The bright blue light was whipped from Beth’s eyes as soon as she had passed into it. She could see three of her group a short distance ahead, but could not do anything about the speed she was falling. However, she wasn’t falling down.

She looked out across the expanse. She could see pinpricks of light littering the darkness, similar to the night sky. She spun as she fell and saw the rabbit and a guard follow her through the tear; the tear closing behind them.

A scattering of rock and dust was making it difficult to look out and take in the view, however she could see other things out there in the dark. Other beings; some her size, some smaller and a few much, much larger. She could see limbs with too many joints, flailing tentacles, but they were all too far away to make out anything specific.

Beth also saw… she had to squint to make sure she was seeing clearly. A ship. A pirate ship. Just sailing across the nothingness. She rubbed her eyes but when she looked again there was a large rock in the way, floating steadily past her. Then blue light engulfed her once more and she felt the pull of gravity from a different direction and she landed heavily on Iarkspur, rolling to the side to avoid being hit by the man in armor, promptly following her.

As the man fell and hit the stone floor, Jadon rose to his feet and swung a stray rock down, knocking the guard unconscious.

“What,” Jadon said looking at the others strewn on the floor, “it’s not like I killed him.”

“Where even are we?” Iarkspur said, rubbing her shoulder from Beth’s landing, rising to a sitting position. “It’s… warm?”

Beth looked up, standing too. They had been dumped in the center of an impossibly large chamber. Sunlight was streaming in through holes in the roof and high up the walls, showing up just how much dust filled the air.

Large pillars held up the roof, most of them still standing, forming two rows along the middle of the chamber. Two large stone doors stood at one end of the row of pillars and a slightly raised platform stood at the other.

“It looks, religious,” Ephin said.

“Well, you would say that,” Jadon said, helping Ephin to his feet.

“I’m serious, this just feels like a place of worship, not to mention the architecture is vaguely reminiscent of our temple, just a lot bigger.”

“I think I recognize some of these carvings,” Beth said, looking over at the nearest wall. There were no windows, which she found odd; however, the walls were decorated with images of a similar pattern to the sinking ruins back home. They did not show the same events, but she could see artistic similarities in how characters were chiseled into the stone. “I think this place is quite old.”

“State the obvious again please,” Jadon said.

“You know we still haven’t addressed how you tried to sell us out,” Arledge said, walking over to Jadon, who laughed as he looked down.

“What are you going to do about it? I don’t know you. You would’ve done the same.”

“I would not. I have morals.”

“Morals get you a fresh knife in the back.”

“I don’t care,” Arledge said. He turned to his companion, “Iarkspur, please could you bind this guard so that we don’t have to bludgeon him for a second time.”

The building was old enough to have weeds and creeping vines growing up through cracks in the stone slabs. Iarkspur took control of some of the nearer vines and twisted them around the guard.

Ephin, in the meantime, had walked to the stone doors and tried to shift them, hoping for them to only look as heavy as they did. They did not budge.

“We aren’t getting out this way,” he called back to the group. Jadon gave him a nod from across the chamber and started to walk in the opposite direction to take a look at the raised platform. Beth was still engrossed in the carvings.

Jadon climbed the three steps up onto the platform. On the platform was more debris, the remains of something that had been made out of wood but had crumbled and rotted away over time; and a small stone pedestal, about half his height.

There were words inscribed onto the pedestal that he couldn’t understand. Above the words was symbol of a ship passing through an open door and below the words was a simple carving of a shield.

“Anyone know any ancient languages?” Jadon called over to the others. The girls shook their heads, Arledge did not show any sign of having heard him, but Ephin jogged over to take a look at the pedestal.

“What was on it?” Ephin asked.

“What do you mean? Nothing?”

“It’s a pedestal, they usually hold things. To display.”

“Right,” Jadon said, “maybe those words can help figure that out. I can’t see anything else and there’s no chance any of us are scaling one of these walls to get out through the openings up there.”

Ephin glanced up to where the light spilled in. He could see the tops of trees outside. He turned back to the pedestal and the words.

“It’s very similar to the language of some of our older texts. I think Qodorn called it the language of the gods,” Ephin said struggling to remember his lessons with the older priest.

“And it means?”

“Roughly, I think it boils down to ‘To lift away the shield that protects you from secrets’. Something about foolishness. This bit has worn away. Ah, ‘the Unaged Eye has lived too long, fear not his wrath. Flee from his sorrow.’ And this,” Ephin pointed a finger at the shield, “is not just a carving. See how it’s raised slightly? I’ll bet you anything that there’s a secret exit somewhere around here.”

“Sounds ominous. You religious types like to make things sound worse than they are, though, so I guess it can’t be too serious.” Jadon bent to press the shield but Ephin slapped at his arm.

“Really? You’re just going to press it? This is obviously a warning. Don’t.”

“One, don’t tell me what to do. Two, don’t touch me. Three, don’t tell me what to do,” said Jadon, pushing his face up to Ephin’s so that their noses were barely touching. With Ephin’s focus taken off the shield for a second, Jadon kicked it, pressing it into the pedestal. The ground shook slightly and some of the dust shifted and unsettled from the closest wall, at the back of the raised platform. As the dust fell, so did a portion of the wall, revealing a metal door.

“Hey,” Jadon said, “you were right.”

“Please, stop messing around,” Ephin said, pushing Jadon back slightly and turning to wave the others over, as they had looked up at the noise of the moving wall.

Beth was the closest and the first to reach the pedestal. The others took their time walking over, leaving the guard tied up, propped up next to one of the pillars near the centre of the chamber.

“This is so cool,” Beth said. Her hands were covered in dust and she had opened the book she took from the study, “I’m going to make everyone back home jealous with this. They’ll never believe me.”

“So,” Ephin said, “I don’t think we can get through those stone doors very quickly.” He pointed down to the other end of the chamber. “However, we-”

“-I,” Jadon cut in.

“We found a hidden doorway to gods know what. We found it at the bottom of a warning against it,” Ephin said, showing the others the words on the pedestal.

“So, what?” Arledge asked, looking up at the young man.

“So, do you want to try breaking through those doors, or trying your luck beyond that metal one?” Ephin said, “personally I’d rather just stay here and look around before trying to get chip our way through the stone doors.

“I’m not going in there,” Iarkspur said, shaking her head, “creepy mysterious hidden doors with warnings? I’ll keep watch of the guard if anyone is deciding to go.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Arledge said.

“You’re no fun,” Beth said, which pulled a rare smile onto Jadon’s face.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” he said, “what’s the harm in a little exploration? There could be some good ancient treasure.”

“If anyone else is,” Beth said, “I’m down to check it out.”

“I’ll go,” Ephin said, “not because I think it’s a good idea, but somebody has to keep you both from dying.”

“Dying? What the heck would possibly kill us?” Jadon said, “for all we know, there’s nothing behind the door but more stone.”

“This is an awful idea,” Ephin said.

“There’s not much else to do but mope around,” Jadon replied, walking over to the metal door as Iarkspur and Arledge made their way back to the tied-up guard. “Live a little.”

Jadon knelt down in front of the metal door and inspected the keyhole.

“Dang, that’s elaborate. I wouldn’t have though a place this old would have keyholes, let alone something like this,” Jadon said.

“You’re inspecting a door that was hidden by a stone wall barely a moment ago,” Ephin said, pursing his lips. Before Ephin had finished his sentence, a small click indicated that Jadon was finished with the lock.

“Ladies first,” Jadon said to Beth.

“Of course,” she replied and waved Ephin first.

“Very funny,” Ephin said, “I don’t like that you two are getting along.”

Ephin grasped the doorknob and twisted, pulling the door towards the three of them and letting out a slight waft of stale air. It did not smell good.

“Gods, what died down there?” Jadon said, gagging slightly.

“As long as we don’t, I’m still game,” Beth said, flickering on her small handheld everflame.

The three of them then took their first steps into the dark tunnel that almost immediately descended into stone steps. The tunnel was only wide enough for one person at a time, and the darkness helped to make it feel even more oppressive.

There was no draft in the tunnel, although it sounded like there maybe was something blowing down below.

“Do you hear any voices?” Beth asked the other two.

“Nope,” Ephin said after shaking his head and realizing they couldn’t see. Jadon didn’t respond.

Ephin was at the back of the three and Jadon was in the middle, as Beth was lighting the way. Shortly after asking the question, Beth’s everflame flickered and died, letting the darkness fully engulf them.

“What?” Beth said, tapping her wrist and then more frantically slapping it. “That shouldn’t be possible. Everflames don’t just die unless we want them to, right?”

“Honestly, no idea,” Ephin said, “maybe it’s j-”

They all paused, only the sound of their own breaths meeting their ears.

“Okay, I swear I heard something too,” Ephin said.

“You’re both paranoid,” Jadon said, “c’mon, if it’s more of the same, we don’t even need the light.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ephin said, “let’s go back.”

“No,” Jadon said, “the everflame might come back on soon. Who knows what’s wrong with it? What’s the point in going all this way just to turn back because you’re scared of the dark.”

“I am not,” Ephin retorted, flicked Jadon, “I’m simply using common sense.”

“Can you both shut up?” Beth said, “If we’re going to be walking in the dark, we need to use our ears more.”

They walked steadily downwards, the flame not returning to light their way. Soon, all three could make out the voices. The voice. Angry, shouting, but heavily muffled.

“We can carry on,” Jadon whispered, “if he continues shouting, we’ll know where he is at all times and will be able to avoid him.

“This is madness,” Ephin said, and yet he followed the other two. Beth crunched ahead, stepping onto what would have been a flat floor had it not been for whatever was strewn across it. The shouts sounded as if they were coming from behind a few walls, but at their level of depth. An explosion shook where they were standing, sifting dirt and dust from the ceiling and showering them with it. The shouting became clearer, although not clear enough to make out words.

The three of them crept forwards as best they could with minimal crunching and pressed up against the wall between them and the shouting man, hoping to hear what he was saying. As Beth pressed against it, she could feel its texture was off. It was a newer wall in comparison to the rest of the tunnel, room and chamber upstairs. There were smaller and more organised bricks that had been laid to form this wall.

“We really should go,” Ephin said to the others, leaning close to keep his voice down. The shouting stopped. The absence of it making all three hidden individuals much more aware of how quiet and dark the area was. Another explosion rocked the room, this time they could hear things scatter across the opposite side of the wall to them. All three crouched as silently as they could, before Ephin broke and tried to run in the direction he hoped was towards the stairs.

The wall they were hiding behind burst outward, knocking both Jadon and Beth across the room and sending Ephin careening into what he could now see were bones. The whole floor was covered in a thick layer of very old bones.

There was light pushing in from the new hole in the wall. Jadon propped himself up against the opposite wall. He looked up into the light and could see a much larger room, also littered with corpses. That wasn’t what bothered him. Standing a short distance away from the wall, was a figure. He was wearing tattered clothes, mixed in with sporadic pieces of armor, as if haphazardly thrown over his ripped robes. He lifted his head, showing off the glowing ice blue eyes beneath the torn hood.

“Where is it?” He said, raising his arms as every splintered bone and brick lifted off the ground and flew towards him, waiting in the air for his command.

“Where is what?” Jadon asked.

The arms flung out, sending the debris rocketing towards him.