Bound Evil

The titanic doors slammed shut before them, the grinding of stone against stone overwhelming every other sound. Emily had seen the faces of the men and women running for the door only to get surrounded by corpse beetles. Even if the creatures weren't particularly strong the number back there would have easily overwhelmed them even if the entirety of the wandering fangs had stayed. Ignoring the scent of sweet decay in the now stagnant air Emily tried to make out the sound of battle in the room beyond.

Nothing.

Not a single sound came through the stone door. Kael had his arms pressed up against the cold stone as though he could push the doors open himself. Beside him, two of the individuals that had been outside now rested in a heap. Kael had used his spear to pull them to safety, but he had not managed to reach the others.

No one spoke at this point as the looming depths of the tomb welcomed them, and a cold chill clung to their bodies. Less than forty people remained silent as Kael tore his eyes away from the door.

Stalking forward, his men moved aside as he searched for and found Emily and Alex.

“You two with me! Where are my damned leads!”

Emily and Alex moved after Kael as the other three leads joined them further from the main group. Emily also noticed Selia walking closely behind Kael. When they were far enough away Kael turned to them

“Someone tell me what in the hell’s happened back there.”

Atticus was the first to speak.

“Boss, those were carrion beetles. They feed mainly on rotting flesh and bone, and their sense of smell is far sharper than even the Rime wolves. If I had to guess, the moment this place opened, it was like ringing a dinner bell for them.”

Kael cursed under his breath, while Emily noticed the surprise on Alex’s face—clearly, he hadn’t anticipated this outcome.

“Fine! Then is there more than one way out of this place?”

Everyone turned to look at Emily and Alex.

Bitting his lip Alex shook his head.

“These tombs were designed to remain sealed for as long as possible to promote the growth of title stones. The only way out is through that door but…”

Kael’s voice was grim as he narrowed his eyes at Alex.

“But?”

Alex looked from the door and then down the steps leading further into the tomb

“But I might be able to get it open with another ward. The problem is now we are missing a key component… The only thought I have is that we can find it somewhere in these ruins.”

Kael's voice remained firm but there was now a determined crease in his brow.

“You mean the refined source? As long as we can find some down here we have a path back?” Alex nodded slowly.

“Boss, this is ridiculous. How can you trust this man again? That ward he set up was supposed to hold the door open for days, and yet it failed in less than five minutes.” Marth growled as he stared suspiciously at Alex.

Gerade grunted responding before Kael could.

“Are you daft or being willfully blind? Magic of that level is incredibly delicate. The moment the swarm arrived there was nothing we could do. We're lucky we entered right away or the casualties could have been much worse.”

This only seemed to enrage Marth further

“What I’m saying is that none of this would have happened if we hadn’t accepted this job in the first place. Nothing has gone right since these two joined us-”

“Enough, Marth! I thought I told you to stop complaining. Right now what I need is solutions, if you can’t do that then go man your station.”

Marth stared at Kael and then glanced at Alex, hatred evident in his eyes. But turning away he walked towards to main group.

Kael closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, opening them again he looked at Alex.

“You better know what you’re in here. I refuse to lose more men to a stupid mistake.”

Alex acknowledged this and Kael turned to Selia.

“Go bring your sister to team one and have them protect her. If we do escape from here her skills will be needed to dig our way out”

Emily was impressed. She’d first thought the man was just a narcissist but he was actually a competent leader.

After that, everyone scattered to go do their jobs, and Emily was left alone.

Deciding she needed to a bit of investigation of her own, Emily moved towards one of the coffins, when she thought no one was looking.

Something had been bothering her since they’d gotten in here and she had to be certain she wasn’t imagining it.

Nearing one of the recesses Emily spotted a plaque and tried to make heads or tails of it.

“Thrax’rel Beth loving mother, caring wife.

Cause of death: axe to head.

Title: Peddler”

Emily took longer than she’d like to admit deciphering the words. But eventually, she did. Placing a hand against the cool stone coffin Emily pursed her lips. The stone felt almost chilly to the touch. More than just cold, almost frosty. Which is in strange juxtaposition against the warm flow of life coming from the coffin.

Since entering here, Emily had felt Life conduit working slowly on the things inside. Not every coffin seemed to hold one inside, in fact, the next nearest one was eight spaces over. But there was definitely something ‘living’ inside these things.

Emily subtly pulled a bit of blood from her body and inserted it at the seem of the stone lid. As quietly as she could, Emily pushed the stone slab aside. Taking a step back in case something jumped out at her like a face-hugger. She waited for something to happen, but when nothing did, she took a peek over the edge.

Cold was emanating from the coffin in waves of chilled air. Emily could make out a figure inside the coffin. It was a withered skeleton more than anything else.

Without the plaque, it would have been too decayed to tell what gender the corpse had been in life. However, when Emily got to its collarbones she noticed something new. Large crystals had formed, protruding from the bone, and destroying it in the process. Only to replace it with more ice crystals. The skull had been almost entirely consumed, but near the corpse’s bridge, a rough gem had formed. Emily squinted at the opalescent light refracting off the gem, she was just about to reach in and pull the gem free from its frosty prison when she felt someone behind her.

“Are you trying to get us killed?” Alex hissed into her ear, grabbing her outstretched hand and pulling it towards himself.

“If you touch that it will more than likely trigger a trap.”

Emily pursed her lips and pulled her hand from his.

“I’m guessing those are the title stones Ashe was talking about.”

Alex pursed his lips.

“Yes, a bridge stores one's path in life. With enough source, it can impart that knowledge in death.”

Emily turned to look at the hundreds of coffins all around them.

“The truly powerful titles will be deeper in the tomb, buried behind layers of defenses. We need to be careful till then. I’m fairly certain I can guide us but…”

Alex had been looking tense ever since they discovered a war on the way. Things had gotten worse when Alex had opened that letter. Something was bothering him but he refused to elaborate.

Taking a breath Emily let it out slowly

“You’re going to need to trust me one of these days. If you can’t tell me the whole truth then fine but don’t close me out.”

Alex searched Emily’s face but then stepped back.

“Come on they’re getting ready to leave.”

Rolling her eyes Emily heard Kael addressing everyone.

“Form up! We’re proceeding, but I want every one of you on full alert. We don’t know what's down here and with no fallback point we're flying in blind.”

Descending the stairs only revealed hundreds more coffins.

While they were moving Emily took the time to apply a Vital shell to herself and Alex just in case.

It should hold if there were anything like blowdart traps or something of that nature.

Emily didn’t need Alex dying to poison or something equally mundane.

They followed the winding stairs for over an hour without encountering any disturbances or traps. Eventually, one of the walls opened up, revealing gaps that led to a circular room below. The staircase wrapped around it, giving them a clear view of the empty chamber.

As they got level to the room Alex spoke up.

“In the center of the room, there will be five larger coffins, two of which will contain specters. These creatures are powerful, and made of frost and death. Do not under any circumstances let them get hold of you. Their weakness is where your bridge would normally be, hit that if you’re able.”

Kael divided them into two separate groups and as he did so, Emily took a better look into the room. She noticed the five coffins Alex had referred to, she could even feel a strong stream of life coming from them. The rest of the room was bare, save for another door that looked like it led deeper into the tomb.

Upon entering the room the two groups separated and skirted around the coffins. Eventually, they must have gotten too close because one of the stone lids flew off and a creature made of partially dissolved bone and ice climbed out. It carried a rusted mace and a massive black tower shield. Beside it, another coffin slid open and a being in mouldy fabric drifted out. It carried no weapon but as it splayed its hands out orbs of cold, red light manifested in its hands as it floated above its coffin leisurely.

“One ranged, one melee. Team two deals with the magic user. Team one with me on the Juggernaut.”

Kael had merged their four groups into two for this and Emily found herself in team two so she was excited to see what another magic wielder had in store for her. Stepping forward next to the archers Emily focused on her enemy.

Arrows were fired from their side with unerring precision, clattering against the floating magic user's robes and shattering chunks of ice all over its body.

An unholy wail exploded from the creature and it waved its arm out. A screen of red expanded out from the specter's hands creating a wall of pale flame that turned the arrows to dust and lumps of mottled steel, before dropping to the ground.

The woman from team four that Emily now knew as Beth released an arrow in completely the wrong direction, heading for one of the nearby walls. But just when it was about to miss completely, it changed its direction in mid-air and curved around the specter's defense. Lodging itself in an empty eye socket.

Emily glanced over and saw Marth and Kael taking turns to block the mace of the other specter while they surrounded the thing.

These creatures were powerful and if they had caught them unawares they could have easily done some damage to the company, but with everyone working together the threat was minimal, just by the sheer fact of being outnumbered.

Moving in Emily coated her arms in blood and tried to reposition herself beside the protective spell. Her blood wasn’t the worst against heat users, but she would need to find a good opening.

So lunging forward Emily danced into the line of fire.

Blood points: 85