We ventured down into darkness for what I hoped was the last time. The glow of Soatas’s body illuminated the way for us, while the expansive root’s interior offered easy passage into the subterranean realm. While the task ahead was still daunting, I felt a little better about our chances. Soarister was clearly putting a considerable amount of his resources into this, which I doubted he’d do unless he thought we had a good chance of success.

The root curved back in on itself like a spiral staircase, allowing for a speedy descent. After walking for about thirty minutes, the wooden passage terminated in a hollow stone chamber deep below the ground. Low sounds echoed through the space around us. They were too quiet to make out, but I kept my sword close. It probably wouldn’t be long before we encountered the Ortisfel’s minions.

Soatas was starting off down one of the passages when Elmidath called out for him to wait. Without his body shifting, his head spun around to face her.

“Make it quick.”

“Aren’t any more of Soarister’s servants joining us? Just the three of us won’t be enough to get anywhere.”

“I am Soarister’s avatar in this realm, I am enough.”

Point made, his head faced forward once more and Soatas resumed his march into darkness. If what he said was true, I certainly didn’t want to be left behind and so I hurried after him, with Elmidath following a moment later.

Apparently unsatisfied with his response, Elmidath gave voice to her frustrations within my mind. “Do you believe any of that?”

“It does sound a little unbelievable, but why else would Soarister have sent him if he weren’t capable of doing this?”

“Maybe he made a deal with the Ortisfel and this is just a way to lure us to our deaths.”

“Okay, now you’re just being paranoid. They would’ve killed us a long time ago if they were going to do that, why would they bother bringing us all the way down here?”

“Obviously I wasn’t being serious.”

She’d sounded at least somewhat serious, but I was willing to let it slide. Walking into the Ortisfel’s centre of power certainly didn’t instil confidence in one’s decision making. Despite knowing how important what we were doing was, part of me wondered what the hell we were thinking. Maybe Yuriel’s allegations had been right on the mark and we’d deceived not only her, but ourselves about the gravity of this threat. Strangely my doubts did little to bother me, in a way I was reassured that they weren’t stronger.

With his head held back and his limbs poised for action, Soatas radiated confidence, and well, light. Wiping away the darkness with bright green certainly helped to reduce the menace of this place, though there was no ignoring that the Ortisfel awaited us somewhere ahead. It was all largely out of our hands now, either Soarister would prove their match or we’d all be lost to darkness down here. Despite our previous close escapes, I had no doubts we wouldn’t be walking away from this one if things went awry.

Trying not to frighten myself unnecessarily with idle thoughts, I focused on what I could actually see. The stone walls around us were smooth but for the ever-present spikes that marked the Ortisfel’s presence. Though Soatas glowed almost painfully bright, even he could only illuminate perhaps a dozen paces ahead. The shadows receded only begrudgingly before the light, as if they had a will of their own.

I caught a few flickers of what I thought was movement ahead, but when Soatas advanced there was nothing there. Had it been a trick of the mind or a trick of our foes? I almost hoped it was the latter, I really didn’t need to be seeing things right now. There were more than enough things to frighten me down here without my mind adding to that.

Following some path that only he knew, Soatas strode unerringly through the many forks in the path and I gave up on trying to keep track of how we’d gotten here. I hoped Soatas remembered the way back, because I sure didn’t and the idea of defeating the Ortisfel only to be lost down here for the rest of my days was rather unappealing.

Soatas disappeared from view ahead and I froze as everything went dark. Only after a moment’s panic did I realize green was still emanating from below and he’d simply dropped down into a shaft. Hurrying over to it, I looked down to see Soatas at the bottom of a relatively short drop. He was already striding off, forcing Elmidath and I to scramble down after him.

We landed and found Soatas locked in combat with a small group of Tertium emerging from the tunnel ahead. Before we could even reach him to help, Soarister’s servant had already overcome them in a perfectly orchestrated flurry of limbs. His club arm caved in the skull of the last foe and then he was walking again, as if nothing had happened. None of the foul creature’s blood clung to his glowing green flesh, though it stained the ground all around him.

While the Tertium were far from the Ortisfel’s most dangerous minions, Soatas’s casual destruction of them reaffirmed his bold statement. I eyed the Tertium cautiously as I passed in case any of them still lived, but there wasn’t so much as a twitch from the corpses littering the tunnel and they were soon lost from sight when we turned the next corner.

Soatas had stopped just ahead and as we drew closer; we saw what had halted his progress. The path ended in a sheer drop, of which the light revealed only empty space. Soatas held his hand out over the edge and a sliver of green floated down. Standing a little behind him, I watched it sail through the darkness for some time until it was no more than a tiny speck. Only then did it finally reach the bottom. The moment it did so, Soatas stepped off the edge and plunged into darkness.

Elmidath turned to me as the light faded. “Wait here, I’ll fly down after him and let you know when I’m there.”

I caught a flash of her winging her way down, before she too was lost to darkness. Blind and alone, I carefully took several steps back from the edge and clutched my sword. Focusing on the sounds around me, I listened to Elmidath’s wingbeats echoing back to me before they faded away, leaving only the sound of my breathing.

Keenly aware of my heartbeat, I reminded myself to keep calm. Panicking here in the dark was an excellent way to get myself killed. Minutes, or maybe only seconds, passed and Elmidath still hadn’t signalled me. I was considering asking her how she was going, if only to remind me that I wasn’t alone, when I heard something and my body went rigid.

It was a faint sound, just on the cusp of hearing, to the point where I wasn’t certain if it was real or simply a trick of the mind. I listened out for it, but it didn’t come again and I relaxed. Whatever it was, assuming it was anything, had nothing to do with me. Chiding myself for overreacting to something so minor, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. While closing my eyes didn’t technically accomplish much in the dark, it still helped me focus.

There probably wasn’t much for me to worry about, the Ortisfel would surely focus their efforts of Soatas, given that he was the much larger threat. Or if not him, then Elmidath who was carrying the crystal. I was beneath their notice and that was assuming they’d truly noticed us at all. The Ortisfel’s awareness was quite unlike our own and this surprise assault on their lair must have been entirely unexpected. Now that I was thinking about it rationally, I didn’t have much to fear.

The sound came again, louder this time, and shattered my illusions. It spoke of something hard scraping across stone, bringing all the creatures of the Ortisfel we’d encountered to the forefront of my mind. Facing back the way we’d come, I held my sword in front of me, point forward as a threat to whatever may emerge. Not that I harboured much faith in my ability to fight whatever it was without light to guide me.

From what I could recall of the tunnel, it wasn’t all that wide which at least ruled out the Ortisfel’s largest creatures. Unless, of course, it was capable of shifting its body to fit through gaps. I recalled the lethal mass of blades that had nearly cut its way through Yurielius in the early days of our vigil. If something like that came after me, I’d be better off teleporting to Elmidath and taking my chances with the fall.

The scraping grew louder, and, far more concerning, it went on and on like something was dragging itself

toward me. Using my blade, I felt out the surrounding area, attempting to form a mental map of its dimensions so that I might know how best to fight within it.

Unfortunately, it did little to help me regain my bearings, I wasn’t even sure which way was which. I was fairly sure I was facing where the sound was coming from, but I had no idea if that was towards the edge or not. For all I knew, taking a few steps back would send me plummeting into the abyss.

Whatever came, I’d simply have to stand my ground and wait for Elmidath. Desperate to know how close she was to the bottom, I reached out to Elmidath.

“Are you almost there?”

There was a pause, followed by Elmidath’s frantic voice. “Can’t talk.”

Nothing more followed; Elmidath and possibly Soatas must have run into trouble of their own. Could what I was hearing somehow be part of their struggle? But no, the direction was completely wrong. Whatever was approaching me, and it was certainly approaching, was in the same tunnel as me.

It seemed like Elmidath might still be a while, but that was fine, right? I could handle myself here for a while longer, it’s not like I was actually under attack. At least not yet. Thinking of it in positive terms helped stave off the dread the continued scraping brought, right up until the smell hit me. The fetid odour spoke of rotting flesh and worse in great quantities.

Unpleasant an aroma as it was, the implications behind it were worse still. It confirmed the loathsome nature of the approaching creature as well its unfamiliarity. Grabbling with Tertium in the dark was hardly appealing, but at least I knew more or less what to expect from them. The terror of the unknown was another thing entirely.

Hands shaking, I almost wished whatever it was would just reach me already, the waiting was surely more frightening than the beast. I’d spent more than enough time fighting in this world to know that once I was in the thick of it, my fear would feel like a distant memory.

Unconcerned by my wishes, the creature or perhaps creatures, continued their steady advance. Sweat trickled down my sides, like ice against my skin, though the discomfort was almost beneath my notice. All my focus was directed forward, trying to detect the very moment I was within striking distance. I’d need to strike hard and fast to stand a chance of winning, so hopefully my reach was greater than theirs.

Scrape, scrape, scrape; it went on and on, while I remained as motionless as possible. There was a chance it hadn’t noticed me and it was simply following our trail or answering some call of the Ortisfel. If that was the case, there was no sense giving myself away if I could avoid it. Gritting my teeth, I managed to will the tremors away and hold my sword steady.

Scrape, scrape, scrape, it was almost on top of me now. The overwhelming odour made my eyes water, to the point where I would have been blinded even if not for the darkness around me. Holding my breath, I prepared to strike. I waited as long as I could, trying to attack at the last possible moment. When I judged the creature to be only a few paces away, I lunged forward. My sword tip struck something softer and more pliable than flesh, penetrating all the way to the hilt.