her off the fight, and she had only recovered when the giant beast left to chase after Nar and Mach.

  She grit her teeth against the defenses safeguarding Nar’s mind . She wasn’t expecting to succeed, but at least she wanted that damned skill to feel like it was doing something. Her [Awareness of Fear] was all encompassing, and she knew that the fear she was trying to push into Nar was pathetic. No wonder she failed on most of her attempts! Not to mention, the few times she had actually succeeded, she had been stationary and with her eyes closed, like a caster, rather than the frontline fighter that she wanted to be.

  She sighed and let go of the skill.

  Something was missing, that much was certain, but Medis had told everyone to not help her.

  “This is something you need to push through,” the leontar had told her. “I helped you back in the Jungle of Silence, but you need to be the one to figure this out. But, I’ll say this. Don’t be afraid of fear.”

  Don’t be afraid of fear, Jul thought, rolling it around her mind.

  What did that even mean?

  She wasn’t scared of it. She was actively searching for it and taking it in as her own, just as she had discovered during her awakening. Even in their previous fight, she had nearly puked at the roaring storm of terror from one of the Atlatl before Viy caved his head in. She had felt every drop of that fear, to the point that she had believed that it was her who had been about to die. It was only through a great effort of will, and likely her [Ego], which had been seeing gains, that she held herself over the cloying tides of sticky, drowning fear that she pulled into herself again and again.

  But if she was achieving that much, then why couldn’t she take control of that fear, and twist it to her own purposes? What was she missing?

  I’m not afraid, she told herself, seething almost, at the mere suggestion of it. She wasn’t that scaredy little girl, running from her drunk parents anymore. She wasn’t the coward who had hidden her daggers during the Climb anymore either. She fought at the front now, trading blows with the enemy and risking death in every encounter. No! She was brave! And she would figure this out and make it all work.

  Tap. Tap. Tap-tap.

  Great, Jul sighed, passing a hand over the sides of her soon drenched green hair. Just what I needed.

  The rain drowned out reality around her, forcing the radius of her [Hearing] to collapse in around her. She pulled more from her [Hearing] to counter it as much as possible, and focused back on Nar’s mind.

  Kur had set the watch rotation in such a way as to ensure that there were always two guides with expert senses on watch during the night, and while her own senses now surpassed them, especially thanks to the bonus from her [Awareness to Fear], these people were still the experts who guided parties through the Brightnight for a living. They made much better sense of what they sensed than she did. That said, she was on watch as well, so she made sure that nothing would approach them within—

  Phoot.

  Phoot.

  Jul straightened alert.

  She had almost missed it under that drowning rain, but she had definitely caught something out of place within the jungle.

  She pulled harder on her senses. It had been close… Close enough to be a problem.

  Phoot.

  There it was again, hiding under the roaring rain.

  She cast her eyes around. It had been close.

  It didn’t resemble any of the sounds that Sej and Num, a male lengos archer guide, had taught her about earlier. No birds. No beasts. No monsters… What was that?

  Her eyes fell upon Pir and her party members. The two of them had been chatting in animated, close whispers, close enough for Jul to know that if there wasn’t something between the two of them already, there would soon. But now they were both quiet, and seemingly staring into each other’s eyes.

  “Ugh…”

  The grunt, almost the barest of exhales, made her snap her head back to the couple-to-be.

  “Uh…”

  Pir’s mouth was ajar, her eyes opened wide in the darkness, lips trembling by the tiniest of amounts as though she was frozen mid-speaking…

  Phoot.

  And this time Jul heard it, sighing close to her head, to impact against Bor. This was another guide, and he liked to keep to himself and carve wooden figures that he sold on the side.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Jul’s eyes zeroed in on the dart protruding from his neck, her breath frozen on her throat.

  “Help!” she shouted in all their minds. “We’re under attack! Blow darts! [Stealth] users!”

  “Up! Up! Up!” Row roared.

  “Who’s hit?” Ger asked.

  “Pir, Jav and Bor were hit! I-I think they can’t breathe!” Jul shouted.

  “Wax was also hit!” someone else shouted.

  Unfortunately, in their panic and in the deafening rain, they had no idea where the [Stealth] enemy was, or how many of them there were. The darts pierced through the rain to claim more victims.

  “Stay down!” one of the guides said.

  “Cen! Barrier in the middle!” Kur shouted. “Everyone, drag the wounded under the barrier. Healers, help them, quick! These people are suffocating!”

  The jungle lit up in shifting grays as Cen cast [Aura Barrier], one of two skills she had gained from the fight against Silver Fists, the other being the aura boosting [Aura Shaper]. It had filled the caster with such joy to finally have not only a non-destructive skill, but also something that quickly proved a massive boon for the party.

  A great dome of hexagons formed from the top, coming down to enclose the party, but leaving enough room from them to crawl in and out through the dense brush if necessary.

  “I-I have no idea how many there are,” Sej confessed. “These must be an elite unit, likely upper-uncommon all of them.

  “I think around a dozen,” Lumevon said. “Maybe more, maybe less, but not by much.”

  Jul reached over and dragged Pir from Nar’s hands. The woman’s eyes were still wide, frozen in shock as the neurotoxin did its work.

  “I got her!” a tall, lanky man said, Pir’s healer, and he carried the viral auramancer to the center of the party.

  “Jul?” Kur called, in their private party chat. “Anything?”

  “No. I’m sorry! This [Stealth] is crazy!” she said. “Back in the Gap I could at least hear the rogues, but here there’s nothing.”

  “And through fear?” he asked. “They must fear something!”

  Already the other party leaders were taking action, and [Aura Projectiles], arrows and bullets chased after the invisible enemy, but it was hard to fight while crouching in the undergrowth with Cen’s barrier active above them, and the [Aura Barrier] skill drained Cen, especially for a construct as big as that.

  “I-I’ll try! Hold on!” Jul said.

  She closed her eyes and focused.

  Fear.

  Fear…

  What would these monsters fear?

  [Stealth] users meant rogues of some kind, and some rogues likely feared being found and brought out into the light, where they were more likely to be at a disadvantage in a straightforward kind of fight.

  Her mind lit up with the fear of being discovered, and she found not just one, but three Atlatl in [Stealth].

  “Three to the north, directly in front of Cil,” she alerted the others. “They are farther out than you’re attacking. Triple your range!”

  One of the assailants immediately disappeared under a bright roar of [Aura Projectiles], his fear snuffed out, but the other two managed to evade.

  “Did we get them?”

  “One! The other managed to get away! They’re now split, one to the left and the other to the right of the original position!”

  This isn’t going to work, Jul realized. Already the two rogues were on the move, darting around with incredible speed for how silent they were, and leaving behind their original positions. She would have to guide the others in hunting the rogues one by one, and even then, chances were high that they had just gotten lucky with their first strike.

  Now that the rogues knew there was some way for the delvers to detect them, they would be even more cautious now and keep on the move.

  “Jul?” Kur asked.

  “H-Hold on!” she said.

  Cen would run out of aura before they could get all of the rogues, and then, they would be at their mercy again.

  I need to do it, she realized. It has to be me.

  But her [Dreadful Grasp] bounced off against the mind of one the Atlatl, and the monster continued firing at them as though nothing had even happened.

  Why? She asked herself, reaching for the creature’s fear again. Why won’t it work?

  The fear was right there. What was she missing?

  “Don’t be afraid of fear.”

  What did that mean?

  “Jul! We need—”

  “Hold on!” she snapped. She needed focus now, or that barrier would soon come down and they would all be dead.

  Don’t be afraid of fear…

  Take control…

  Wait.

  What was she actually doing about the fear she had found in the rogues? She was just feeling it within herself, embracing it… But what was she actually doing with that fear? In fact, what was she even throwing back at the rogues? It was their own fear! The fear they already had would do little to them, and since she understood little of their fear, what she was throwing at them was obviously too weak to penetrate their [Steadfastness].

  “Don’t be afraid of fear.”

  Maybe one day she would be able to freely take hold and change the fear she sensed within others, but right now, she wasn’t strong enough for that yet, nor had a clue of how to achieve something like that. But what she did have was a link between their minds and hers through fear. And if she could take and feel their fear, maybe she could send and make them suffer through hers.

  I’m scared that we’re all going to die! I’m scared I’ll fail my party and be a disappointment to everyone!

  The Atlatl she focused on stumbled, breaking out of his careful movements, and Sej, the other guides, and everyone with good senses was on it instantly. The monster blew apart under their combined attacks.

  “You did it! Keep going!” Medis urged her. “Don’t be afraid!”

  I won’t!

  Jul latched onto the next rogue, opening the connection by first taking in its fear, and repeated the same process, grinning with grim satisfaction when the monster was also blasted to oblivion.

  Now the rest!

  They weren’t scared of being discovered, so what were they afraid of?

  “Preparation is everything to a rogue, as is knowledge and understanding,” the Master of Shadows had told her. “If you want to control your enemy through fear, you must know what it fears, and to achieve that, you must first understand them. Put yourself in their mind. What am I? What do I want? What do I crave? What happens if I don’t get it? What are the consequences of my failure? What do I perceive is bigger and scarier than me? In essence, who am I and what do I fear?”

  The master had placed a hand under her chin, lifting it so that her eyes locked onto Jul’s.

  “Most people don’t realize just how pervasive and encompassing fear is. It is on the most minute of things, and even without knowing it’s there we still move to its beat,” the master said. “I need to hurry, or I will be late to class and be punished. I need to use the toilet before I leave, or I won’t be able to find one and will embarrass myself in front of everyone. I need this report done, or my boss will be up my ass. I can’t forget to cook this meat tomorrow, or I’ll have to toss it… From the tiniest things, to the glaring, screaming, and mind numbing and distorting terrors, fear is always there. As worry, doubt, anxiety, insecurity, phobias, dread, panic… Wherever there is a perceived threat and consequence, and I say perceived, for it does not need to be real, there will fear be, taking charge of us. And that is what you must control to be successful. So know and understand your enemy, and you will be capable of great, great things, Jul.”

  Jul bit her lip, focusing hard.

  I’m an Atlatl rogue… What do I fear? I’m attacking a group of outsiders that has penetrated deep behind our lines. War bands, including elite ones, have failed to stop them. We have been dispatched to do what they failed to achieve. The outsiders are powerful, but our neurotoxin darts are deadly, and under the rain, no one will hear us. I’m not afraid to be found out, because unlike those three I’m… I’m better. Yes, I’m better. I will succeed where others have failed and be rewarded for it! But if I fail, the war beasts will feast on my corpse. Rewards and failure! Threats and consequences! I’m scared of failure!

  Seven more clusters of smoky fear lit up in her mind. Jul inhaled their fear of failure, of death by torture, by sacrifice, by war beast, for loss of partners and family, for loss of respect and opportunities… These monsters were so sapient-like it startled her, but Jul pushed the thought aside, and instead, flooded them with her own fears.

  And she didn’t hold back. She recalled her parents stumbling to her, murder and addiction bright in their eyes. She recalled the guardians in the darkness. The cannibals. The spiders, and her Ceremony. She recalled the psaelis, the confluence, and the corrupted illatrian. She called upon her fear of failure and disappointment, not just to the others, but for herself, and she wrenched that screaming, howling mass in her mind, then blasted it across all seven connections.

  She was greedy, and her bet could have failed, but she was rewarded by the screeching that shattered the night. Even her own party channels went silent as the Atlatl screamed in the darkness, uttering guttural sounds without meaning and breaking off of their [Stealth].

  “Now!” she shouted.

  Their minds fought back, clawing for freedom from that howling, all-consuming darkness, but Jul held the connections open, and she continued to recall her own memories and fear, blasting it down the links. Before Jul, they were helpless, and even the three final Atlatl she had missed began to fear for their lives. For failure. For death. For the unknown…

  In moments, there was only the pouring rain as they finished them one by one.

  “Well done. Another hurdle overcome,” Medis said, squeezing her shoulder. “Do not fear fear, for you must be fear. Once you do, you will rule every battlefield.”

  Jul nodded, shaking under the weight of the rain and the fear she had called upon.

  It was dreadful, what she had done. But they were all alive thanks to it, and she would persist on the path to control fear and wield it against their enemies. She would be brave, she would be useful, and she would make them all proud of her.

  The jungle tilted, and darkness reached up to envelop her.