Bound Evil

Emily currently walked down the passage running her hand over the smooth, marble-like stone as their group of four left the chamber they had just fought in, to backtrack after Nox and the wolves. Alex was looking far better than just a few minutes ago, but they all needed rest, and Emily would riot soon if they didn’t get any. The teenager had followed their advice and taken Cupcake and Mist out of the room, but now the problem came in finding them. If Alex was right, backtracking in the tomb could often be more dangerous than advancing through it.

They had set up a fallback point and Nox should have retreated there but when they reached the spot they found nothing nor even any sign he had been there.

Alex wanted to retract his steps but Emily had another idea. Calling to her blood she reached out to Cupcake. She couldn’t get any emotions from the creature but she did get a general direction. With Alex's help, she guided them all to where she the feeling was strongest but that turned out to be a dead end too.

Emily frowned as they came face to face with a wall, placing her hand against it. Alex had warned about getting turned around down here but he seemed to be inspecting the wall in thought.

“I’m fairly certain Cupcake is right behind this wall. I can’t be certain Nox is with her but it's the best option we have right now.” Emily muttered with a frown.

Alex nodded and seemed to look either way down the long passage they had arrived in. There were no obvious identifiers and to be honest it all looked the same to Emily but Alex seemed to find a clue in the wall.

“There's a seam here but I don’t see a way to get around this even if we backtrack further.”

“So, it's a secret entrance or something?” Emily asked.

“It's possible, but I’m not seeing any apparent wards nearby so unless they are hidden in the stonework I’m at a loss. If I can’t access them, I can’t alter them.”

Kael had been silent for a while, he’d been inspecting the title stone they had gotten from the Viscount of Plague. Emily had to admit the thing looked impressive. It was similar to Emily’s Fireborn title stone but this one was a perfect cube while her’s was an octahedron. The title stone was a mix of jade and blackened quartz, making it look like a swirling storm of dark and green hues frozen in time.

Her Fireborn stone on the other hand was a deep amber. They had discussed it a bit as they walked but Alex was certain that stone was more trouble than it was worth.

All the other title stones that had gotten up to this point were of decent quality and rarity. Even the Fearmonger title, while rare did not have a high value because if found, it was more likely to be confiscated than bought. Of course, Kael being who he was, there were always ways around this. But the Viscount of Plague was an entirely different beast.

This particular title was necessary for the maintenance of any settlement that was above a few thousand people.

While the specter had used the title's abilities to harm them. It was normally a title that dealt with plague prevention and eradication. It just so happened to be an incredibly deadly title if the wielder lost all sense of reason.

As far as Alex could tell, an actual value could not be put to a stone like this. It was priceless, something that could elevate one's station in life, but Kael would probably try his best to put a value to it.

The other thing Emily noticed was how Kael was cradling his right arm. She’d seen him take a tonic but from here it looked like he was suffering from a bad case of frostbite. Alex had mentioned not touching the specters, and it looked like this was the result. She was no doctor or Healer but it did not look like a pleasant experience.

Alex was just finishing up inspecting the wall when Emily felt Cupcake moving away from their location.

Looking up she began to follow along the wall until she came to a particular section where the connection with her Rime wolf felt strongest.

Emily turned to say something but noticed a line of runes lighting up along this entire section of the corridor. She shouted for everyone to get ready, Alex dashed over to her in an attempt to get the runes but it was too late. The world shifted onto its side as the floor spun like it was on an axis and the entire corridor moved into the wall. All four of them fell to the side as a chamber opened up and they all collapsed into it. Kael and Alex stuck the landing while Oscar and Emily managed to lessen the fall, one by rolling and the other with a subtle use of her blood manipulation.

When all four of them took in the room they saw a small uneven chamber with the sound of trickling water nearby.

Nox stood up with a relieved face when he saw them enter.

“Oh, thank the five. I wasn’t certain you’d look for me.”

Cupcake and Mist both stood up and moved to Emily and Alex respectively.

Kael stepped forward and nodded.

“Do not worry, we’ll figure this out. What have you found in here?”

Nox nodded and pointed into the center of the chamber.

“No specters, but there is that guy and some kind of… deposit?”

Nox pointed over to a small patch of dirt that actually had grass on it. In the middle, there was a rough-looking piece of stone, and leaning against it was a decayed skeleton. Unlike the ones in coffins, it looked like this one had a shattered bridge. The body had to have died on the stone itself because after many years the body had decayed to just bone. This room must have gone undisturbed since then leaving a deep stain running down the deposit in rivets. It was long since dried and gone but a dark red hue had remained.

Light came from somewhere above and the trickling sound was from one of the walls nearby, where water trickled down at a constant rate. This was probably what was feeding the grass in here. The whole chamber was like its own little contained world.

“Have you had a chance to investigate what material that is?”

“Not yet, I hesitated in case there was another trap.”

Kael shot him a raised brown but Alex interrupted their silent conversation.

“No need, I can tell what that is from here. It's a refined source deposit and also the answer to us getting out of here.”

Kaels head snapped around as he narrowed his eyes.

“There’s just one problem,” Alex said

“Of course there is” Emily sighed.

“It needs to be processed and that's not something we will be capable of doing down here.”

“How much do we need?” Kael frowned at the dark-looking metal.

It reminded Emily of a raw piece of iron, or maybe an alien-looking meteorite.

“Well, this piece would at most make maybe three to four coins if you had the proper equipment and titles.”

Kael glanced over to Nox who shook his head violently at his questioning gaze.

“Sorry boss. I don’t think I have the strength to recover that. Plus, I’d have to drop a lot of equipment just to store it”

“Is the area trapped?”

Alex inspected the area for wards and though he frowned at the ancient corpsed, he shook his head.

“Right, well then all we need is small enough a chunk right?” As he said this he began to twirl his spear.

Summoning up that vapor again he made two horizontal cuts into the stone. There was a grinding sound, followed by an explosion of water that vaporized shortly after impact, sending the top portion of the metal flying. Now That Emily was close up she could see a sheen on the larger piece of stone, almost as though it had been pressure-washed.

“Oscar help Alexander strap this thing to his wolf. We’ll have them carry it until Nox can handle storing it”

Emily looked down at the section of rock that had come off the stone. It was manageable but it was by no means light. From the looks of things, Kael had sheered off just about a fourth of the total stone.

“You should be able to use it in any form right?” Kael asked.

Alex frowned at the stone but nodded.

“Good, then let's make sure this place is safe then we will rest here. Alexander, work on a way to get us out of here. I can break us out if need be but it's a draining skill, so let's find another way.”

They all took some time to explore the small room and make sure nothing would jump out at them but when they were certain everyone separated.

Kael moved over to the wall with water trickling from it and began to rummage through his pack, taking out a vial. At the same time, Oscar went to a corner and tried to get some sleep.

Emily on the other hand turned back the way they’d come and noticed that this side had visible wards.

As of yet, she only knew a handful of written runes, but she could make out the ‘input’ she’d seen often on other large wards. It was followed by another rune That Emily didn’t quite understand, but was fairly certain was the line that would trigger the rest of the ward. Alex came a few minutes later and confirmed it, stating that the rune acted as a way to feed power into the ward from the tomb's main control ward. Similar to an electrical grid, that rune would connect the ward to the source when a trigger was met and unseal the door.

At that point, Nox came over and joined Alex’s impromptu ward lesson.

Emily didn’t mind and actually found it interesting as Alex untangled the mess of runes, explaining what he was doing at the same time to his audience. Emily hated to admit it but he was a good teacher. As he explained he altered the effect of the wards by using a couple of chalk lines to reverse the process and get it to spin in the reverse direction. He was fairly certain that if they just activated the ward again it would probably crush them into the ground. They were lucky Alex knew what he was doing. If it was anyone else they would have starved to death, trapped in this room

When everything was said and done Emily decided she wanted to see her stars. With all the things they had been killing surely that had been enough to rank her up. Leaving Alex on guard, Emily leaned against her pack and tried to get a couple of hours of sleep.

The stars came eventually and they seemed both excited and lethargic as she watched them arrange themselves.

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

Emily pouted at her rank. It was clearly mocking her. If she had managed to earn just one more, she’d have access to her new skills—skills that would significantly boost their chances of survival down here. Pushing aside her disappointment, Emily tried to get as much sleep as possible before Alex woke up to take his turn. They had been rotating every two hours, ensuring each of them got a chance to recover.

Once everyone was well-rested, Alex placed his hand over the trigger rune, and in a blink, they were back in the hallway.

Kael had them mark the area, making it easier to return if time permitted. They would need more manpower to transport the rest of the metal, but once they regrouped with the others, that would not be an issue.

As they headed back toward the chamber where they had fought just hours earlier, they found the coffins brimming with old coins. There were far too many for them to carry alone—though Kael certainly gave it a try. Emily, meanwhile, happily pocketed as many handfuls as she could. If they made it out of here, she’d have quite a pretty penny to spend.

Continuing to the next room, they encountered more specter guards but managed to press on, making their way deeper into the tomb's innermost sanctum.

Blood points: 108