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I woke to warmth.
Which was strange, given everything else about this place had the ambiance of a grave. The sky above was leaden with a nightly hue that had recently become glittered with opalescent colors. The night had passed, and the sun was rising.
A sense of dread rose as I realized what that meant for us, but the bedroll was warm, and so was the soft, steady breathing I felt on the back of my neck.
I gathered my wits enough to turn slightly and…
OH?
Eshlyn was still asleep, curled into me like a cat cupping a heated blanket, one arm flung lazily over my waist. Her cheek rested near the crook of my shoulder, violet hair spilling in soft waves between us.
She looks peaceful. Beautiful, even.
My bedroll was sizable, but very much designed to fit a single individual.
I tried to move without waking her, an effort as delicate as diffusing a bomb. I began, ever so slightly, sliding my arm out from under her when her brow twitched. I paused, holding my breath like creeping death. Then her nose crinkled and her fingers tightened slightly around my hip, pulling me closer.
I sat up with only my chest off the ground before she let out a snort.
A very unladylike snort.
I bit my lip, turning away and stifling a laugh, until I made the mistake of glancing up.
Val stood just outside the firelight, illuminated fully by the rising sun. He was casually sharpening one of his swords, and yes, he had seen everything.
I groaned into the dramatic roll of my eyes. “Go ahead and say it.”
“I haven’t said anything,” he replied flatly.
“You’re saying it with your eyes,” I retorted.
“I’m really not saying anything…” he paused, turning back to his blade. “...But since you brought it up… ”
A firm but familiar voice echoed beside me. “Don’t.”
Eshlyn stirred then, blinking slowly as she pulled back, immediately noticing our shared position. I met her gaze as her cheeks bloomed a lovely shade of rose.
“I… must have rolled over,” she said quickly, straightening with all the grace of someone trying very hard not to look like they cared. “You run warm,” she added quietly, while attempting to hide the blush I very much saw.
A butterfly fluttered into my stomach. I couldn’t make eye contact. My voice completely vanished from my tongue. All I could do was turn away to hide the enormous grin creeping across my face.
Val gave a sharp whistle. “Good to see you both being so well-rested. If you’ve finished canoodling, I’ve come up with a plan.”
“Oh, bite me,” I muttered.
“What’d you come up with?” Eshlyn asked, composed now.
He peered at me, then at her. “You two get ready first. I’ll explain after breakfast.”
We both nodded and began packing in silence. The fire crackled softly between us.
Breakfast was half-dry travel bread, a few wrinkled apples, and something that may have once been cheese. None of us complained. The quiet lingered, thick with what waited beyond that stone.
Somewhere in the trees, a crow let out a single, hollow caw before silence reclaimed the woods. Even the wind felt like it was holding its breath.
I finally spoke up, rolling my shoulders and finishing a bite of bread. “So. How are we doing this, then?”
Val reached down, pulling a stick from the underbrush. “It’s standard tunnel work,” he muttered, kneeling and dragging the stick through the dirt to form a rough sketch of the staircase and what might follow. “I’ll be in the front. Remy will be second, close enough to cover me but far enough to react and shoot effectively. Eshlyn will follow closely behind Remy, covering the rear and alerting us to any shift in the aether.”
He pointed to the narrow gap he’d carved in the dirt, a makeshift diagram of the stone stairwell. “We know there is a multitude of undead waiting for us at the entrance, so the door is our bottleneck. We roll the stone away only slightly, leaving just enough space for them to come at us one at a time, two at most. As long as we hold them at the entrance, we can’t lose.”
Val tapped the drawing again. “I’ll hold the threshold. If one gets through, Remy takes it down. If we get a break, Remy, you move up and shoot down the stairwell. Eshlyn, you hold back and blast through the gap. Keep the flow staggered.”
I looked at her. “That's okay with you?”
Eshlyn straightened her robes and stepped closer to the sketch. “The aether in this area is still warped. It will take more focus than usual, but yes.”
“Same,” I said, nodding at Val. “And thank you for taking the lead on this.”
Val nodded back. “Then we take this slow. Conserve your energy. Aim for the head. Look out for one another.”
“Works for me.” I exhaled, glancing toward the sealed catacomb, trying to mask the spike in my pulse. “Last chance to run screaming into the woods.”
“Tempting,” Val said with the weakest smirk I’d ever seen.
Eshlyn adjusted her staff and looked up. Her voice was low and firm. “We can do this.”
We all turned toward the looming stone.
Val brushed off his hands. “One more thing. If we get separated, don’t panic. Sample or no sample, we meet back here.”
He slid a hand along his hilt. “Everyone ready?”
My throat tightened. Every instinct screamed no… but it wasn’t a question with options, so I nodded anyway.
“We go in together,” Eshlyn said, glancing at us both. “And we get out together.”
I tried to hide my shaking hands as I returned her gaze and let out a slow breath.
I hope they aren’t as scared as I am.
No more words came between us, just footsteps over dry leaves as we approached, what felt like, the gate to hell.
                                         ...
The stone’s moss scraped against the surrounding stone with a deep, grating groan as we pushed it aside, just enough to leave a gap slightly leaner than Val’s shoulders. I noticed the undead hand that we’d seen pressed through the small gap now rested on the floor, unmoving like a branch cut from a tree.
The air that wafted out this time was sharp. It clung to my throat, wet and rotten.
Val stepped into position at the narrow gap, shaking off the tension with a dance before drawing his blades and positioning himself in a ready stance.
“You sure this’ll work?” I whispered behind him, one arrow already knocked.
“No.” He adjusted his grip. “But it’s the best shot we’ve got.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. Then, we both looked to Eshlyn, giving her a confirming nod before she threw a small stone that skittered down the stairwell. Each bounce echoed in a sharp pitch before finally resting.
A terrifying screech erupted just seconds later, followed by the telltale clatter of bones against stone.
We got this… we got this. I began repeating to myself.
Then they appeared.
A skeletal body clawed into view, followed by a bloated corpse with black, glossy veins like tree roots beneath its skin. They both lunged, racing up the stairwell as a dozen others came into view behind them.
Val met the first one with a brutal slice, cutting clean through its neck. The head rolled past his feet with a thud before I stepped in, loosing an arrow into the following corpse's rotten skull. It dropped like a puppet cut from its strings.
I continued firing a volley of arrows over Val’s shoulder as undead corpses began rushing from the tomb like a broken dam.
I heard Eshlyn muttering an incantation in response, her voice calm and clear despite the tension. Then, a frigid blast of wet air pulsed from her, arching down the stairwell in a wave. The pressure sent a chunk of undead heads snapping backwards before they buckled into the damp floor.
I then watched as she held a hand to her mouth, blowing outward like an icy kiss of death. To my amazement, the remaining torrent of corpses slowed dramatically as they began slipping. The horde lost its footing as corpses fell with violent persistence, tripping the others as they slid downward on a layer of slick ice that spanned into the darkness.
I noticed Eshlyn began to pant behind us as if that single spell had taken the wind out of her.
I called back in affirmation, “That was amazing, I couldn’t have asked for a better spell.”
The ice and gap in the stone became our lifeline, funneling the horde into workable pieces.
This way, we were able to handle them with relative ease, cutting down just one or two at a time. Some fell to my arrows, some to the lightning-fueled spears that Eshlyn rained down in a consistent rhythm; anything left was easily swept up by Val.
Before long, black blood coated every inch of the archway, and my arms ached with strain. Val’s sword was drenched and dripping with goo. Eshlyn was wet with sweat and fatigue, visibly trying not to overexert, but enough undead poured out that they began supporting each other with sheer numbers, all attempting to occupy the small space that led upward.
They clawed and shrieked, bodies pressing to get through, some writhing in unnatural ways. Their backs twisted and their rib cages crunched in the pressure of the mob, torsos often splitting open to reveal more of that slick, pulsing goo.
Even with the overwhelming advantage, we could barely hold up as they crashed like ocean waves against the shore.
My fingers burned from drawing and releasing arrows, right up until I was completely out. At that point, I drew my daggers, continuing to assist Val in holding the line, my breath coming sharp and shallow.
They fell into us like an everlasting rain.
I prayed for the storm to cease as exhaustion gripped at me from all angles. It was pure adrenaline that kept me upright. Val and I held like a wall, trapping them in a cage of death, until the flow slowed, and eventually stopped completely.
I could hardly help but drop to the floor as silence fell.
A wet, sticky silence.
Our feet now stood in a pile of remains, black blood, twitching limbs, and chunks of meat no longer animated.
Val exhaled in a heavy breath. “I think that’s it.”
There had to be at least a hundred of them. I thought before taking a few steps back and dropping my butt into the damp earth beneath me. “Are you sure?” I panted.
Val backed up to stand next to me, “No sounds. No movement. I think we cleared the initial herd.” He steadied between breaths. “If there’s anything left, it's deeper inside.”
I began to catch my breath before glancing at the others. Val was mostly fine, but Eshlyn looked pale, sweat clinging to her face before dripping onto her chest. Her knuckles were white around her staff before she finally released the grip on it, dropping to her glutes in the same manner as I did.
We were all breathing hard, but we seemingly got through it with nothing but a few scrapes.
Val let us take a small break before getting up and shoving the stone aside with a grunt, opening up the full entrance. As if that was a signal, Eshlyn and I followed him to the edge of the threshold.
“Nice job moving that by yourself”, I told him, but he only nodded in response.
The passage beyond was steep and dark, descending into the earth like a stairway to the underworld. The walls were slick with black moss and veins of goo that pulsed faintly.
I cleaned my daggers and picked up the arrows within reach before adjusting the straps on my belt. “So much for easing in.”
Val rolled his shoulders. “I doubt we’ll be able to ease out.”
I dug into my pack, taking out the lanterns that’d been purchased recently, hooking one onto the bottom of Val’s pack before clipping the other to my own. Eshlyn lit her staff with a soft aether glow as our lanterns lit in sequence.
“Let’s move,” I said, swallowing some bile that had found its way into my throat. “Before we lose the nerve.”
Eshlyn melted the ice as we descended slowly into the darkness, the sound of our footsteps swallowed by the unnatural quiet.
We made it in, but what the hell are we walking into?
                                         ...
The stairs spiraled downward for what felt like an eternity.
Step after step, our boots clunked softly on damp stone, each one echoing through the tunnel like the stairwell itself was remembering every footfall. The lanterns bobbed in rhythm with our movement, casting long, warping shadows along the slick walls. I counted past two hundred steps before I stopped keeping track.
The deeper we went, the more oppressive the air became. It was thick, wet, stale, and tinged with the scent of old blood mixed with stagnant earth.
Val slowed first, raising a fist to halt us as we neared the end of the stairwell. A massive wooden door stood embedded in the stone wall ahead, its surface streaked with dried black ichor. The door itself looked sturdy despite being warped and possibly brittle with age.
We stared in silence for a long moment before Val stepped forward and gripped the rusted iron handle. Eshlyn and I made a point to ready ourselves as he swung it open. The door groaned with the unholy screech of rusted hinges. A sound that echoed like an eerie whisper, repeating off the walls.
The stone room that opened ahead was wider than the corridor but remained holistically empty. Its ceiling arched like the inside of a cathedral. What might’ve once been clean-cut granite had long since been overtaken by organic sprawl. Thick arteries twisted and stretched between the crevices before disappearing into the walls. The floor pulsed faintly beneath our feet, matching the rhythm I felt coming from deeper in the tomb.
“It’s almost like… we’re inside of something… alive,” I whispered.
Val crouched, pressing a hand to one of the thick organic tendrils. It twitched under his touch.
“That’s not stone,” he said. “It feels like skin.”
Eshlyn’s expression tightened as she murmured a short incantation under her breath. A soft light flickered from the head of her staff, moving through the room to paint the corridor beyond it in cold white light.
“I can feel some kind of heartbeat from deeper inside, and these veiny structures look to be growing slightly larger in that direction,” Eshlyn said, pointing toward the direction of the light she summoned.
“I guess that's the way forward then,” I said, as if trying to be brave in the face of silent horror.
We stuck to the formation Val outlined, moving slowly forward, one corridor giving way to another. Each bend revealed more mutations, walls slick with mucus, graves half-buried beneath the spread of organic matter. The deeper we moved, the more unnatural the structure became, less of a tomb and more like a living organism spread out into the hollow space.
None of us mentioned the lack of sound. There was absolutely nothing to dull our footsteps aside from the pulsing that now hummed like a slow, grotesque drum.
“This way,” Eshlyn said, her voice tight as we rounded a corner, “we’re getting closer.”
The hallway opened into a wide, circular chamber with remnants of old stone benches and banners long decayed. At its center, slumped in a heap of tangled limbs and crusted goo, were bodies.
We broke formation as I stepped forward, slowly. I counted a dozen or more forms, arranged in a way as if placed to somehow mock death. Some sat upright against the walls, others sprawled across the floor like discarded dolls. The corpses donned various types of rusted armor, most weapons lay broken beside them. And yet, something about them was hauntingly familiar.
Val moved to one of the bodies, crouching beside it. “This one… is hardly rotted, they had to have died fairly recently.”
Eshlyn knelt beside another, her brows drawn tight. “These aren’t like the other undead....”
“They’re ascenders,” I whispered, heart hammering with the realization. “Just like us.”
It hit me like a gut punch. I recognized the gear, the posture, even the grim expressions frozen on a few faces.
“These four were a party,” Val said grimly, gesturing to the armor insignia matching between a few of them. “Came down together. Never made it back.”
I stepped around them slowly, inspecting but being careful not to touch any of them. One of the corpses had a massive wound through the chest, cleaved through cleanly. Another had her throat cut so deeply her head had nearly come off. A third was curled on his side, his arms shielding his face.
“... Does that mean they made it past the multitude of undead at the entrance… or is this some type of… mural?” I couldn’t help but think out loud.
“They didn’t die from the goo,” Eshlyn added from across the room. “They were killed first.” I watched as she ran her fingers gently over a piece of torn armor. “Someone with a greataxe got this one.”
Val looked up at that, eyes narrowing. “And then…”
“Their lifeforce was drained,” Eshlyn finished. “No aether left in their bodies… whatever killed them, fed off of it.”
I crouched near one body, watching as a single black vein crept up from the floor and curled around its neck like a leash.
“They were left to rot,” I whispered through rising bile as a shiver crawled down my spine. “Whoever did it let the goo take them afterward.”
Val crouched beside me, eyes scanning the pattern of growth along the walls. His voice came low, uncertain. “Remy, remind me. This place is northwest of the city of souls, yeah?”
I stood up, considering the question, “Well, yeah, I guess it is… why?”
He didn’t answer at first, just gestured toward the tunnels behind us. “Durnan’s job. He said the strange undead were appearing just outside the northwest wall. He paid us to investigate, and this tomb… it has to be near the path we would have taken.”
My stomach sank a little, a quiet weight pressing down. “You think he knew about this place?”
Val was already shaking his head. “Surely not… right?.”
He moved further into the room when I didn’t answer, stepping over a corpse with elegant boots half-melted into the flesh. Then he froze.
“What is it?” I asked, stepping beside him.
He knelt again, retrieving something half-buried under scorched cloth and viscous black goo. A cup, scuffed and old yet somehow familiar, “Do you remember what cup I drank from, when we ate at the inn?...Do you remember what it looked like?”.
My blood turned to ice. “Yeah, that’s…”
“I know,” he said, voice a notch too quiet.
We stared at it together, the silence heavy between us.
Val wiped it off slowly, inspecting the handle. “Could just be a common cup.”
“That just so happens to match the ones handed out by the skeletal innkeeper who somehow looks both dead and half alive?” I asked without expecting an answer.
“Right,” he muttered, forcing a breath. “Still, that doesn’t mean he’s… involved.”
We just stared at each other for a moment before I replied, “...right.”
The chamber held its breath. I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears, a rhythm out of sync with the slow, awful throb of the floor beneath us. That’s when the nearest corpse twitched, and I froze in place.
“Did you see that?” I whispered to Eshlyn, who stood a bit farther away.
Another finger spasmed. Then an arm. Then a figure sat upright with a horrible, jerking motion like a puppet being yanked into position.
“They’re not dead!?” Val asked, backing toward me while drawing his blades.
“I don't know…” Eshlyn whispered, stepping in beside us with her staff raised. “...but they’re not themselves anymore.”
Another one of the husks slowly lifted its head. Its eyes, once human, now glowed with a faint, oily sheen.
                                         ...
…There was no time to hesitate.
A tall, armored figure rose from the center, wielding a rust-bitten longsword. Its movements were disturbingly human, controlled, and intentional. It slammed its longsword into Val with a clang of steel. Val hurriedly attempted to meet the blade's force with his own, but it was too powerful and sent him reeling backward, blade scraping across his shoulder.
These are nothing like the undead at the entrance. I thought.
“Remy!” I heard a voice shout before noticing the second figure approaching. An armored woman with a warhammer charged at me. Her motions were erratic, twitching, but the power behind her swing was real. I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the hammer's head as it cratered the stone floor beside me. Scampering to my feet, I took a shot with my bow, but its head only scraped against the woman’s helmet.
Eshlyn threw her hands up, summoning a shimmering, translucent barrier as a robed corpse joined in from across the room, hurling a torrent of red-hot flame her way. The burning aether hit her shield, splintering against it and scorching the floor around her. Eshlyn staggered back at the force, sweat already beading on her brow.
“They’re trying to split us up!” she yelled, parrying a second spell with another barrier, the strain visible in her stance.
The fourth figure was smaller, quicker. He slipped past the woman with the hammer and nearly landed a strike on me with a shortsword. I caught it mid-swing with the wood of my bow, before slamming my knee into his gut, but it barely fazed him. Goo oozed from the cracks in his skin. His head jerked to the side at an unnatural angle, then snapped back as he hissed and slashed again. It was all I could do to dodge.
“Remy! Left!” Val barked.
I twisted just in time to parry, but not with enough strength. I strained against the blow of a warhammer reverberating through my reinforced leather chestplate. The force made my breath catch and sent me reeling back onto the floor, but my new armor had saved me from certain death.
Val wasn’t faring much better. The longsword husk was pressing him hard, matching his strikes blow for blow. “These fuckers know how to fight!” He yelled.
“Because they’re ascenders!” Eshlyn called back, voice tight with effort. She ran towards me, trying to close the distance enough to back me up as she hurled a bolt of white lightning into the warhammer woman. It collapsed to its knees, only to rise again moments later, chunks of her armor cracked and sizzling, but she was still standing.
I blocked another shortsword swing before rushing to my feet and ducking behind Val. Just then, a wave of necrotic energy began building around the caster. The robed corpse had his hands up, chanting in a tongue that made my ears ring. Eshlyn stepped in front of the both of us just in time to summon a large barrier, then a second barrier in front of that. It was barely enough as the spell shattered through the room, cracking her defenses in a wave of black energy. The shield held, but her knees buckled as she dropped to one side, gasping.
The quick figure continued its pursuit, blade flashing, but Val was there.
He intercepted the strike with one of his swords, the other swinging low to counter the longsword figure. “Stay behind me!” he growled.
“I’m not exactly trying to be in front!” I snapped.
The caster raised his hands again. This time, Eshlyn lunged between us, her staff absorbing the bolt of aether aimed at me. It splintered the metal with a loud crack before piercing straight through from her hand to her shoulder. Bright blood splattered from the wound as she screamed, falling again to one knee.
“Eshlyn!” I rushed to her side, depending on Val to keep them at bay for a moment. Her robes were scorched, her face pale.
“I can’t keep this up,” she muttered between heavy breaths.
I tore the minor healing salve from my belt and pressed it into her palm. “Use this!”
She didn’t argue, quickly slathering it across the worst of the wounds. It hissed softly as it touched skin, but she pushed through the pain, standing unsteadily.
“I’m with you,” she said through clenched teeth.
The warhammer-wielding figure barreled straight at Eshlyn and me, taking a cut from Val as it pushed through his reach.
“Look out!” He shouted, but I barely had a second to react. Eshlyn reached out and shoved me aside, taking the brunt of the hit with a newly conjured barrier. The impact sent her sliding backward, but it bought me time to retaliate.
I spun, burying one of my daggers into the woman’s neck, before kicking it off balance and finishing it with another clean stab, up through the skull.
The longsword figure launched at Val with a roar, but this time, we were ready. He ducked the blow, and I countered, slashing through the connective tissue of its legs with both daggers. Val followed up, ramming into it with his shoulder, driving it back as it clambered to the floor.
In the same moment, the quicker figure lunged again. Val didn’t see it, but I did.
My hands were shaking. My body tried to give out. I have to move. Val will die if I don't! My legs tensed. MOVE!
Still crouched, I dove, recklessly catching it before it swung. I tackled it to the floor. We rolled as I stabbed twice into the side of its head, and it went still.
I couldn’t help but turn over to my back and lie there, panting. I could still see the caster from the corner of my eye, raising its hands again, channeling a piercing beam directly toward Val.
“VAL!” I screamed.
Eshlyn hurled her staff, not a spell; the staff itself. She sent it barreling into the caster’s hands, just in time. The beam arched to the side and struck the ceiling, cracking the stone above. Before the caster could recover, Val crossed the distance and drove both swords through its eyes. The caster went limp, falling to the floor in a steady motion.
Finally, I got up. Limping, I made my way to the greatsword-wielding corpse now flailing on the ground. It was unable to stand, so I shot a silent arrow through its temple from above.
And then, nothing. The silence rang in my ears louder than the fight. I stood for a moment, blank-faced and pale with disbelief.
Eshlyn dropped to her knees, so I rushed to her side, steadying her. That's when I saw it, she was leaking blood from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Her gaze was hazy, and her glassy eyes wouldn’t stay still.
“My focus is spent,” she whispered. “I can’t cast any more.”
“Just rest then,” I said, staring into those faded green eyes.
Val leaned against the wall next to us, blood running down his arm, soaking the wrappings beneath his armor. “That was way too close,” he grumbled through strained breaths.
Long moments passed before Eshlyn’s breath began to ease. I glanced around. The chamber was littered with remaining corpses. But this time, we had nearly joined them. They weren’t just monsters. They were what we could’ve become.
If they all animate, we’re finished, I thought.
No one spoke for a while, as we slowly calmed. We didn’t do anything but take in heavy breaths before, finally, I exhaled. “...We shouldn’t linger.”
Val spoke next, “I'm afraid if we get into any more trouble, we’ll just have to make a run for it.”
Eshlyn responded, finally sitting up on her own, “Should I even come with you if I can't cast?”
“Remy and I will have to protect you, but you’re the only one who can synthesize the cure,” Val spoke again.
The whole reason I dragged them both into this mess, I thought to myself.
I turned to look at both of them, “If we run into anything else, we’ll leave. OK?”
No one argued, so we all got up. We moved on like ghosts, each breath ragged, every step soaked in the stench of rot and blood, but there was still hope. We weren’t dead. Not yet.
                                         ...
The hallway narrowed, pulsing now with an audible rhythm. The walls around us were coated in a dark, glistening membrane, each surface slick and twitching, as if the structure itself was breathing.
“We’re close,” Eshlyn murmured, her voice still shaky. “The resonance is strongest just ahead.”
None of us replied. The air was damp and suffocating, filled with the scent of old blood and something sour beneath it, like bile. Our boots squelched on patches of slime as we moved forward into a final chamber, and the space opened wide.
Where are we? I thought.
A cavernous opening unfolded before us, dimly lit by eerie red pulses emanating from a monstrous organ that loomed in the center.
It's a heart...
It was unlike anything I’d seen, massive, grotesque, blackened with jagged veins that crawled from its sides and embedded into every corner of the tomb. It hung suspended from the ceiling by thick cords of pulsating tissue, blood-like ichor dripping into pools beneath it.
“By the Aether…” Val muttered.
The room didn’t move. Not at first. Not entirely. But that’s when we saw them. Dozens, if not hundreds, of figures loomed in the distance.
Undead hung in carved alcoves, like decorative statues in a warped cathedral. Their eyes were closed, and their bodies still. None of us mistook them for dead.
“Sleeping,” Eshlyn breathed.
Val took a defensive stance, blades out. “This place is a hive.”
Eshlyn broke away to step forward before carefully pulling a glass vial from her satchel. “This is it,” she muttered. “This is the source… I have everything ready, I just need to test it…”
“Be careful," I whispered, eyeing the alcoves before moving in beside her.
I stood behind her, bow drawn like a sentry, scanning every inch of the room as she approached the base of the heart. Val followed loosely. The floor here pulsed strongly as ever, blood rippling beneath our feet in faint echoes.
Eshlyn carefully extracted some of the red liquid into a vial of solvent before sealing it tightly. As the substance mixed, the fluid shifted from crimson to a pale gold. The substance began to glow along the etched runes of the glass.
“It worked!” she exclaimed, voice trembling with awe. “We have the cure for Dent… and anyone else who might need it.”
Relief began to flicker in my chest, followed by triumphant joy as I hugged Eshlyn, both of us giddy with success.
We really did it! We got it!
Val stepped closer to the heart, eyeing it with undisguised disgust. “If this is what’s behind those undead and that parasite, then we should destroy it. Now. While we have the chance.”
Eshlyn looked up, panicked. “Wait! We don’t know what’ll happen…”
“If we leave it,” he cut her off, “then what’s happening to Dent could happen again. You said it was evolving. We don’t want it to spread to anyone else.”
Eshlyn retorted, “… but then we will have the cure, we can distribute it.”
I hesitated before chiming in. “He’s right.” I let slip with a timid voice, eyes still resting on the columns of undead, “…If we destroy the source,”
“...Then you destroy my future,” came a new voice. Calm and raspy.
We all turned at once, blades raised, and bow drawn as the figure stepped into the range of our lanterns, illuminating a bony structure fitted with living flesh and a long, familiar coat.
Durnan.
He didn’t look like the bartender anymore.
Gone was the slow, sleepy drawl and casual sarcasm. Greataxe in hand, his body shimmered faintly with necrotic energy. Bones pressed beneath his flesh like something inside him was trying to crawl out. His face still smiled, but his eyes were cold.
“Well done,” he said, clapping slowly. “No one’s ever made it this far. Not without turning back. Not without dying.”
“You knew about this place?” Val growled.
“I found this place,” Durnan corrected, smoothly stepping between us and the exit. “I tended to it. Preserved it. Cultivated it. And it has served me well.”
“You sent us here to die,” I said in realization, my voice sharp.
“So he could feed off your aether,” Eshlyn added in warning.
He didn’t deny it.
“Of course, I couldn’t tell you exactly where to look. It's best that you find it on your own...”
“But this isn’t even about you!” I interrupted, fire rising in my throat. “We came here to help my friend, not because you paid us!”
“Strange how that works out, isn’t it?” he retorted calmly. “Though it matters not.”
This conniving prick!
“I’m a noble!” Eshlyn voiced in a pretentious tone. “You think you can just kill us and no one will question it?”
“Oh come now…” Durnan retorted, “...ascenders disappear all the time. This floor, that floor, no one knows where you’ll go or when you'll be expected. You're kind are ghosts more than mine.”
He’s right, anyone looking for us will just assume we went onto the next floor, and it's not like they could prove otherwise.
He continued by gesturing to the room we just came from. “This is far from my first time, girl. Though I don't usually have to lift more than a finger.”
“I’m only stepping in now because I need that heart to continue beating, and you’re spent. You don’t stand a chance against me. If you give up, accept you have been given the rare opportunity to be useful, I will give you a painless death.”
Eshlyn's voice was low and shaking. “I see now …you’re trying to come back.”
“Oh, I deserve to come back.” His voice sharpened. “I earned my glory in life. I died a warrior! A hero! I’m not like you... children, fumbling through the tower, hoping for meaning. I’ve ascended to floors you couldn’t dream of! ...and I will have my life back.”
Val stepped forward. “Try us and you’ll rot like the rest.”
Durnan sighed. “I had hoped to spare myself the trouble, but it seems I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.”
He lifted a hand. Black aether ignited across his axe, flaring like liquid shadow.
Silence struck. A silence before the storm.
Durnan moved first.
He was fast, inhumanly fast.
The skeletal barkeep launched himself at Val with terrifying force, his enormous greataxe arcing down in a brutal swing. Val barely got his blades up in time to deflect it, metal sparking as the blow sent him stumbling back.
“I’ll make this quick,” Durnan growled, voice thick with venom. “You three are just another sacrifice.”
“Shut your rancid mouth, you sack of spoiled meat!” Val gritted his teeth, meeting the next swing with a side parry. Durnan swung with unrelenting force, each one would leave Val off balance, even when he’d met the strike with his own.
Shooting over Val’s shoulder, I loosed an arrow straight into Durnan’s, but it bounced off the rigid bone.
I loosed another one, striking Durnan in a patch of flesh. He didn’t flinch, only offering a small wince in confirmation of a solid hit.
“Aim for the flesh!” I called out to Val.
“I’m a little busy!” He called back.
Then Durnan lunged again, greataxe crashing toward Val, throwing him practically onto the ground with force.
“Remy, keep firing!” Val shouted through clenched teeth.
I let another arrow fly. It thudded into a patch of living shoulder, but still, he didn’t stagger, didn’t slow. He fought like a well-trained warrior, like he couldn’t feel pain or fear, like nothing could even scratch him.
The fight waged as Durnan forced Val slowly toward the pulsing heart. Each strike from the great axe sent shockwaves through the floor. I kept loosing arrows, aiming for fleshy spots, knees, shoulders, wrists. Every successful hit slowed him, but every strike was near-death for Val.
Then, it happened.
Durnan feinted left, caught Val off-guard, and slammed the sharp, hulking axe into his side. Val flew back at the impact, skidding across the blood-slick stone. Bright-red color quickly drenched the padding beneath his armor.
He didn’t get up.
“Val!” I screamed, heart catching fire as I sprinted toward him.
Durnan’s axe came down in a brutal arc without hesitation.
A translucent wall of shimmering aether slammed into place between them, just in time. The blow struck it with a deafening crack, but the barrier held.
I watched as Eshlyn’s hand came down, clutching her stomach as blood burst from her lips. She collapsed to her knees, trembling from the effort. She had saved him despite the strain.
“Aether-Strain can be brutal… You’ll just about kill yourself that way, but judging from the state of you, I doubt you’ll interfere again.” Durnan taunted.
Please be alive! Please Val! I thought.
I sprinted into place like lightning, sliding in between Durnan and Val just as he lifted to deliver another strike. I caught it with crossed blades. The impact sent a shockwave through my arms, jarring my teeth and nearly dropping me to my knees, but I held on.
It’s only me now. I can’t go down like this. I have to win! I have to!
Durnan loomed over me, like my efforts were an insult. His expression twisted with undead rage and disgust. “You’re a stubborn little maggot!” He snarled, raising the axe.
He swung again, and I blocked just the same. I could have sworn my arms would buckle at any moment, but it was all I could do to defend.
Each impact sends me reeling. How’d he get so strong!
He grunted but didn’t stop. Blow after blow rained down on me.
If I run, or dodge, he’ll just go for Eshlyn… or Val.
The result was inevitable. In the end, my arms began to fall, adrenaline could keep my muscles taunt no longer. I looked up at Durnan for what I thought would be the last time. Then I heard it.
Behind me, Val let out a roar loud enough to fill the vast space, loud enough to stop Durnan’s relentless pursuit, if not just for a moment.
He’s still alive! I thought.
Val dragged himself upright with one sword still clenched in his hand. Before Durnan could respond, Val drove his blade into the heart, before pulling it down and swiftly out again. Red blood poured, practically flooding the place with an inch of red goo. The screech and shockwave that followed were straight out of a nightmare.
“What have you done!?” Durnan screamed in response.
“You should have finished the job, asshole,” Val said in a weak voice while holding his side, clutching one of Eshlyn’s empty potion bottles.
A pulse tore through the tomb, a shockwave of aether and death that threw us off our feet as the chamber shook. The fleshy walls convulsed, veins bulging, twitching like the body of something awakening. The heart seized, as if desperately clinging to whatever life it had.
And then… silence.
Just for a breath before the whole tomb awoke.
They moved from every crevice, every crack in the walls and ceiling.
The dormant undead, hundreds of them, shuddered, then dropped from their alcoves like rotten fruit.
Holy hell!
“We have to go!” I shouted, racing toward Eshlyn and Val.
Val staggered, one arm slung over my shoulder, the other over Eshlyn’s. We ran, lungs burning, hearts racing, the undead awakening around us like the very tide of death.
Durnan stood in place. A grin slid across his face. “You’ve only sealed your fate. The dead don't bother me here. I am one of them!”
We were at the edge of the chamber when the first one launched for Durnan. He cut it down with a single swing, cleaving through bone like paper. “What the hell!?” he yelled, but more came. A tide of undead corpses, claws scraping stone, jaws snapping. He cut them down one at a time.
“What is happening?” He faced the heart in disbelief. “...You would betray me after all I've done for you!?”
He slashed another corpse before turning toward us. Val was still slung over my shoulders. Durnan’s face twisted with fury. “YOU! You did this!”
Then the horde was on him.
Durnan vanished beneath claws and fangs, the echo of his scream strangled by the mass of undead crashing through the chamber.
You were never one of them. I thought to myself. You were just a tool to be discarded when it was done with you.
The tomb was no longer asleep.
And we were no longer welcome.
                                         ...
The sound behind us was a roar of death. We had gotten what we came for, and now it was an all-out sprint for the exit, but the walls weren't the only thing between us and the air outside.
We tore back through the twisted hallways we’d come from, the pulsing walls now spasming with erratic energy. The veins of the tomb shook with fury, the walls cracked, and the tunnels screeched. Every root, every artery-like cord, twitched as though the entire catacomb was rushing towards us, its invaders.
We were all running on fumes, injured, exhausted, and none of the corridors ahead were empty. Stragglers lunged toward us at each turn. Undead that lay dormant on our way in, now answering the call of the source. We couldn’t slow down to face them properly. We had to keep running, only handling the ones who would block our exit.
One broke from the right wall, stepping between us and the door, half its body fused with the fleshy tendrils, goo dripping from its broken jaw.
Val was still deeply injured but slowly began gathering his bearings. I could tell the potion he drank was working well, but they weren't miracles. Despite the injury, he took the lead again, moving in to drop it with a sword through its neck without breaking stride.
Another fell from the ceiling just ahead, mouth snapping. I loosed an arrow through its skull, yanking another from my dwindling supply without stopping to breathe.
“Keep going!” I shouted, practically shoving Eshlyn forward with me. Her legs were dragging, the aether-strain clearly still taking its toll. I won't let you fall behind. I thought while pushing at the low of her back, guiding her forward as Val covered the front. I could tell she was leaning with my stride, my weight being the only thing keeping her from falling.
We rounded the corner where the ascenders once lay. Each of them, now attempting to break free from the wall or ground.
Thank the aether, most of them are stuck in place. I thought when we set our sights on the archway.
Another greatsword brute stood in the opening, right in our path. It was half-alive, twitching with unnatural jerks. It turned with its one free arm, swinging as we rapidly approached, sword smacking against Val’s blade as he blocked mid-stride.
Val rammed it into the wall with a full-bodied charge, shoulder to chest. The impact cracked the bone and knocked it down. It still twitched violently from the ground, reaching. We only needed a clear path, so we kept moving, not daring to look back.
We hit the next chamber, but others now filtered in from the side passages, drawn by the streik of the broken heart. They turned quickly when we entered, charging from the front.
Eshlyn tried to cast, but I stopped her with a yell, “I’ve got it!”
I drew and loosed in one breath, the arrow slamming through the undead’s mouth with a crack. It dropped to the ground, still dragging itself forward until I stomped on its skull in passing.
Val took the second undead, more pushing with his blade than cutting, a wide arced slice, shoved it against the adjacent wall. We didn't slow, quickly moving past before it could recover.
The air became thinner as we pushed on in an adrenaline-induced sprint. The growing cries of the undead became clearer and closer behind us. I could feel their presence closing in.
And then, finally, the thin light from the stairwell came into view like a sunlit messiah.
We’re going to make it!
Behind us, the sound of the swarm grew louder. Not just screeches now, I could hear every wet footstep and scrape of claws. Their cries mixed into an ongoing groan that echoed like the end of the world.
That’s when I made the mistake of looking back. There were hundreds of corpses pouring through the tunnels we had been in moments before. They were crawling across the ceiling, walls, and floor, stepping over each other like a tide of decay.
They’re faster than us!
We ran, all three of us now in full sprint. We ran like there was nothing left for us but the sound of boots slamming against stone, the ragged wheeze of breath, and the terrible, growing screech behind us.
Just a little farther!
We hit the final stretch and saw it, the giant wooden door at the base of the spiral. The one we had opened hours ago. Only now, it was our last hope.
They would catch us on the stairs… there’s no way we’d get out in time.
“The door! Now!” I screamed out, directing the group.
Val turned and threw his weight into it the moment we burst through, slamming it shut with a bone-rattling boom that echoed up the entire stairwell. Eshlyn and I followed suit beside Val, bracing against the door with all our might. Not more than half a second later, a thud cracked against the other side. The door splintered, but held.
Then another… and another… and another.
The undead were pushing viciously against the frame and clawing their way into the wood. They were relentless.
“HOLD!” I yelled in desperation.
“We can’t hold this forever!” Eshlyn spat between breaths.
I screamed in effort, “The doors are going to break!”
“No,” Val said, his voice low. “Someone has to stay.”
I practically froze. “What?”
He didn’t look at me, but I saw the glaze in his icy eyes. “The moment this door goes, they’ll flood out. All of them… someone has to hold it.”
“Bullshit!” I snapped. “We all get out. Together! That's what we said!”
“Don’t be stupid!” he growled. “I’m the only one strong enough to keep it shut! You two can still make it, so go!”
“Just shut the hell up!” I said at the top of my lungs. “You’re not dying for me!”
“I owe you!” he shouted back, finally turning to face me. “You saved me from the Guild. Don’t you get it, Remy? I’m not letting you die in this hole!”
A lump formed in my throat.
“And what?” I stared back at him. “You think I’m just going to leave you here?”
His voice cracked. “I've never met anyone like you… Don't die here, Remy.”
Another crash struck the door. The wood splintered further, showering us in dry fragments.
Sorrow pitted my gut as tears began to form, “I've never been anything but mean to you.”
“I know…” he said, a guilty smile crossing his face. “...but you’re also kind… and honest, and reckless, and loyal to a fault.”
He swallowed, eyes shimmering. “You never shut up when you’re scared, and you always put yourself last, even when you shouldn’t. You’re brave in ways that piss me off and I love it.”
I couldn't stop the tears dripping from my eyes. “Don’t you say that to me right now… Don't you dare say that shit to me right now, you're not dying!”
He looked at me as if for the last time. “Get them out of here, Eshlyn, just go! Please.”
“I’m not leaving you!” I snapped, voice breaking. “So don’t even try.”
Another jolt slammed into the door, sending the top hinge falling to the dirt beside us.
He grabbed the handle, bracing against the frame. “You have to go, Remy! This is my call. I am choosing this!”
“NO!” I shouted back at him, “I’m the one who promised to come back with a cure. I’m the one who brought you into this mess… I. Am not. Leaving you. So just GO.”
Val’s face twisted in rage and something deeper. “I don’t have anyone waiting for me! I was never going to have a happy ending, Remy. You do. So take it.”
“You think I care about that?” I shoved him, weakly, stupidly. “I am not losing you! Not like this!”
He reached for me, not to hit, but to hold. His grip tightened around my shoulders in a weak embrace. “You kept your promise. Dent’s gonna live. You did it. Now let me make sure it meant something.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks, fast and hot. “You don’t get to decide that for me…”
His voice cracked again, low and shaking. “Remy, please… don’t make me watch you die too.”
I saw it, his resolve, breaking under the weight of everything. Mine was already shattered.
We were both crying now. Both trembling. Both begging the other to just leave.
The top of the door now had multiple holes allowing dead hands to force their way through.
Eshlyn turned, voice cold. “Enough! We are all going to die if we don't run, now!”
We both looked at her. Her face was pale, streaked with sweat and blood, but her eyes were fire.
“If you two keep this up, we’re all going to die.” She repeated with the voice of pure despair.
“But… ” I started.
The door cracked again.
“There’s no time!” she snapped, louder than either of us. “Val, you’re the only one strong enough to carry Remy. Remy, you’re the only one stubborn and stupid enough to stay here with either of us. This door is going to break apart any second… which means… I’m the only one who can buy you enough time to escape.”
Her voice shook, but she didn’t back down. “I’ll hold them off with whatever aether I can muster, but one of you has to make it out with the cure.”
“No,” I whispered.
She pressed the vial into my satchel.
WHAT?
“I’m buying you time,” she said.
“You're just as dimwitted as Val if you think I’m leaving you!” I cried.
“You have to,” she leaned into me with those big emerald eyes. “I won’t let everything we’ve done here be for nothing.”
And then the door splintered into pieces.
Eshlyn’s last barrier glowed to life, slamming against the broken door just as it began to open. Blood poured from her instantly, her whole body shuddering.
“Val,” she whispered, “Get Remy out of here.”
I froze, but before I knew it, my feet were no longer on the ground. I felt Val’s strong arms lift me under his arm as he sprinted up the stairs. He already dashed through ten steps before I realized what was happening.
“No!” I screamed, kicking, punching, anything to break free from this grip that would tear my heart in two. “Put me down!”
“ESHLYN!” I cried out.
I hit, scraped, and clawed at his back, desperately trying to fight him, but he threw me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.
“Don't do this!” I screamed again.
“...I’m sorry…” Val responded in a low whisper.
Before I knew it, we were halfway up the stairs. I could only watch as Eshlyn’s voice echoed behind us, the horde shrieking like a tidal wave crashing against her.
I twisted in Val’s grip, just in time to see the barrier falter.
Eshlyn dropped to her knees.
The door burst open.
They came for her.
“NO!” I screamed as the time around me seemed to stretch into an eternity.
I remembered the first time we met, how she looked at me in those rags. The way she scoffed at my teases, rolling her eyes like I wasn’t worth the breath it took to scold me.
I remembered how pink her cheeks were when we woke up tangled in my bedroll. How her voice faltered when she smiled for real. I remembered that laugh. That hilarious snort she let out just this morning.
I remembered how she looked when she realized the sample worked. It was pure joy, like she’d just saved the world.
And now she was going to die.
No. Not her. Not now. Not like this.
I roared out, pushing all my will into the aether, into that stupid trick I learned as a child. I knew it made no sense, but it was all I had left.
I imagined that translucent hand that could grab whatever I needed. I imagined it big enough to grab her. Strong enough to rip her away from that ugly fate that was so unfitting. A hand that could slingshot her to me like I so badly wished. I raised my own shaking hand over Val’s shoulder, visualizing her, calling her, willing her to live with everything I had.
Then I felt it.
Blood filled my mouth. Black dots swarmed in my vision. Numbness radiated through my limbs before, finally, there was nothing but darkness and silence.