In each chamber, there were figures emerged, one creature for each of them, stepping out of the gloom like shadow that solidified into body.
Rama, Shoji, and Axel, though separated, all stood face-to-face with something new yet not entirely unexpected.
The beings were unlike anything they had seen before, yet after everything — the whispers, the bones warrior, the endless dark tunnel filled with skeletons — they were no longer shaken by strange appearances.
Their nerves were hardened and their instincts sharp for this kind of appearance now. They had learned to expect the unnatural things to just appeared.
Rama's grip tightened around his Cinderfall sword. The blade responded, flaring to life with crackling fire that danced along the edge, casting flickering light across the stone chamber.
Shoji exhaled slowly and raised his fists. Mana pulsed and surged around his forearms like smoke and light entwined, flowing into him with practiced ease.
