Kenan didn't go much further without an event. First he heard something stumbling down the hallway. From the sounds Dion inferred the creature was two-legged, he relayed the information to his master.

Then Noctis saw the infraction of silence. A man with vines twisting and turning out from his mouth, piercing his eyes and ears. Under the gaze of a supernatural being Kenan knew to take his pace carefully. As he closed in, Noctis stepped on a vine. Immediately the man-vegetation hybrid screeched and lunged.

Qi pulsed and was used. Kenan easily side-stepped the being and brought up the blade. Slicing an arm off. Noctis continued his onslaught and made a laceration cut on the man's thigh. The body began to fall. Kenan spun quickly while flipping his grip. He pinpointed the blade on a disc of the spine, behind the heart, and pushed down. The body struggled for a moment, then it's vines withered as it's vessel’s strength petered out.

The connected looked at each other. Lesson learned and information shared. They continued on.

Eventually they came to a group of stairs. Noctis' ears picked up moans. Sounds of agony. With the guidance of Amarok, he stepped and peered down the staircase. Nothing was on the floors, but on the walls were five beings. Each wrapped in a cocoon of vines save for their neck and head. One of them had a particularly horrid wail as a glob of saliva flopped out. When it landed on the floor, smoke wafted and a hiss sounded as the liquid dug itself into the stone. Kenan and Dion understood.

The first thought was that they could take carefully planned steps to avoid the five acid spitters altogether. However, Kenan's honor rose from the haze of wolfish instinct. It didn't matter if these people were criminals, they were still beings taken over by a foreign magic and forced into a very ugly servitude. In his opinion, death was better.

Noctis breathed. In his mind, he found the origin point of his Mortem power. In his chest, was a mote of Nonesthic itself. With his thoughts he pulled power from it and let it flow. A chill swept his muscles, his magic channels and veins. Tiny light was produced from a glowing blade.

As if Noctis was nothingness itself, he stepped between the vines and sliced the throats of each of the five beings. As each of the vine tethered creatures died, he had to pull back the chill from entering their bodies and devouring their souls. He flicked the blood off of his blade. Across the connection, he called the dirus down. Dion soon joined his master in the next level down.

The next level came and passed. Besides for a few wondering, helpless vine infested bodies. There was nothing on the floor. All of them were easily dispatched under the black blade. Kenan made a mental note to help the souls pass later. If it was like the bear he fought a day ago, then they were going to need all the help they could get. Also, as he went, the more concerned he grew. They were a lot more open cells then they were bodies.

Noctis went down another level with ease, he wasn’t impeded with acid spitters this time. Instead he was met with an ajar door. Using his blade he slightly opened it and peered inside. It was the last level of the underground jail. The hallway space was about five times the width of the previous floors and doubly tall. It didn't hold nearly as many cells, only about five or so. Noctis could see at the floors were large, steel reinforced doors. Instead of wooden gateways with complicated lock and key systems was a bulging wall of faintly gyrating vines. At the end of the hall, was an even larger mass of foreign material.

It took some time for Kenan to realize that this mass was vaguely humanoid. Its abdomen was oddly small for its large limbs and chest. The head of the hulking creature was nothing more than a man's. Long dark, stringy hair covering his eyes and a unshaven chin.

Before Kenan fully entered the room, he reaffirmed the chill enveloping his body.

"I know you're there, Sorrow born." A voice said. More accurately. One overlapping cord with tens subdued behind it. "I knew you would come. It's no use hiding. I can feel everything. You're just beyond the door."

Noctis and Dion looked at each other. Momentarily shaken, but soon threw it off. True, they lost an advantage with stealth gone. But, they never planned to keep it for long. The two stepped through the door. As Noctis entered into what seemed to be a completely living room, the foreign power aiding them changed, directed somewhere else. The claws and fangs of both Kenan and the dirus sharpened and strengthened. The connected understood.

On instinct Kenan went left and Dion hugged the right. As they slowly got closer, Noctis understood where all the rest of the bodies ended up. Intertwined in the massive collection of vines were alive and moaning bodies. The cold of Nonesthic was disturbed and ripped away by anger. Noctis tried to grab it again, but it slipped from his grasp.

“What is your name?” Kenan asked. Qi churned. He would need to cultivate more before he fought again.

“Does it matter?” Ten’s of voices echoes it.

“It will matter to your soul.”

It laughed. “No. That left long ago.” It took a small step forward, causing the area around to vibrate under it’s force. “Before we begin this dance, I was ordered to tell you exactly what I am, and why I have taken the actions to lure you here.”

Noctis gripped his sword tighter, Dion bowed his head and growled as he slowly inched forward.

“I was sent here by my master. Shel the Twisted. She was located here to decimate Banburn.” It took another step. It stopped movement for a moment. Seized suddenly and then froze once more. “But you knew that already.” A solemn voice said. It was coming from the man, but it was clearly a woman's voice. “What you don’t know is that you are marked. Kenan Noctis of the Sorrowful Night. All of the forces of Shrigor know your name and face. Tulgon never allows the death of an orc to go unpunished.” The last of her words transformed into a whisper.

Silence ensued. Then, the behemoth sprouted hundreds of vine like spikes.