After hearing about the tragic story of the murderous lovers, Reece couldn’t help but wonder about the place they were headed, Bhangarh Fort. Chippo passed the time by recounting many more tales of the enigmatic complex to Reece while they flew on the Qilin. With each story that the weresquirrel related, Reece began to suspect that the place was cursed and that there was much more going on beneath the surface. There were even some rumors that the wizard and the sorceress had both survived their battle. Reece had to admit that Chippo was an excellent storyteller, and another couple of hours saw them across most of the country, closing in on their destination. That’s where the smooth sailing ended.

“Look to the North, a dark cloud on the horizon,” announced the Qilin who was carrying Angel, Tokfo. He had projected his thoughts into all their minds at once.

Reece turned and after squinting, sure enough, there it was. Reece knew what it was, if not the exact make-up. More flying creations belonging to Order’s zealots. Based on the apparent size of the cloud, Reece and his group didn’t stand a chance in a straight-on battle. They had to fly fast and outrun them. The Qilin seemed to realize the same thing, because, as one, they nearly doubled their speed. Taela let out a screech as they started to dive, continuing to follow the air currents to maximize their speed. Reece hoped it would be enough.

“Hang on,” Shenfu’s voice called out in Reece’s mind. “They are still a good distance away. With any luck, we’ll collect the fragment and be on our way before they get here.”

Reece knew the Qilin was only trying to calm him. There was no way they could get the fragment promptly with the time expansion inside the chambers. A few seconds would become minutes, and minutes would become hours. It was no good.

“Alright. We’ll enter the chamber together, just you and I, Shen,” said Reece through his mental connection with Shenfu. “Everyone else will lead them away and circle back once they are able to evade them, okay?”

“That is an acceptable plan,” answered Shenfu. “I’ll relay it to the others.”

While their expedited flight continued, the formation hit the bottom of the air current and swung back up. Reece felt his stomach drop out at the sudden change in direction. Considering how the maneuver made him feel, he looked over at Taela in concern. She was clutching her Qilin steed with everything she had, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she had turned a couple of shades paler since she was already green. Despite all that, she was hanging in there and not freaking out, which would be catastrophic right now. For a moment, he regretted bringing her along until he remembered that this was her decision, and he wasn’t about to tell anyone that they couldn’t join in the fight for the future of their world. He just hoped she’d pull through okay. For that matter, he hoped they’d all pull through okay.

Looking to his left, he was relieved to see that the small cloud had gotten smaller, they were pulling away from the Order’s flock of undoubtedly unpleasant beasts. Reece could feel the fear subside a bit. It was an unpleasant tingle that continually coursed up and down his spine whenever he glanced in the direction of the ominous cloud. With all their most powerful warriors fighting a battle of their own, Reece had no desire to meet this new threat face to face. He figured it’d be okay since they would be arriving at Bhangarh Fort within the hour.

They continued to pull away and Reece finally lost sight of the massive flock. Instead, he concentrated on where they were going. Chippo had grown silent, perhaps low on energy and Reece began scanning the ground for landmarks. It took several minutes, but Reece finally spotted their destination. It was mostly an overgrown ruin by this point, resting at the base of a steep ridge. A long stone wall, complete with crenelations, ran across the entire front of the complex, with a large building sitting at the very base of the ridge marking the start of their search for the chamber.

Something wasn’t right about the complex, but Reece couldn’t figure what was wrong until a couple of minutes after he first spotted the place. At first, it just looked like random movement and dark patches on the ground. It soon became obvious that there was a welcome party of some sort. The small dark patches grew larger and began to take shape. It soon became clear that it was a sizable army sent by the Order. The massive behemoths were unmistakable. How the Order got this size of a force there before Reece and his group indicated that they had known about this place for a while now. They obviously hadn’t found the nightcore fragment, at least. If they had, they’d be long gone by now. Since they weren’t, Reece knew they’d need a new tactic.

“Okay, change of plan,” said Reece. “I know this will be unpleasant, but it’s our best option. We’re going to have to phase through the ground and steal the fragment right out from underneath them. We’ll be in and out and won’t have to engage the enemy. Shen...how long can you maintain the phasing?”

“Oh, about fifteen minutes or so,” answered the Qilin. “Then we’ll need to rest for an equivalent amount of time.”

“Fair enough, that’ll work,” replied Reece. “Go down and phase once we’re close enough to comfortably find the chamber.”

“ZZzzzzt....aerial units, please respond, over,” came a squawk in Reece’s ear, the voice heavily accented.

“What in Hades was that?” shouted Reece, not knowing where the sound had come from.

“I think it came from your pocket,” answered Shenfu.

Reece rolled his eyes in embarrassment, having completely forgotten about the short-wave radio he had stashed in his suit. Once he realized what it was, it took him a moment to dig it out.

“Uh, this is the aerial unit responding, over,” said Reece, not knowing what else to say.

“Beware, avoid the Bhangarh ruins. Over,” came the immediate response.

“Copy that,” said Reece into the walkie. “We see them and have a way of avoiding them. I take it you are survivors. Over.”

“You could say that,” responded the voice. “Name’s Cole, and we’ve been pinned down by this army for weeks now. Any chance you could lend a hand? We’ve got food, water, and shelter. Over.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” responded Reece noncommittally. “Where are you located, exactly? Over.”

“We’re holed up in a cave system at the base of the ridge,” answered Cole. “This accursed horde of monsters arrived a few weeks ago and has been camped below us ever since. We can’t even get out to hunt. Over.”

“Roger that,” replied Reece. “Hang tight. We may disappear for a few days, but we’ll be back to lend whatever assistance we can. Over.”

“Can you not get us now?” asked Cole. “Over.”

Reece wanted to help them but wasn’t sure they could be trusted, nor did he want to further risk the fragment falling into the Order’s hands. If the enemy had been there for weeks, there was no telling how close they were to discovering the location of the chamber and extracting the fragment by force.

“We’re sorry, but the primary mission comes first,” answered Reece, an apologetic tone to his voice. “However, once it's accomplished, we’ll try and distract them away from you. And trust us, it’ll be much easier once we complete our mission. Over.”

“Roger that,” replied Cole, discouragement evident in his voice. “Be careful out there. Over and out.”

That gave Reece something else to think about. A simple snatch-and-grab had been getting more and more complicated as time went on. He added it to the list of things to worry about later. For now, they were about to go subterranean, and Reece didn’t know how everyone would cope with the experience. He knew he was about to find out when the Qilin began to dip towards the ground, only a kilometer out from the strange ruins.

Once the first Qilin flew straight into a low ridge, Reece heard Taela shriek to his right. He looked over just in time to see her bury her face in the Qilin’s furry neck, then all he saw was darkness and the sounds of the earth filled his ears. Mercifully, it only lasted a minute or so before the Qilin all emerged into a dimly lit space. Reece instantly recognized the light source. It was the same one he experienced far below the red pyramid in Egypt and the Great Wall of China, a phosphorescent ore. It wasn’t the first time he thought about taking a sample. Thus far, it hadn’t worked out.

Carefully dismounting, Reece looked around the massive cavern they had phased into. It looked like an amphitheater, ornate and complete with numerous rows of benches set up to view the stage below, a stage that they had all just landed upon. Chippo took the opportunity to pop out at that time. Naeva, Angel, and Taela all jumped when he appeared.

“We’re close, very close,” said Chippo. “It’s down from here. Still, far, far down.”

“Do you see a way inside?” asked Reece.

“No, no way inside,” answered the Furdian sadly.

“Hey Shen,” asked Reece. “Do you think you could get us there?”

“Does water flow downhill,” came the quick response.

Alright, Chippo. Tell us exactly where the chamber is,” said Reece. “We’re going to phase there, Shen and I.”

Chippo nodded in approval and quickly laid out the location of the chamber. It was about sixty meters down and twenty meters over. Apparently, when they built the stage, they destroyed the chamber’s method of entry. It would have taken them months to try and dig it out. Luckily, they had the Qilin.

Reece said his goodbyes, making sure everyone had enough supplies for several days. Then he and Shenfu sunk into the floor, following Chippo’s directions to the long-buried secret chamber. Reece hoped the goddess wouldn’t be too pissed off. A mere thirty seconds later and they were in another chamber, also streaked with the light-emitting veins. It was roughly circular, with one entryway made up of a stone-lined hallway. Looking inside, Reece could see that a stone mechanism had collapsed inside the hallway, completely sealing it off from whatever lay on the other side.

Wasting no more time with the hallway, Reece did a quick inspection of the room. He knew time was of the essence and didn’t want to waste any down here. Instead of a sarcophagus in the middle of the chamber, there was only what looked like a well. Around the perimeter of the room were twelve stone statues, each the size, and shape of a full-grown bull. They were set inside of deep alcoves and there was a bowl in front of most of them. However, the bowls were either missing, broken, or empty. They once contained the relics of Chippo’s story and were the key to summoning the goddess. Looking around, Reece realized that even the white offering bowl was missing.

Pulling out the nightcore and holding it in both hands, Reece called out.

“Chippo, good buddy,” pleaded Reece. “Everything is missing for the summoning. Do you have any bright ideas?”

“Of course, of course,” answered Chippo happily. “We need to think of another way to summon the goddess.”

“Yeah,” answered Reece, nearly losing his patience. “I gathered that. Any idea of what that way might be?”

“Oh, I think we’re good, uh...hopefully,” answered Chippo, suddenly sounding much less confident despite his words. Then the Furdian disappeared.

Turning around and crinkling up his brow, Reece stopped in mid-stride, not knowing what else to do. Suddenly, the horde of flying monsters didn’t seem so bad after all. Reece hated waiting. Dismounting Shenfu, Reece pulled out the nightcore and waited anyways. He didn’t have to wait long.

A four-armed woman with skin of dark blue and a wild mane of long black hair crawled her way out of the well. After gazing upon her frightening appearance, her visage feral and angry, Reece started wishing he had chosen to stay and fight the flying monsters up above. Upon seeing the man before her holding the partially restored Regenesis Orb, her demeanor immediately softened and took on a much more pleasant appearance.

The same moment that Reece noticed that her outfit was made up of severed heads and arms, the grisly outfit was replaced by a jade evening gown. She maintained her four arms, but her hair formed itself into intricate braids, and her face, once all teeth and hate, became quite beautiful. She held an ivory bowl with three dark objects in one of her left hands. She smirked while holding it out to Reece. Understanding quickly dawned on him and he placed the nightcore within the bowl.

Setting it down, the strange blue four-armed woman stepped back.

“I hope you don’t mind that I saved the keys to my release from plunderers,” she said. “I wasn’t much for following the celestial rules. The quicker this happens, the better.”

Reece couldn’t believe his luck. The items in the bowl began to melt down and form a puddle of black material that quickly merged with the larger portion of the nightcore. Every time he thought he saw a pattern in the ritual, he found that the next one didn’t quite fit. Sometimes the fragment was part of the ritual, sometimes they were simply handed over by the freed one(s).

“Ahh, you’re starting to realize that this ritual isn’t what it seems,” smiled the woman. “That is good. I am Kali and have been trapped here for centuries waiting for your arrival and I want vengeance. You will do this for me, yes?”

“I’m guessing we both want the same thing,” answered Reece. “So, yes... I’ll help you.”

“Good, good,” she purred seductively. “In that case, I will grant you a boon. Many of my most loyal followers have been trapped here along with myself, too weak to leave or to defend this place. That is, until your arrival. You see, they gain their power from the relics that once filed this sanctum. Now, you hold the most powerful relic in the world, and it will strengthen my followers enough to assist you. Take my army of devoted and unleash them on the enemy, both yours and mine. Now go, the longer you stay, the more danger you will face. Your friends above are already fighting for their lives. Good fortune and Goodspeed. Now go!”