Bound Evil

Emily sat against a broken stalagmite, chewing on a cherry-flavored ration bar while keeping a watchful eye on one of the many openings in the large chamber. When their small party had found the staircase leading deeper into the earth, they came across Svent from the auxiliary team. The tree folk seemed shaken, but he still gripped a heavy hammer in one hand and a buckler in the other.

With Svent having joined their growing group, they had descended the massive staircase together. At the bottom, the light from the room beyond was the brightest they had encountered yet. Emily's brows had risen as she took in the sheer size of the underground chamber.

It was an enormous rectangular room, sparsely decorated. The walls and ceiling were covered in mosaics that must have taken years to complete. At the far end of the room sat a grand entrance, sealed by a thick set of stone doors. They were so large that Emily couldn't help but think the builders must have been giants—why else construct such a colossal structure?

Time, however, had not been kind to the remaining architecture. While the front gate remained intact, the rest of the room showed significant wear. Near the edges of the walls, something had burrowed into the area in multiple places, leading off in different directions. Emily assumed it was the Blightstingers, though, with none in sight, she guessed they had either already left or been dealt with.

This was also where they had found the gathered Wandering fangs. The company had set up a camp smack-dap in the middle of the chamber. Forming defensive lines in preparation for the Blightstingers that were bound to be teeming down here. When their group had approached Emily spotted Kael, Gerade, Atticus, and Marth already there. They had been discussing things, but the moment their group had arrived Kael invited them over.

“Good to see you all alive. We’re still holding out for the remainder of our people to arrive. In the meantime, what do you need to crack the seal on these doors?”

Alex had rattled off a list of things he needed but Emily only recognized the source chalk.

While Alex was busy, Emily had gone searching for Ashe. Unfortunately, the woman had not yet shown up. Neither had Selia so Emily found herself chomping on snacks as she watched and waited near the perimeter.

As time moved on and no new excitement happened Emily relaxed against the stalagmite. More people joined the company, entering the chamber through the main staircase, but it was only when a couple of shouts went up near one of the side tunnels that Emily took notice.

Moving to the area she saw several Blightstingers charging into the space after a team of people. Emily spotted Ashe, Selia, and Fox at the front, running to meet with the line of defenders. The numbers that poured out of the side tunnel were not small and the chamber was more than capable of accommodating flight.

However, even though the tunnel was teeming with the creatures, they were met with dozens of humans prepared to meet their charge head-on. It wasn’t long before the number of Blightstingers dwindled into the single digit and then fled.

Emily moved to greet them and when Ashe saw her she looked relieved—smiling and pulling Emily into a hug.

“Gods that was chaos. I’m sorry I wasn’t nearby when all that went down.” Ashe sighed

Emily snorted and guided the woman to the side. Ashe looked worse for wear, but by the looks of things she wasn’t suffering from Source exposure. Selia on the other hand looked battered and bruised. At some point, she must have lost her whip and was now using a one-handed maul.

“We should get you two to Yishmal, especially you, Selia. We have some time—Alex is busy setting up to open the entrance, so for now, Kael has everyone not on duty resting.”

The two nodded, and Fox headed toward the center of the camp, muttering something about "incompetent underlings feeding everyone rations instead of nutritious Blightstinger soup."

Emily dropped the two of them off with the Healer and went to find Gerade. The man was in a foul mood when she finally found him.

Apparently, a fair amount of Rime wolves were not accounted for. So much so that even Emily would have to double up with someone if they wanted to ride out of here, fortunately, that was still a problem for later as they still hadn’t found a way out. Atticus had traveled up the main tunnel only to find a large cave in near the entrance, though he was convinced this one hadn’t happened recently.

So, for all intents and purposes, they were trapped down here.

Although nobody seemed that worried yet, so Emily decided to see what happened. She assisted Gerade where she could and when they were done Emily saw people gathering up near Kael.

Moving over to him, she got there just as he began his speech.

“I want to congratulate everyone on their survival and resilience. We are still waiting on a few MIA’s but through a strike of fate, we’ve found ourselves right at the entrance to the Lay line. I’ve conferred with my leads and we’ve determined that now that the queen is on the move it's likely we will begin to see fewer and fewer Blightstingers down here. However, this is not a call to relax, for as soon as we are ready we will be plunging into this trial. I don’t need to tell you all what an opportunity this is for us, so prepare yourselves well.”

Emily would have thought everyone would be too exhausted right now, but the enthusiastic cheers went up from the company.

As Alex worked Emily found a space nearby to watch the man. He’d situated himself near the entrance to the Lay line and was currently drawing what looked like a house-sized ward over a large mosaic inscription on the ground.

Ashe came to join Emily, though Selia was nowhere to be found.

“If you’re wondering, Alex is busy doing something pretty amazing over there. It’s called rune cracking or law-breaking to some. He’s trying to weaken the runes protecting the place enough to get us in.”

Emily hummed.

“So, it's like picking a lock? Wouldn’t you be of help since you know a lot of runes?”

Ashe nodded happily.

“It's sorta like that, yes. And to answer your second question, I already did, but I’m embarrassed to say Alex's knowledge on wards far outstrips mine.”

Emily cocked her head.

“I thought they were the same language, am I wrong?”

Ashe shrugged

“Oh, I suppose we never covered this. Well no, you are not wrong. The runes we use in wards are identical to the ones we make with hand gestures. If there was a difference I supposed it would be that hand gestures are like the spoken word, and wards are like the written word.”

Emily had already put that together on her own but nodded as Ashe went on.

“The difference comes in complexity and power. Where I use as few gestures as possible to eke out a simple effect in a few words. Wards are like complex paragraphs following a strict set of rules. The difference means wards are infinitely more flexible but the amount of power they require is greatly increased. If I pack all my power into just a few words that specific outcome is far more potent. Similar to your spell.”

Emily saw where Ashe was going with this. The more runes one used the more control they had but the more power and time it took. It was that complexity that made things like wards useless in direct battle unless they had been set up prior. It became a balancing act as to how much time one dared to take in combat because if the enemy was even a second faster, it was game over.

Emily was still thinking this over when Ashe sighed.

“Of course, Mages study both and I thought I had a fair grasp on my wards but when I saw what he was working on I realized I would only be a hindrance in this regard.”

Emily frowned as she looked up at Alex. The man continued to work ignoring everyone around him as he reinforced lines of source chalk growing the diagram on the floor with deft precision.

“Where would someone learn stuff like that?”

Ashe shrugged.

“I’d say Lorethil, but unless you had coin to burn you wouldn’t learn much. Plus he’s at an incredibly high level. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been studying his whole life.”

Emily waited to ask her next question enjoying the comfortable silence between.

“This Lay line must be pretty important for everyone to risk so much to go in there.”

“Of course it is, you’ve heard the stories I’m sure.”

“Hmm… I’d very much like to hear what you think is in there”

Ashe tore her eyes away from Alex's work and shot Emily a curious glance.

“Well…I can’t be certain, but Lay lines are trails left by ancient civilizations. There’ll be all sorts of defenses and traps in there, but ultimately, if we can overcome them, many treasures lay in wait. The most alluring of all is the potential for title stones. Which can only develop in areas where source is incredibly abundant.”

Emily nodded her thanks. The title stones were an unknown, but if she had to guess. Emily would put her money on them containing random titles. Probably rare ones or something.

“Oh, that reminds me. If Alex does get the door open tomorrow, don’t draw any source. The effects will be far more potent than you’re used to and it could overwhelm you.”

Emily happily agreed, even though she felt something shifting inside her. With the addition of all the vitality she had gained today, it almost felt like her limits had increased. This only confirmed her theory that the more vitality she had, the more source she could draw. But, seeing as she was only just recovering from drawing too much, Emily thought it smart to heed the woman's warning.

It was hard to tell the time underground, but by now it had to be well into the early hours of the morning so Emily and Ashe took turns taking naps.

The first time Emily closed her eyes her stars waddled into view as though they were full. Arranging themselves into words for her.

‘23 - second threshold released at rank 25’

Skill threshold released at rank 25

Active slot: Scarlet sister - access to the Scarlet sister skill tree, along with the Blood Mage skill tree.

Increased learning speed when consuming blood, this is further increased if the blood is given willingly. Increased learning speed when studying blood wards.

Passive slot: Explorer - Increased learning speed when engaged with new environments.

Passive slot: Increased learning speed when accepting missions for coin. This is further increased when in proximity to the sub-species[Rime wolf].

Emily’s eyes widened, five ranks? It made sense, she’d been killing her way through the wild for a while now, but even still, this speed was incredible. Two more ranks and she’d almost have caught up to Alex.

When Ashe shook Emily awake for the second time she noticed Alex was nearby resting as well. The chalk ward had grown in size and complexity since Emily had last seen it. Along with several jars of oil and chunks of stone located at certain points on the chalk formation.

The wandering fangs were already preparing to head out. Emily had kept an eye on the tunnels, but only a small number of Blightstingers escaped from the tunnels to attack. For the most part, the real annoyances were the carrion beetles. They came out of their hiding holes in an attempt to get at the food Fox was cooking throughout the night. Fortunately killing one or two sent the rest of the scavengers scattering in all directions.

Kael gathered everyone up a couple of hours after Emily had woken. Flicking a familiar coin over to Alex. Emily now knew enough that she was certain the coin Kael had received from the Blood Mages was not currency. Instead, it turned out to be a battery of sorts, at least that's what Emily thought when Alex placed it in the center of his ward and activated it.

Grey source churned in Emily’s sight as the ward began to do its job.

Glowing runes began to form in the air above the ward, so potent that she was certain everyone could see them.

Lines of runes flickered to life on the door, casting an eerie glow. A deep, resonating groan of stone echoed from somewhere beyond, rumbling like a distant quake. Slowly, the massive doors began to creak open, swinging outward with a heavy, grinding sound that reverberated through the surroundings.

A hiss of stale, musty air rushed from the tomb, filling the chamber with a blast of decay. Emily quickly covered her nose, the sweet stench of rot overwhelming. But before she could dwell on it, a wave of grey source poured out, flooding the room. She was certain there were other colors mixed in, judging by how everyone reacted differently to its presence. Without thinking Emily closed off her bridge as easily as one would hold their breath.

“Everyone advance! Avoid interfering with the ward, a team will be staying behind to make sure nothing goes awry.”

Emily had heard a couple of individuals did not want to enter so they had been allowed to remain outside.

Kael was the first to step into the tomb, passing through a faint ripple like a screen of water. From Emily's vantage point, she could only see a long corridor sinking further into the earth.

“We still have to do deeper?” Emily muttered.

Alex chuckled.

“It's called a Lay line, where else but deep in the continent’s rock?”

Snorting Emily shot him a wry look before stepping over the threshold.

Behind them, the rest of the Wandering fangs began to stream in. Emily noticed sconces on the walls begin to light up, giving them a better view of the walls. On either side, small recesses had been cut into the walls and Emily was met with the first signs of the tomb. Human-sized coffins were slotted into each recess. The grey stone coffins lined the walls up to the distant ceiling with tiny plaques denoting each soul that had died. It was eerily reminiscent of a catacombs with hundreds of coffins on either side. Emily was just about to investigate further when screaming came from the chamber behind them.

Emily whipped around at the sound of skittering from their camp. Though the entrance wasn’t far, the crowd blocked her view, but she caught a glimpse of the room behind them. The walls seemed to writhe like black, oily masses as the people they’d left moments ago fled toward the entrance. Then she saw them—countless carrion beetles swarming after their group, so thick they altered the chamber’s very landscape.

Kael cursed, leaping over the company to the entrance, spear in hand. He was about to charge out when the beetles hit Alex’s ward. The protections snapped back into place, dropping a wall of force as the doors began to grind shut. Some of those who had stayed behind made it inside, but not all managed to before the wall came down. The beetles swarmed the camp, covering the screen until no light could seep through.