"Who is this Kragnir, anyway?" Gerral asked. Their shadows shifted and cruddled in a tunnel that stretched on endlessly. His question trailing into faint echoes.
Ahead of him, Nora kept a steady pace. The crystal's glow in her hand flickered faintly against the rough walls. "You think I know," she replied with a tint of frustration. No hesitation colored her movement—only the rustle of her clothes and the stomp of her boots accompanied her words.
"You're the educated noble here, right?" Gerral retorted sarcastically.
Nora exhaled sharply through her nose, her silver hair rippling behind her like a silken banner caught in the wind. She jerked her head forward, her voice biting. "This is your city, isn't it? Guild captain? You know nothing of its bones?" Her boots struck the stone harder now, the humid air closing in around them.
Gerral's neck flushed, his knuckles brushing against the cold, moist wall. "Of course, I know," he grumbled. "They say the first stones were laid before Frostgale was even a town." His admission hung in the air, swallowed by the passage's oppressive silence.
"That's all you know?"
Gerral's jaw tightened, veins throbbing at his temple. "Still more than you. I thought nobles collected secrets like gold, but you're just another blind rat in the maze."
A faint drip of water echoed through the passage, halting Nora mid-step. Her head tilted sharply like a wolf catching a scent. "Shh," she hissed.
"What? You've got no words now?"
"Sssh! I heard something."
"Maybe it's your stomach singing?"
Nora twirled around, her hair whipping across his face. Her lips curled in frustration—
Aaaaaiiiieee!
A chilling scream pierced the air, rooting them to the spot. Their breaths caught, their quarrel forgotten in an instant. Without hesitation, they sprinted toward the source of the disturbance.
The tunnel opened into a vast chamber, and the sight before them made their blood run cold. Five figures were shackled to a slab rising from an ankle-deep pool. A man, two women, and two children—a girl and a boy—pressed against the moss-slick rock, their chains clinking with each trembling breath. Rusted iron spikes pinned the chains to the stone, leaving each captive with barely enough slack to move. Above them, droplets fell from stalactites, amplifying the hollow plink of water into a cavern-filling heartbeat.
Nora's throat tightened as she stepped closer, her pulse quickening at their desperate, fragile shivers.
"Who did this to you?" she asked. The figures' pleading eyes locked onto her.
Plink. Plink. Plink.
The only response was the dripping droplets. Their wide, frightened eyes seemed to plead for help, but no word came out. Finally, the man straightened his back and croaked out a desperate plea. His words tumbled over each other as if he feared the chance to speak might vanish. "We— we don't know! One moment— the city— we were— and then— here! Chained! Please, please help us!"
Gerral reached for the magic bag at his hip. "We'll get you out," he said firmly. The metal of his trident scraped against the stone as he pulled it from the bag.
He approached the group, his weapon raised. Gerral's muscles coiled as he swung the trident back, aiming for the chains that bound the young girl's ankles.
CLANG!
The trident struck the chains, but they held firm.
"Gerral!" Nora's scream tore through the cavern, a jagged cry that drowned the steady plink of water. Gerral's head snapped up. In that same breath, the captives vanished—gone in an instant—replaced by hulking monsters.
Their jaws hung open, lined with jagged teeth. Sickly green eyes bulged from scaled skulls, unblinking and wild. Their saw-like claws flexed in anticipation. Dorsal fins rippled down their spines, and their lashing tails, twisting with spines, replaced the chains that had seemed so real. They surged forward as one.
Gerral's trident was still lodged in the empty stone where the illusion child had been. There was no time to retreat, no room to counterattack. No breath for defense.
The jaws snapped.
CRUNCH!
Gerral's body seized, spasms wracking his frame as vines burst from beneath his clothing. They writhed and coiled, lashing around him to form a living armor that shielded his flesh from the monsters' fangs. With a sudden surge, the vines exploded outward, slamming into the monsters and pinning them against the cavern walls. Claws screeched against stone as they thrashed violently, their wails splitting the air in a piercing cacophony.
Gerral staggered forward as the vines began to wither and fall away, leaving his skin bare and vulnerable. The monsters tore through the last tendrils, lashing after his naked form. Gerral lunged toward Nora. Without hesitation, he seized her wrist and yanked her into a side tunnel. They ran without looking back.
As they disappeared into the shadows, the chamber seemed to exhale as though it had been holding its breath. Out of the darkness, a figure emerged. A girl, taking swift and deliberate steps into the light, unfolding like the unsheathing of a blade.
Her grin glinted in the dim light, a wicked curve marked by crimson stains smudged across her lips. Twin black ponytails framed her angular face, their starkness amplified by bangs that jaggedly obscured her brow like encroaching nightfall. Kohl-rimmed eyes sparkled with amusement. Bold red eyeliner swept upward at the corners of her eyes, carving a feral, almost animalistic intensity into her gaze.
Her laugh echoed softly, low and mocking. "Hahaha. Did you see that? I totally scared him shirtless."
She wore a crimson dress that clung to her figure, the fabric shimmering like liquid fire. Silver constellations stitched into the dress shimmered faintly with each movement. Around her neck, a serpent pendant glinted—a green ouroboros, its ruby eyes gleaming as if alive.
Before her grin could settle, a deep voice cut through the darkness behind her. "Must you always play with the prey?"
A towering figure with deceptively youthful features stepped into the light. "Now you've made us do the chasing."
The girl's eyes flicked back toward him as her hand moved. Pfffft-Shhhhhh. The monsters dissolved into a prismatic mist, condensing into a single card in her palm. The card pulsed faintly as if holding a storm within.
"What are you waiting for?" she snapped, her voice sharp as a whip. "Chase!"