The Underworld has many levels, and suffering is endless. They made me lord of this place, but I did not create it. Trapped here for countless ages, the only souls I can still hear are those who seek revenge. I grant them the opportunity. One day above as a ghost to exact their revenge. Those that succeed, I reward, and the soul they bring me I torture endlessly. A day will come when those that locked me here will suffer—endlessly.

~Arawn, God of the Dead

Afficiando of Revenge

Hours later, everyone had entered the clearing and circled the henge, minus those who tried to touch the crystallized trees—they remained as permanent reminders of what not to do. The Elder crossed over the ditch, each heading for a stone set equidistant apart about ten meters away from the outer ring. Everyone could see the symbols etched into the rocks, but Crow recognized it as a Rune immediately. He’d recently seen quite a few of them within the ciphers in the hidden library.

Elder Orla rose into the sky once more, facing toward the slope because it was where most people stood. She made a noise to get everyone’s attention, and the smaller conversations died off.

“Since some of you didn’t heed my warning last time, maybe this time you’ll pay attention,” She said, her impersonal voice was colder than the surrounding air. “Elders, clan heads, and the remaining council elders will now pass out tokens to each of the participants. Do not lose it, especially while in Foghar, because that is your way out. Foghar is the ancient name for this hidden world, but we also know it as the Land of Eternal Autumn. I will not expound on the dangers because your elders should have already done that. Once you get your token, put a drop of your blood onto it. A number will appear, and that is your team’s number. After we activate the formation, it will assess your team, and your token will change color. The oldest of the group will initially be your leader, but it’s your team, and we won’t interfere with its inner workings. Before you ask, no, you don’t have to find your team right now. Once you cross over, you’ll all appear together.”

“How do we win, elder?”

“Ah yes, since this is a team effort, every beast killed will grant you points depending on its rank. All the beasts will be of the Wood Tier, but you shouldn’t run across anything higher than rank three. Rank one is only ten points, rank two is a hundred, and rank three is a thousand—but I do not recommend fighting a rank three or higher. None of you are strong enough for that. There are high tier beasts deeper in—which leads me to another point. If you are in danger, crush your token. Do not hesitate. This will send you out of Foghar. Questions?”

“What are the prizes?”

“Prizes?" The Elder smiled. "First, we’ve recently developed a Bard in the art of Totems. She has recently reached the Earth Tier, and at her age, this is quite an accomplishment. Therefore, the Druid Council has decided that the top ten teams will all get a Totem. The council will pay for it. If you do not have a Heritage yet, you can instead have her design one for you.”

The crowd started murmuring. It was mildly extravagant, but reaching Earth Tier in any Scholarly Talent took time, practice, and research—it was also very costly. This kind of reward benefited the Totem’s expert more than the younger generation. Crow had Gavin and suspected the man was far beyond that tier, so he felt ambivalent about the reward. More than that, he saw Gavin’s grimace and knew that he was right.

“Quiet,” Elder Orla commanded. “The top three teams will also get to visit the sixth floor or the fourth sub-floor of the Triskelion Archives. Note, it’s one or the other, not both. You may stay there for up to ten days, and this reward expires within a year of receiving it. Those of you thinking this is an amazing opportunity, it is, but there are no vestiges on those floors. Only tomes, scrolls, books, and manuscripts. Some stone tablets, maybe. So you must read, and what you gain from that place is up to your own luck.”

The excited murmurs died down once they heard that, but Crow felt more excited about this than anything else so far. He’d wanted to visit the Triskelion Archives, and with his memory, it wouldn’t take much for him to take in a lot of the content.

“Crow,” Gavin said from right beside him, nearly causing Crow’s knees to give out in fright. “If you get that reward, you want the sub-floor. It is rarely offered, and the sixth floor can’t even compare to it.”

“This one understands,” Crow said, his curiosity reach an all-time high.

“Each third-place team member will get 200 gold and a Scourge Pill. Do not look down on this pill, as its effects are impressive.” The elder said, but several people moaned in complaint. Crow knew that it flushed out impurities in the flesh, organs, and bones, but it was terrifyingly painful. People that used the pill had an elder with a high-ranked Shield assist them. If it became too painful, the elder could flush the medicine out. “All of you complaining are only considering its side effect, but none of you realize that its benefits are by far greater than any other pill we are rewarding.”

“She isn’t wrong,” Gavin told Crow and the others. “The longer you can hold on and withstand the pain, the greater its effects.”

“Each second-place team member will get 500 gold and a choice between a Marrow Cleansing Pill or a Sunlight’s Essence Pill,” Elder Orla said, projecting her voice louder to be heard over the crowd. “And each first-place team member will get 1000 gold and both a Marrow Cleansing Pill and a Sunlight’s Essence Pill.”

The crowd’s murmuring had turned into exclaims of excitement and heated discussions over who would get first. Some discussion topics made Crow think that the number assigning wasn’t as random as he’d thought. Did they try to balance the teams?

Either way, the rewards were outstanding. The Marrow Cleansing Pill removed impurities from a person’s bones, causing them to condense and harden—it made them harder to break. Whereas the Sunlight’s Essence Pill helped accumulate mana faster while cleansing it. Its effects weren’t bad, but it was the lowest tier of that type of pill. It attracted all mana, even the low-level types, and couldn’t cleanse all of it. So it sped up cultivation, but before advancing, they needed extra time to further purify the Source. Overall, it saved much more time than it wasted, but they couldn’t afford to be negligent.

In Crow’s opinion, the best reward was the Triskelion Archives.

Crow took his token from Gavin, and the others did the same. After about an hour of scrambling, shouting, and elders calling out for people to raise their hands if they didn’t receive a token, everyone was nearly ready. Evening approached quickly by the time they were told to spill a drop of blood on the token.

The number ‘333’ appeared on Crow’s token, and he felt a sense of unease. Druids and Witches considered number three by itself to be good luck. But three sets of three was an omen, and the Witches believed in the Rule of Three. It was a concept related to karma, which he wasn’t sure he believed, but it was interesting when he thought about the bad things that happened to him. The Rule of Three introduced a concept of Fortune’s Reversal, which implied a person would suffer three sets of three incidents related to luck.

Luck could be bad or good, but not both. Should he have nine incidents of great fortune, he’d be cursed with bad karma until the day he died. However, if he suffered nine calamities, he’d have good karma until the day he died—another reversal was always possible but extremely rare. The person would have to do something so extreme that even fate would take notice.

Having three sets of three appear made him pause—was this a bad omen? A warning?

Gavin saw Crow looking muddle-headed and looked at his token, and his eyes widened slightly too.

“Advice?” Crow asked softly.

“It’s just a number…”

“We both know you don’t believe that.”

“Eyes in the back of your head, kid,” Gavin muttered finally after viewing all the numbers on the Maddox clan’s tokens. The Maddox cousins paired off, entering a larger team together, but not Crow. Something strange was going on here, and Gavin felt the sudden need to consult with Mugna.

“Yes, teacher.”

Hearing a strange chant, Crow looked up to see the elders had all reached out to touch their rune-etched stones. Nothing happened. At least not that Crow could see, but then a brilliant burst of light came from the Heart of the Mountain as the Celtic Knot Formation blazed itself into the souls of everyone present. Several lines of light spiraled outward from the formation until they reached the first ring of ice-covered wooden archways. Light crawled up those wooden structures, filling in the runic patterns hidden beneath the ice.

A suction sound boomed outward as hundreds of gateways formed. It happened simultaneously, making it sound like one boom instead of hundreds layered on top of each other.

Once more, the light spread in a spiral, going the opposite direction as it headed toward the center ring. Reaching the second set of archways, it crawled upward, and more runes glowed brightly. The process followed the same as before and then spread to the last ring of archways. After the portals opened, the lines tore straight across the open area to the stones the Druids used to activate the formation.

Crow noticed that as each stone lit up, there was a different rune on each. He didn’t know its significance, but when the stones started glowing, the elders stepped back, and the formation remained active. No one said a word for a long time, and he couldn’t stop staring at what he’d just witnessed. It was awe-inspiring.

“I can guarantee none of you have looked down to see the color of your tokens yet,” Elder Orla laughed. “Let me clarify before you do. Blue tokens head to the innermost ring, red goes to the middle ring, and plain wooden tokens to the outer ring. Blue is the most dangerous—prepare to fight. There might be rank-two beasts where you drop in. Red can also be hazardous, but there are usually only rank-one beasts where you drop in. As far as wooden tokens, you probably won’t see any beasts. You must venture deeper into the forest to find them.”

Crow looked at the blue token in his hand, and Aine gasped when she looked over. The rest of the Maddox clan all had wooden tokens.

“Fuck their mothers!” Gavin’s voice was loud enough that others heard, but he was angry and didn’t care.

“Teacher, I’ll be fine. If it comes down to it, I’ll just crush the token and leave. I’m confident in my ability to escape. I was born to the forest,” Crow tried to console him.

Gavin’s apoplectic face slowly reverted to normal, and he nodded. “Don’t worry, boy, there will be an accounting for this. Damned fools don’t know the fire they are playing with.”

“Is there a problem here?” One of the Druid Council Elder’s asked. Gavin had stopped lowering his voice and cursed a few more times, attracting attention to himself.

“You’ll know soon enough, you Rulaney dog.”

“You dare to disrespect a councilman?”

“I’ll do more than that if you don’t leave right now. Do you think I don’t dare finish what my nephew started? The Runaley clan has provoked a calamity—they just don’t know it yet. Run while you still have a chance at life.”

“Enough!” The Elder Orla’s voice boomed as she’d come over during their heated exchange. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I want this investigated,” Gavin pointed at Crow’s token. “I’ll involve Mugna if I have to. I will find out who was that the bottom of this. Anyone involved will die.”

The elder looked at the token in Crow’s hand, and even he was a little taken aback. The council had promised that no harm would come to the boy when Niall confronted them, and here the boy was holding a blue token. He was by far the youngest person at this trial, and everyone knew it.

“He threatened Rulan—”

“Shut up, Elder Ondo. Speak out of turn again, and I will remove you from the Druid Council. Do you even know who you are provoking? It is clear you do not, or you wouldn’t have uttered a single peep. Do you think you are more powerful than me? Not even I dare offend Elder Gavin, much less a weakling fool like you.”

Every word made Elder Ondo go paler and paler. He’d assumed that Conall was the most vital member of the Maddox clan, and after him—Niall. Never had he imagined that Gavin had even more clout and power.

“Brother Gavin, I will personally investigate. However, what is done cannot be undone. No one will fault the boy for crushing his token immediately.”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded all the same. He already knew that he couldn’t change what had happened, but everyone could feel the killing intent radiating off him. He looked towards Ondo, and his voice was colder than Crow had ever heard it.

“Worm, never leave the shelter of Father Oak—maybe a gift to mark the occasion.” Gavin struck out so casually that no one put it in their eye. Ondo’s thigh bone cracked before he collapsed. Even though Gavin’s Shield flared, no one could determine his level of power.

Crow knew that those who perpetrated this event were watching, and he hoped they were taking in long, cold breaths to quell the fear in their cowardly bellies. The Maddox clan was like this sleeping dragon, and the more they provoked it, the more the scheming clans realized that even in decline, the beast still had fangs.

“I got this, uncle,” Crow said and walked towards the center ring, no longer hesitating. Those old monsters could fight their battles, and he was going to fight his. He’d show those clowns he wasn’t afraid of their schemes—no… he was afraid. It’d be a lie to say otherwise, but he wouldn’t let that fear control him.

Stepping through the glowing wooden archway felt like sliding through the mud. The void swallowed Crow, pulling him along by force. If not for the pinpoints of light from distant stars, he’d have thought he died. It was unknown how long he’d been in this place. The feeling of moving was the only thing that allowed him to keep his awareness. Watching the prismatic light that suddenly surrounding him, he felt like something lurked beyond, waiting.

In Crow’s attempt to remember what he’d seen, clarity of thought dropped onto him, giving him the briefest moment of enlightenment.

“The Law of Space? Was that really the Truth I felt?” Crow muttered before disappearing and falling from a meter off the ground. His mind caught up in time before he hit the ground. His body twisted awkwardly, but he still landed on his feet.

“Finally, the sixth member is accounted for,” an obnoxious voice said behind him. He turned to see five people all staring at him.

“Knock it off, Aleg. You are just mad that you were the only one that fell on your face.” The only girl on the team greeted him. “Not sure how you ended up in this group, Crow, but welcome to Foghar.”