The Oni grimaced before taking a step back, and Eshanai looked at him confused before her eyes lit up in understanding, and she grinned like a maniac.

“Who’s mind is in the gutter now, huh?” She teased smugly before hearing another crash echoing down the corridor. “Get on already. You won't have to worry about triggering any traps,” now serious again.

“Fine,” the Oni exclaimed and climbed on board, very careful where he put his hand, the other holding up his spirit. “But this stays between us.” Eshanai paused for a moment before she turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

“Is your so-called pride really worth that much to you?”

“I’m not discussing it with the likes of you. You wouldn’t understand anyway,” the Oni answered, and Eshanai rolled her eyes. She felt something poking her lower back and immediately smiled to herself.

“At least Mr. Dick is excited. It’s nice to know someone appreciates me.” All the Oni had time for was an annoyed huff before Eshanai took off at high speed. Now all he could do was hold on for dear life and try to keep his flame from going out.

Eshanai brought them quickly through the hall in a series of leaps and bounds, avoiding any triggers she came across. When she did have to slide across the ground, she flowed like water, eating up the distance in no time at all.

She did have to stop as a pit had opened up in their way. That was not a problem in itself, but the cloud of spores billowing out of it was. Spikes filled the bottom, and a couple of mushroom corpses had fallen in there. Most of them lay still, impaled, but some still wriggled. All of them were emitting foul-smelling spores, though.

”Why are we stopping?” The Oni hissed in a harsh whisper.

”You want to find out what those spores do? I’d like to keep my eyes fungus-free, thank you very much.” Eshanai hissed right back.

“Just hold your breath or something,” the Oni suggested inanely. ”Or if you're that worried, I could probably burn it out of the air.” That was not a bad idea, burning the spores, that is. Eshanai doubted that holding her breath and jumping through the cloud would work. What was stopping the mushrooms from sprouting right on her skin? The fact that she was alive might help, and she couldn’t get possessed by one of these spirits. None of the surrounding walls or floor had any mushrooms growing on them, and if the corpses had been infested this long surely- a thought suddenly struck her.

“Hey, how come there are corpses in the halls?” Eshanai asked suddenly.

“They heard us making noise and came wandering out here, obviously,” the Oni answered in a condescending tone.

“No, I mean, if they have been here for so long, how come none of them have wandered into the halls until now?” Eshanai clarified, looking back at the Oni still clinging to her. That seemed to stump him for a moment. His mouth hung open before he closed it with a snap.

”Well, it could be that, hm.” He interrupted himself, ”I hadn’t thought about it.” He took a moment before he suddenly grew tense. ”We have to get to the stairs now,” he exclaimed and sent a stream of fire into the spike pit before them. The corpses burned quickly, and the billowing cloud went up with a whoosh.

Eshanai didn’t waste time arguing, leaping over the pit and taking off again down the dark corridor. Even if she had wanted to ask some questions about what the Oni meant, Eshanai felt her own urgency as more traps went off behind them, getting closer by the moment.

They ran into more walking mushroom corpses, some stuck in traps, others wandering around aimlessly. Eshanai largely ignored them or barreled straight through them when they came upon larger groups.

Shooting past more rooms as fast as possible caused only some of the corpses wandering inside to stumble out, and after them, by the time they triggered any traps, the Naga and Oni were long gone.

They did run into a bit of a problem when their way was blocked by rubble. By the gore and scattered body parts, it looked like some walking corpses had gotten a bunch of boulders dropped on their heads. To make matters worse, the rubble was stacked right after the entrance to another chamber full of coffins, and walking corpses were already slowly spilling out of it. Eshanai and the Oni watched as the bodies activated every trap they came across. Small darts flew at them and hit but had little effect. A panel on the wall opened up to smash a pair of heads against the opposite wall.

Eshanai had to duck and slither back as a spiked ball on a chain was released from the ceiling to smash into the front of the crowd of mushroom corpses.

”Seems this problem would take care of itself in time,” the Oni observed from atop Eshanais' back. He held his flame high to get a better view.

”Yes, but again, if we’re unlucky, it’ll take care of us too,” Eshanai reiterated. This crowd was worrying in itself, but there was also a horde of mushroom corpses coming from behind. They were still a ways off but would have plenty of time, as she and the Oni tried to clear the rubble, to trigger every trap along the way.

”They don’t seem that bad, designed to take out targets in the immediate area. So it’s unlikely we’ll be caught in that if we keep our distance,” the Oni reasoned, making his fireball flare in his hand before it went back to normal.

”It’s strange,” Eshanai began as she thumped her tail against the floor. ”I don’t understand half of them, but some of the more extensive traps should have been triggered by now. Maybe they're on a timer or something.”

”So they’re moving?” The Oni asked, alarmed.

”No,” Eshanai answered with not a small amount of apprehension. ”I had hoped to be out of this tunnel by now, and the longer we take, the more traps will be triggered, and one of them might be one of those death contraptions.” Eshanai’s hearts increased their rhythm, and she grinned from the excitement. She might actually die here, she doubted it, but the chance was there. This really was a wonderful day.

”So, how do you want to handle this?” The Oni asked as he gave Eshanai an odd look.

”If you burn the ones out here,” Eshanai said and gestured to the corpses coming towards them. ”Then I can start removing those boulders and maybe stack them like we did those coffins in the other chambers. That will take time though, have any other suggestions?”

”I might,” the Oni answered thoughtfully. ”I don’t like the idea of having to watch your back. As you said, we’ll just have flaming corpses coming at us that way. You are much more effective at keeping them at bay.”

”So you want to lift the boulders?” Eshanai asked skeptically.

”No, I was going to melt through the wall,” the Oni said and smiled. It was such an unusual sight that Eshanai took a moment to admire him. No spite or malice, just a happy smile. ”What?” The Oni asked after a moment of being stared at by her.

”Oh, nothing,” Eshanai said with a sigh. Her lids lowered as she stared at the Oni over her shoulder, and in a sultry voice, she continued, ”Your face completely changes when you smile is all. I like it.”

”Bah, just put me down so we can get started,” Eshanai did as ordered with a laugh at the Oni’s stiff tone. ”Throw some of them back while you’re at it,” Eshanai did so, finding it a sensible idea. The Oni probably didn't want to step back and risk triggering anything. The less he moved, the better.

With some room cleared, the Oni started to send streams of fire into the crowd, stumbling over each other in the tight quarters to get to them. He covered as many of the corpses as he could before he made the flame leap to the rest of them. He made them burn brighter until all the mushroom corpses lay still on the floor. Then he did something new, holding out the ball of flame. The Oni somehow made the fire still burning the corpses leap into his hand. His ball grew noticeably larger than it had ever been before.

“Waste not want not,” he said as Eshanai gave him a look. They made their way past the remains, the Oni taking extra care of where he placed his feet and entered the chamber. Heads snapped towards them, and the walking corpses started doing just that towards the pair. It was easy for Eshanai to find a spot where the Oni could melt through and come out beyond the pile of rubble using her tremor sense.

“Whenever you’re ready?” She said as she turned to watch the corpses approach. “I’ll keep them off your back.” The Oni nodded and formed a steady stream of fire that he sent into the wall. The stone was scorched before turning to a bright orange color, but then Eshanai didn’t have time to watch as the first corpses had gotten close.

She punched some, making them crash into the back wall, caught others in her tail, and threw them. She was pretty shocked by their ability to take a beating, or at least to ignore their injuries. She spotted one crawling towards her, its legs completely mangled.

The only way to permanently put them down seemed to be burning them to a crisp. Even removing their heads didn’t work. The bodies just kept coming. There were the ones she had crushed in the first chamber, but in all the confusion, she hadn’t thought to see if they got back up again. They turned to ash like all the rest in the end anyway.

There were simply too many for her to handle quickly, and they kept getting back up. Some of them got past her when she was busy, seeming to ignore her entirely. None of them managed to make it to the Oni before she could get to them fortunately, and in a lull in the relentless approach, Eshanai decided to test her theory. She slithered in amongst the approaching crowd and let them surround her. As she had thought, they didn’t even seem to notice her, only walking towards the Oni.

No matter how much noise she made, they only kept walking past her and towards him. Was it the fire that drew them? Maybe they just didn’t like bright light or really liked it? That would make sense with how she first entered the Ziggurat. They might have just been attracted by the light streaming down from the hole in their roof, and Eshanai was just in the way.

“What is all that racket back there?” The Oni asked in a strained voice. He had made good progress. A good chunk of the wall had begun to melt and was pooling on the floor. His flame was getting worryingly small, though.

“Just checking some things,” Eshanai answered. “Is there a chance you could turn off the light for a moment?”

“And risk losing the spirit, no way, not now,” the Oni vehemently denied. “I’d be blind, and I’d rather not rely on you to guide me.”

“You have let me until now, and you don’t truly need that flame. Your mind-lifting powers would let you smash through that wall in no time, wouldn’t it? That flame is getting awfully small. You might as well use it up until it’s gone.” The Oni’s shoulders tensed as he clenched his fist by his side.

“Shut up!” He exclaimed as he flung his free hand back at her and the group of mushroom corpses. Tiny embers scattered from it to land on dry flesh, and Eshanai quickly made her way out from amongst them as they started to burn. The Oni seemed to use the now fully burning corpses to grow his own flame. Eshanai could feel thin, almost invisible streams being caught up and flowing into the Oni’s ball of flame, keeping it from shrinking any further.

“Any way to make this go any faster?” Eshanai asked as she noticed movement from out in the hall. The corpses in the corridor were getting back up. They were blackened and scorched but not turned to ash and bones like those in the first room.

The Oni looked over and cursed as he noticed them coming back into the chamber. He spread his flames to more corpses and let them simply burn for a time. Eshanai could do little to keep the bodies at bay once they were on fire. All she could do was quickly flick her tail at them or try to trip them up. Anything more, and she would be badly burnt, the fire still scorched her somewhat, but Eshanai could live with that.

Just as Eshanai was about to lose faith and grab the Oni to carry him out of there, the Oni finally acted. He made the flames surrounding them flare up again before it all leapt at him and gathered between his palms into a surging ball of fire bigger than his chest. Many of the corpses fell, but more were still on their feet and moving. The Oni backed up as much as the encroaching, still standing, corpses would allow before locking eyes with her.

“You might want to get behind me,” he said through gritted teeth, and Eshanai did just that, fending off the hands that were grabbing for him. Before the heat grew too unbearable for her, the Oni heaved, and with a lurch, he made the big fireball fly at the melted patch of wall. It hit with a whoosh of air before exploding, pelting both of them with sharp rocks and debris. It did what it was supposed to, having opened up a decent-sized hole in the wall.

The Oni stood stunned at the destruction he’d wrought but still managed to hold on to a bit of flame. Eshanai had her wits about her. She grabbed up the Oni in a princess carry and quickly fled through the newly created opening.

“You sure are attached to that thing,” Eshanai pointed out, irritated, as she hurried through the halls again. “To the point of madness.”

“I-,” he began, still looking stunned before he seemed to shake himself out of it. “I fear we might need it before we’re through here.”

“This is about what you said by the spike pit, isn’t it?” Eshanai asked in an almost accusatory tone.

“Yes, I think something is controlling them, and I’d rather have the flame and not need it than have to spend a bunch of time summoning another one.” Eshanai frowned at that. He was making too much sense. She didn’t want to see him killed because of stubborn refusal to release his spirit. But if it was not stubbornness, and he was now keeping it for whatever was waiting for them at the bottom of this thing, she would have to live with it.

Eshanai tried to feel for what was down there, but all she got back were uncertain impressions of some big amorphous shape. What was certain was the smell of goblin in the air. So with a redoubled pace, Eshanai made her way through the last bit of tunnel. It was when they could finally see the exit in the distance that her fears were realized. Eshanai slowed down with horrified fascination as she felt multiple gears spin and things moved into place behind the walls. Not just in the area they were at either, but from what Eshanai could tell, this was happening everywhere.

“That doesn't sound good,” the Oni said in her arms as a wall slammed down behind them. Both of them looked back in surprise at the new obstruction. Eshanai was fascinated by the mechanisms behind the traps.

The Oni caught on first. Grabbing her hand, he shouted, “run, you fool!” And they did, but a wall soon slammed down in front of them too, blocking their view of the exit. The Oni ran forward and slammed his hand against the wall. “No, no, no, no, there has to be some sort of release somewhere,” he said as he ran his hands over the smooth surface. He turned to Eshanai, looking at her questioningly.

“There isn’t,” she said, and the Oni’s eyes widened in panic.

“Then how are we getting out of here?”

“Relax,” Eshanai said with calming gestures. “We can figure this out. It’s not like we are in any immediate danger.” A rushing sound soon reached their ears, and water started to pour into their little cage from openings in the corners of the ceiling.

“You and your big mouth,” the Oni said in an accusatory tone. Eshanai ignored that and pushed him out of the way. She got down and tried to lift the wall, the water level rising. It wouldn’t budge.

“A little help would be nice,” Eshanai said as she heaved. When the Oni got down beside her and started trying to lift the thing physically, Eshanai looked at him with astonishment. “Not like that, do the mind thing.”

“We’ve been over this,” the Oni argued, the water now up to Eshanai’s shoulders as she bent down.

“Yes, well, I don’t think your little flame is going to be very comfortable being completely submerged underwater.” Eshanai had to take a deep breath then as the water flowed over her face and head.

She could almost feel the wall moving, but something was keeping it in place, pushing down from above. If she could get a little more time, she might just make it, but she hadn’t gotten a good breath, and her air was quickly running out.

Eshanai let go for now to swim up to the Oni. He appeared to be concentrating on something as he swam, so Eshanai left him to it, and taking a deep breath, she dove back down again.

She took a new grip and started lifting again. She didn’t know what the Oni was doing but letting a spirit go free couldn’t be that hard. Could he really value it over his own life? Was he that stubborn?

She couldn’t think about that now. Putting more strain into it, she gritted her teeth, muscles bulging. Eshanai would not die here today. She hadn’t even tasted that cock yet. The light from above went out, and at first, Eshanai was elated, thinking that the Oni had released the spirit. But when no assistance came, the reality of the situation became clear. Bubbles escaped in the now dark waters as Eshanai shouted defiance, and something finally gave.

Water rushed out from behind her as the wall was lifted, and the Oni’s limp body came crashing into her back. They were both washed out of the trap and entirely out of the corridor. The wall sunk back into place, and the flow stopped. Eshanai coughed as she lay in a pool of water. She was drenched, her hair sticking to her face as she rolled over and lifted herself with her hands.

She turned to the Oni to give him an earful but stopped when she felt no movement from him. Rushing over, she could feel his single heart beating before she arrived. He was lying on his stomach, with his face in the water, not breathing.

Eshanai flipped him over and immediately pressed her lips to his mouth to force some air into his lungs. She held his nose and watched as his chest rose and fell with her breath. Once, twice, he lay still. Three times, four times, he still wouldn’t move. Eshanai was getting worried when after the twelfth inhalation, the Oni jerked, coughed, and turned over to throw up what seemed like a whole river's worth of water.

”Where... Eshanai, are you there?” He asked with labored breath into the darkness, his flame extinguished.

”No thanks to you. What were you even doing in there?” The Oni chuckled mirthlessly at Eshanai’s question and collapsed onto his back, breathing hard.

”I tried, I really did,” he began with a self-deprecating laugh. ”It’s funny, me thinking that I could control a spirit.”

”What do you mean?” Eshanai asked as she sat down beside the still prone Oni.

”It wouldn’t leave when I asked it, ok,” he said and held up his hands. ”Look,” his familiar flame appeared between them, lighting the area around them, and then winked out to plunge them back into darkness. ”It’s still here.”

Eshanai was happy with this turn of events. She could have done without the Oni almost dying, but this was why she had wanted him to let the spirit go in the first place.

”This is a good thing, isn’t it?” Eshanai asked, and the Oni lit his flame again just so that he could frown up at her.

”How do you figure? We almost drowned because the spirit wouldn’t follow my command.”

”Well, the other spirits won't take offence now that it’s staying out of its own free will,” Eshanai said to begin with, and the Oni’s face lit up in realization.

”That’s right. You don’t want me to release it anymore?” He asked, and Eshanai nodded in agreement.

”It should also mean awesome mind powers are back,” the Oni’s face went still for a moment before he looked around. He soon started to hover above the wet floor, the flame still burning in his hand.

Eshanai laughed in excitement as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. The Oni stared at her, a bit mesmerized, looking at her wet breasts bouncing. Eshanai saw him looking as she stopped jumping and smiled knowingly at him. She shook her chest some more to make her boobs jiggle for him as he enjoyed it so much.

The Oni suddenly snapped himself out of his daze, flailed around in the air for a moment, then extinguished his flame to hide his embarrassment in darkness. There was the sound of a thud as he lost his concentration and fell back onto the floor. Eshanai’s giggles echoed through the chamber.

”When are you going to let yourself go? Let yourself enjoy me?” Eshanai said as she slowly neared the Oni in the dark. ”Let me enjoy you.” The Oni lit his flame again. He looked annoyed. He was no doubt ready to scold her, but when he saw how close she was, with her chest in his face. Her nipples almost tickled his chin. He paused before crawling back and standing up.

”I don’t understand how you can think about such things right now. We almost died back there,” the Oni said and gestured to the closed corridor behind them.

“Are you kidding me? That was amazing!” Eshanai shouted and brought her hands in the air, still sitting on the ground. “Humans are awesome! I wanna meet them. Where did they go? What are they like?” The tirade of questions continued as Eshanai stood up and grabbed the Oni to shake him bodily in her excitement.

“Time out, hold on, put me down,” he said in exasperation. Eshanai did so and calmed down some in the process.

“What happened to them?”

“They left,” the Oni said simply.

“How?” A gleam had entered Eshanai’s eyes at the mention of leaving the island, and the Oni’s eyes traveled down her body to eye the scars hugging her waist.

“You wanna follow them? Find a way off this island, and get to the mainland. Not going so well, is it?” He asked as he crossed his arms and gave her a look that practically oozed condescension.

“I wanted to see how far out I could swim, is all,” Eshanai defended. “I didn’t get very far before this giant octopus grabbed me and forced me back to shore.” The Oni sighed and put his head in his hands, massaging his temples. “I have a better plan now, mind you, even found a ship that’s relatively intact, with maps and books and stuff. Just needs some fixing up, is all.”

“You’re a fool. Have you ever wondered why there are only empty ships on the broken beach?”

“No, I assumed they were just old,” Eshanai said. She hadn’t had time to think about it much, if she was honest. The broken beach had been one of the places forbidden by the elders, so she had only recently gone for a visit. It was a wonderful place, full of wrecked ships of different sizes and ages. You could find all sorts of things among the wreckage if you were willing to dig a little.

“That might be so, but there aren’t even any bodies, not a single bone or remains to be found. No, something must have happened to their crew before your octopus threw the ships on the beach.” That certainly made sense given how smashed up some of them were, but others were placed oddly. As if they had been put down gently not to damage them.

“So the octopus has a collection, and it doesn’t like fleshy things running around on its things. I don’t see the problem here. Just have to find a way to deal with it, and I’m good to go,” Eshanai said casually as if it would be the easiest thing in the world. The Oni just stared at her before shrugging.

“Whatever, can we get going already?” They were now in a big empty room with the spiral staircase in the middle, as Eshanai thought. There were more entrances around the room, but none of them held any interest to her.

Looking down the dark stairway, Eshanai could clearly smell her goblin on them. How it had gotten in was still a mystery, but it had clearly used these stairs, and not just once by the strong smell.

”He’s been here, and still is, I would say,” Eshanai said.

”Good, let’s get this over with,” the Oni said. Eshanai wondered what he would do with the goblin once they found it. She was curious to see what it did down there while the Oni seemed almost indifferent.

”What do you think it does down there?” Eshanai asked, trying to probe a little. The Oni stopped, in the process of going down the steps to look at her.

”I have no idea, but I think whatever is controlling these corpses has something to do with it.”