Unable to see the sun, Wyatt and the others had no way of knowing how long they were trapped underground. The ruins they found themselves in soon proved to be a maze of destroyed walls and dust covered tables. The undead they faced beyond the collapsed doors were not the only ones they would find in the subterranean maze, but they were the weakest.

Skeletons began to appear from the dark. At first glance this new threat seemed like a more decayed version of the walking corpses from before, but the magic that held their bones together was stronger than their rotting counterparts. They moved faster, wielding the weapons of the living to dangerous effect. The armor they once wore was nothing more than decayed strips of leather or rusted metal and did little more than complete the image of decay.

The skeletons also matched their fleshier counterparts in what their original race was. Wyatt pointed at one of them after it had stopped moving, pointing out the shape of the skull.

“They’re orcs,” he said, repeating what he had said before about the undead.

Unfortunately, this information was still useless to the party’s current predicament, and while Gus was surprised to learn of his people being here, they gave the mystery no further thought before moving on. Wyatt only shrugged off his companion’s response as he followed, wanting to learn more of what had happened here.

Unsurprisingly to Wyatt, undead were completely unaffected by enchantment magic, and he had to change his usual tactics as he fought. He soon found that these skeletons were particularly weak against his staff, especially when coupled with the arcana rune inscribed on it.

Gus’ bow was completely useless against the skeletons, and he resorted to using the back of his single bladed axe head to bash in the exposed skulls. Seeing this, Wyatt used his Earthen Creation to make the orc archer a mace, on which he drew the permanent arcana rune. Gus practiced with the weapon, both swinging the stone mace to get a feel for its weight and trying to activate the rune with his own mana. It didn’t take the orc long to adapt, and he thanked the mage.

Alindra, on the other hand, refused to change her weapon. To her credit, the fire aspect of her curved blade was effective against the undead, though it took her more swings than it should have. Wyatt dropped the subject, not wanting to offend the prideful swordsman.

The final problem with the skeletons was how relentless they were. Once the party had entered the ruins beyond the first room, they were never able to rest for long before more skeletons found them. Soon, Wyatt understood the true danger of the skeletons. While he and his companions could dispatch them in groups, eventually the living party would become tired, whereas the never ending undead would continue to hound them while they made their way through the underground maze.

“We can’t do this for long,” Gus said, his hands resting on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. They had fought another group of skeletons while they tried resting in a small room. The room had a door, which Wyatt had tried reinforcing with his earth magic, but the skeletons simply pounded on the door, forcing themselves past in a matter of minutes.

“We must be close,” said Alindra, her face covered in sweat from constant battle.

“How do they find us?”

“I don’t know,” answered Wyatt, watching the door, his staff in hand, “Even if we are quiet, they know where we are.”

“Is it the same group?”

“No,” said the dark elf, examining the weapons the enemy dropped when they fell, “the weapons vary each time.”

“Heads up,” Wyatt called from the door. The others regrouped with the mage, and he pointed down the hall they had come from earlier. Gus nodded, leaving their room and leading the party in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, the undead seemed to be all around them and as the archer rounded the next corner, he came face to face with another group of skeleton fighters.

Gus’ reaction time was better than his opponent’s, and he immediately swung his mace, sending the grinning skull flying from its bony body. Alindra joined the orc, and the two fought through the skeletons. The hallway they were in was narrow, and it spoke of their martial ability to fight together in such a cramped space.

Wyatt, watching from the rear, was amazed at how well the two fought. Even with the swordsman forgoing her usual skill in favor of brute force, the two complimented each other well. When Gus swung his mace at one opponent, Alindra would weave her blade in to block another, then turn the parry to an attack as Gus brought his mace back to defend.

Wyatt had asked the two what their levels were, but it seemed giving away too much information about your stats was taboo in this world. Knowing how much this world valued strength, he assumed this was to prevent knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses to be used against them. If Wyatt had to guess, he would say they were both at least ten levels above him.

As the two fought ahead of him, Wyatt heard more coming from behind. He turned and waited for the group they ran from before to come around the corner, withdrawing his fire page as he did.

The first skeleton appeared, but Wyatt waited until a few more came into view before he unleashed his spell. Unfortunately, unlike learned abilities, Wyatt could not change or manipulate the nature of a spell cast through his runes, but he could continue to apply mana to maintain the spell. He did so now, creating a torrent of flames that burned through the skeletons as they each came around the corner, only stopping when the last one fell. His mana was dropping dangerously low from the continuous fighting, but Wyatt knew he would not have been able to hold off this group with his staff alone.

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“Door ahead,” came Gus’ yell, as he ducked a sword, sending his mace into his attacker’s knee. As it fell, Alindra kicked the skeleton in its chest, sending the pile of bones into the approaching enemy. Using the opening, the two charged ahead, Gus swinging his mace at several more skeletons while activating the arcana rune, blowing them both to pieces.

Wyatt ducked into the door behind him, pulling the door closed as the orc joined them. He used his earth magic to reinforce the door, then turned to the others.

“Let’s go,” said Alindra, already moving to a large hole in the opposite wall. The hole opened into another hallway, and Wyatt sighed in exasperation.

“It doesn’t end,” he said as he hopped over the rubble.

“It will,” growled Alindra as she led the others down this new path.

The hallway, as all of the hallways previously, was never straight for long. They passed door after door, stopping only long enough to glance inside. They had long ago decided that stopping inside any of the rooms would only give the skeletons time to find them. They moved at a fast pace, just slow enough to regain stamina while staying ahead of any groups of enemies approaching from behind.

They continued their pace through the winding hallway for several tense minutes, all of them finding it strange that they had remained unmolested for so long.

“Where are they?” asked Wyatt, unable to keep the thought inside any longer.

He was answered by a loud roar from ahead of them.

Gus turned and glared at the mage as if the very question summoned this new threat.

Crashing rang out from the direction of the roar, a continuous banging that grew louder as whatever was making the noise was getting closer.

And it was getting closer fast.

From the edges of Wyatt’s glowing rock suddenly emerged a massive humanoid creature. The creature was hunched as it charged down the hallway, its figure too large for the narrow corridor. It was a disfigured mound of rotting skin that appeared to have been gathered from multiple sources, and organs in various stages of decay could be seen through holes in its torso. Its mouth hung open, as if whatever assembled the abomination had forgotten a jaw, and from this distorted mouth came a constant rasping yell.

“Flesh golem!” shouted Gus, before being barreled over by the disgusting mound of flesh. It lifted the orc in one of its massive arms, then smashed him through a wall.

Alindra leaped at the monster, her flaming blade forming shallow cuts into the large creature’s skin. The damage was minimal, but Wyatt noticed the fire burning from the cuts for several seconds after the cut was made.

The creature turned at its new attacker, swinging its massive arm at the dark elf. She ducked, narrowly avoiding the strike, and struck again, this time trying to cut into what passed as the abomination’s stomach. The cut was again shallow, and Wyatt cursed their luck as Alindra was forced back by another swing of its arm.

Wyatt could tell they were at a disadvantage while fighting in the confines of this corridor, so he withdrew his fire page once again, hoping a torrent of flames would push this monster back.

“Drop,” Wyatt shouted, and Alindra, seeing the mage readying an attack, dropped to the ground.

The monster bellowed as it took a step toward the prone target. Its yell was short lived, as its gaping, grotesque maw immediately swallowed a jet of fire. The sudden burst of flame caused the undead monster to reel back, and it started backing away from the deadly attack.

Wyatt fed the attack more mana, hoping he could push it back far enough before he ran out completely. The progress was slow, but soon it took another step back, then another, as the unrelenting flame seared its flesh. The smell that came from the attack assaulted Wyatt’s senses, and he struggled to concentrate through the nauseous feeling forming in his stomach.

Soon, Wyatt’s attack relented. His mana was low, but the monster had backed up enough for him and Alindra to enter the hole in the wall made by the golem. They jumped through, avoiding the flailing arms of the burning mound of flesh as it tried to put out the flames.

The room they found themselves in was much larger than the hallway, which would allow the party to make full use of their agility against the lumbering monster they now faced. Gus was leaning against one of the pillars that lined the large room, the damage he sustained from the single attack evident. Alindra used her healing magic on the injured orc, and he visibly relaxed as the soothing energy coursed through him.

Wyatt took the orc’s mace, using his magic quill to inscribe the rune for permanent fire, the previous rune disappearing as he did so. He handed the mace back to Gus just as the wall exploded, the burning golem charging into the room.

The three separated, Wyatt running to one side while Alindra took the other. They attacked one at a time, each one striking and retreating to keep from being easy targets. The monster tried attacking the orc as Wyatt’s arcana infused staff struck it in the back. It fell forward, howling in rage as it was unable to strike at its quarry.

The lumbering beast turned, its long arm swinging at the mage, but he had already backed off. It was rewarded for its effort with a blade of fire cutting across its back several times, followed by a magically empowered arrow exploding against its face.

Wyatt wasn’t sure if the creature could feel frustration, or if it was simply built to be angry, but the flesh golem’s fury was mounting. It turned back towards him just as he started his attack. Caught off guard, Wyatt was forced to Shift backwards to avoid the wrecking ball fist of the golem. This time, the monster continued attacking the human, ignoring the attacks from the others as it sought to end at least one of its attackers.

Wyatt jumped out of reach of another attack, pressing his back against a pillar as he stood. When the beast swung again, Wyatt dove to the side, the giant fist destroying the pillar in his stead. The mage had to turn his face away from the destruction as he was showered in dust and stones, the strength exhibited by the golem evident in the damage the stones dealt to him.

“Move!” Wyatt heard the shout from somewhere, as he struggled to open his eyes in the dust. He rolled away, not knowing from where the attack was coming but hoping to avoid the brunt of it. The ground shook as he narrowly avoided being crushed, but Wyatt knew something was wrong when the ground continued to shake long after he thought it should. As fresh stones began to fall on the human, he knew what had happened.

The pillar had collapsed.

Struggling to stand against this new torrent of stones, the blinded human tried desperately to move. He was disorientated, and the ground beneath him began to crumble, making escape impossible. In a last-ditch effort for survival, Wyatt cast Slowing Current on himself, just as he was struck in the head by another falling rock.

The roar of the golem was drowned out by the collapsing floor around them, but both faded to nothing as Wyatt lost consciousness.