A black claw thrashed out, raking Leo’s shoulder, gashing a hole in his gambeson armor. He dodged the next blow, liberating Ice from its scabbard and darting forward to rescue Ragnar.

Two obsidian arms were strangling him, their freakish fourteen-fingered hands compressing his larynx.

Leo brought his blade to bear on them, but the unenchanted steel skittered off them like metal on stone. He withdrew Wraith with his left hand — his dominant hand — and delivered a furious storm of blows, hacking at it with utmost force. But it with met the same effect; the blows glanced off the obsidian wall-arms harmlessly.

Life was bleeding out of Ragnar’s eyes, the light fading.

Meanwhile, the walls were compressing inward, and a snake-like form was attempting to bind Dinella’s ankles. She tripped forward, and Enzo helped pull her free before it could claim her.

“Run!” yelled Cosimo. “We have to get out of here!”

“Not yet,” said Leo, and he sheathed Wraith and tried Whisper, the legendary sword which had never before failed him. The mercurial sword was almost omnipotent — when it was keening, anyway. But now it was not keening. He had never before used the blade when it wasn’t keening.

Before he could try it, a thick chitinous appendage swept at his knees, knocking his feet out from under him. He toppled to the floor, amazed that his tibia didn't shatter.

“It’s too late for Ragnar!” Enzo said, pulling his friend. “Come on!”

For a moment, it seemed like Leo would not obey. But the onyx wall had strangled the life out of Ragnar; there was no one to save.

Gathering his weapons, he sprinted forward with Enzo, joining the rest.

When they had reached an area of relative safety, they slowed to a halt.

“As ever, the Oracle’s warning proved prescient,” Dinella said, panting. “We should have heeded his counsel.”

“I don’t need the fucking Oracle to advise caution in a bloody Ilhen deathtrap. Speaking of Oracles and Divination, where is that crystal ball of yours? Can you not foresee these perils in advance?”

“No,” she said. “Not in this dim light. I can scarce see my own hands.”

“Me neither,” said Gianna. “How are we supposed to avoid boobytraps if we can barely see where we’re walking?”

“We need to be methodical,” Leo said, striding forward. “Keep silent, walk single file. Be on alert for any strange sights, sounds, smells. I’ll take the lead. Enzo, you take the rear.”

And so they continued in that fashion. In the next passageway, the walls were flat and rocky. Blood dribbled from some of the crevices, and a steady thump-thump thump-thump sounded from within. It was like a heartbeat, like the temple itself was a living creature.

Cautiously, they proceeded forward, and eventually came to a fork.

To the left, a heap of bones was topped with a red skull. To the right, voices could be heard, whispering indistinctly. Both options made Enzo feel queasy. In the end, they opted for the passage on the right.

It led to a broad octagonal room with doors on each side, eight in all including the one from which they had entered. A dead ogre lay prone on the floor. Torches on the wall shed ample light. The sudden brightness made their eyes hurt.

No sooner had they entered than they heard the voice again, the voice that spoke directly in their minds.

Well done. Your party survived intact… Almost intact. He cackled.

This room marks a crucial junction. Seven doors, seven options. Retreat is forbidden. Five doors lead to certain death. The other two offer advancement. One clue awaits discovery. You have sixty seconds.

Again Enzo heard the heartbeat-like thump-thump, this time even louder, as though it were ticking off the seconds.

Enzo darted around the room, seeking any hint or clue. Leo and Gianna did the same.

“Look!” said Gianna. “There’s something under him.” Trapped under the ogre’s belly was a crimson tapestry. A geometric code seemed to be printed on it.

Together, Gianna and Leo tried to lift him, but the damned beast must have weighed about thirty stone. With their combined efforts, they could barely lift his hand.

“We don’t have time for this,” Cosimo said. “Dinella — use your crystal ball. There’s light enough to see by. What can you divine about the seven doors?”

Sighing, Dinella produced her crystal ball and held it up to the first door.

“Not this one…” She turned to the next. “A cruel fate lies beyond this door — venomous asps and poisoned slime.”

She turned to the third door. “Not this…” her voice trailed off. She placed a hand on the door, her gaze still fixed on the swirling contents of her crystal ball.

“Beyond this door… beyond I see light. Darkness and peril, yet light prevails at its terminus. Yes, this is the way. And beyond that, I see… I see…” She turned the handle and pushed the door open just a hair. The thump-thump abruptly stopped.

“You see what?” Cosimo practically screamed at her.

“Oh, Bael above,” she wailed, as though all hope had suddenly fled her.

“What? What is it?”

“Him.”

“Who?” said Leo. “What are you talking about?”

“No no no,” she said, her voice quivering in terror, her arms spasming. “It’s a trap. We’ve been trapped.”

“Obviously,” said Cosimo. “We’re in Ilhen’s Seventh.”

“Not Ilhen’s Seventh. NOT Ilhen’s Seventh…” she dropped the crystal ball and it shattered. Her hands clutched at her temples.

“What the fuck are you on about?”

“Oh Bael it hurts,” she said, scratching at her temples, which were suddenly red and swollen. She pulled out clumps of hair. “It hurts it hurts. I can’t—”

The voice spoke again. You cheated. That was ill-conceived. I will not suffer intrusions on my privacy. Consider this a warning.

And then, Dinella’s head exploded. A jet of blood sprayed from her open neck in arterial bursts. Bone fragments pelted Enzo’s face. He could taste the salt of her blood on his lips.

Dinella’s headless form crumpled to the earth, blood still oozing in pulsing bursts from her carotid.

Gianna was crying. In five years of knowing her, Enzo had never seen Gianna cry.

“We have to go back,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You heard her — this is a trap. It’s not Ilhen’s Seventh.”

“I don’t give a fuck where we are at this point,” said Cosimo. “Like I said earlier, wherever we are, the only way out is through.”

“He’s right,” said Enzo. “Whatever infernal monster is speaking to us, he’s not going to let us go back. We have to proceed.”

Leo nodded, and wrapped a fatherly arm around Gianna’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” he murmured to her. “We’ve got Whisper. Whisper will cut a damn hole in the wall if it has to…”

Wiping tears from her face, Gianna joined them as they pressed forward, leaving the light and entering another passage that dark and dank.

Enzo still had his globe, but the darkness was slowly eating it. It was small and anemic and sickly, offering feeble light. It would not long endure. Enzo could scarcely see his feet, or what he was walking on. Each step made a wet squelching sound. Enzo had the uneasy sense that the floor was littered with limbs and intestines, eyeballs and genitals.

He was relieved when they emerged on a broad chamber. It had stone walls and a ceiling over one hundred feet high. A luminous orange door waited at its far end, shedding a bit of light on the environs. Bodies littered the floor, many decayed and mutilated, their limbs hacked off. Enzo spied several Diji shields and sigils among the carnage. The stench was putrid.

The voice spoke. My final test. Only one may pass; the rest must perish.

Pale wisps of smoke rose up from the bodies, coalescing into spectres. Then there were also dark shadows which materialized into vaguely human shapes with faceless heads and muscled forms.

One of the spectres came on Enzo in a flash, raking at his shoulder, leaving a deep crimson gouge. He leapt back, drawing Poke, his seldom-used enchanted dagger. Spectres were incorporeal and thus invincible to common steel, but was enchanted and could deal damage to anything living or dead. When it came at him again, he slashed at its wispy arms. It hissed and retreated.

“To me!” Cosimo yelled, waving his own sword. “Protect me! I command you!”

But Cosimo was already separated from the group. Leo, meanwhile, was wielding Wraith, cutting down spectres like wheat before a scythe. Gianna was ably fending off two shadows with Poinsettia, but she did not see that a third was approaching her from the rear.

“Gianna — behind you!”

But before she could react the shadow had enveloped her, fully subsuming her into its own form, and slowly backing away. Her small hand reached out desperately. Enzo ran towards her.

“Leo!” he called. “I need—”

His words were knocked out of him when a shadow bowled into him. His dagger went flying out of his hands. The shadow raised its fists, ready to make a killing blow when Leo leapt forward, sinking Wraith into its belly. It instantly disintegrated into dust.

Enzo searched for Gianna. He caught one final glimpse of her small hand before it sank into the wall.

“Help me!” Cosimo screamed. “Leo — get this thing off me!”

A spectre had clamped itself onto Cosimo’s face. He was batting at it with his hands ineffectually. Before they could reach him, the spectre had burrowed itself into Cosimo’s throat. He doubled over, groaning in pain. His muscles spasmed, his back arched.

“Where’s Gianna?” said Leo, dispatching another shadow. There seemed to be no assailants left. “She was over there — there were shadows — “

“She’s gone,” said Enzo, more calmly than he felt. “A shadow…” he could not even speak the words.

“Gone? Gone where?” Leo looked around the room, as though perhaps Enzo was mistaken.

“A shadow… took her. She’s… she’s dead, Leo.”

He could see the anguish in Leo’s face, but to Leo’s credit he hid it well. Cosimo was now rolling on the floor, wailing in pain. He stretched a hand out to them.

“K-kill m-m-me,” he whimpered.

“Gladly,” said Leo with contempt. But before he raised his sword, Cosimo’s chest burst.

Something black and wet crawled from the open wound, using deformed embryonic tentacles to lever itself out of Cosimo’s chest, crunching rib bones as it did so. It was a shapeless wet tumor, perhaps a foot in diameter, but it was growing — expanding at an alarming rate. Soon it becane a monstrous, tentacled creature with multiple maws full of needle-like teeth. Corrosive black mucus rained down from it, quickly rendering Cosimo's corpse into a thin yellow gruel, wisps of smoke curling up from it.

Enzo and Leo backed off, running to the orange door. It was not far, but before they could reach it the voice spoke again.

Only one may pass. The rest must perish.

“You go,” Leo said, sliding to a halt. “I’ll find another way.”

“There's no other way, Leo. And the darkness is so, so — it’s palpable, Leo. I have no more Illumination scrolls.”

The globe had winked out of existence. The only remaining light came form the luminescent door.

“I don’t need one.” And he lifted Whisper from its scabbard — the blade was keening, emitting a bright silver light that effortlessly cleaved the darkness. “I’ll find another way — I’ll make another way if need be. Happy trails, Enzo. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Undaunted, Leo turned to face the sickening monstrosity that loomed over them. Still, the terror grew larger — forty feet, sixty feet tall, growing and growing. It raised one of its tentacles, preparing to crush Leo with a hammering fist.

Turning, Enzo took a deep breath and stepped into the glowing orange door.

A man waited for him on the other side.

A man he recognized.