We continue in the previous formation deeper into this tomb. I feel a prickling on my spine, like something is crawling over my grave.

Suddenly, the corridor goes dark as pitch.

Rishya yelps and leaps backward, falling into my embrace.

"Kyaa! The light is!" She shouts.

I wonder for a moment if this is a weird scheme, as she was the one providing the light in the first place.

"Oho? What a staggering quantity of Void spirits ahead. They have choked out your light, healer girl."

I see.

Kiku relights her torch, but what starts as a blaze appears to struggle, and it quickly becomes dim embers. Kiku looks annoyed.

"Even the fire spirits, who love to burn things, are being supressed." Seria adds.

Rishya appears to realise she is shaking in my grasp, and with a sharp intake of breath, she elbows me in the stomach and leaps off.

"G-get off!" She exclaims.

I bend like a '>' and wheeze from the sudden assault.

"Y-you were the one who leapt back. Should I have not caught you?" I cough as I retort.

"S-s-shut up! Hmmph!" She puffs as her chest jiggles. So damn tsundere. Aria snickers.

We proceed tentatively into the area that is supposedly rich in void spirits. We must be some way underground by now as we enter into a huge vaulted chamber. The torch, which was previously just embers anyway, splutters and dies entirely.

It's interesting that fire spirits must be present for things to continue to burn. Does the fire attract them, or do they start the fire? Why do Earth-knowledge explosives work anyway? How are spirits and combustion reactions related? There are alot of confusing things I don't understand about spirits.

Nevertheless, we are not thrust into darkness. In the centre of the vaulted room is a blazing pyre of purple flames, which illuminates the vaulted room in cascading waves of eerie violet light.

The room itself reminds me of something straight from a grim-dark souls-like game. Large stone edifices, that appear to be oversized thrones, perch on raised ledges overlooking the main concourse and the flames. Skeletons are crowded in piles around these macabre seats. Going by standard protocol, I expect at least some of them to come to life.

It is, overall, an impressive sight to behold, like much of the gloomy architecture of this place. Seria said something about it being constructed as a containment for a crux of death following a large scale battle in this place. You can clearly tell the effort put into it. I've always found it pretty weird that so much effort can be spent by humans glorifying death, like with the pyramids on earth for example, and this is not dissimilar.

But I guess, if you look at history, it is really just boils down to a record of people dying in increasingly impressive ways, right?

Our formation accumulates around the purple blaze.

"Necrofire, is it? This is doubtlessly one of the cruxes of death. This is how the undead rise. We should be cautious." Seria says.

"I have not been witness to this prior. It feels... discomforting, yes." Kaede muses.

"I wonder why you would make a place like this. Why encourage the Void spirits to gather and make undead?" I wonder aloud.

"Um... I don't think it works like that, Elijah." Kiku retorts.

"Hmmph! Do you know nothing? It is the other way around. We build tombs when the Void spirits gather. They are slow moving, so if they gather like this, they are contained and prevented from causing their mischief in cities." Rishya lectures.

"I see. I guess that is sensible." I nod.

It is like herding them. I keep forgetting that people in this world really do treat spirits and monsters as natural occurrences to just be dealt with.

Doesn't this also answer my question about fire spirits? They can cause spontaneous combustion via magic, but are not actually required to set ablaze. Surely it must work like that, right?

Before I can ponder much more, though, the purple necrofire flares majestically.

With a clatter, a huge skeleton, at least eight foot tall and clad in chainmail, steps out of the fire. It raises a halberd menacingly.

Looks like we have another fight!