A soft breath caught Ciun’s sleeping ears.

She shot up from a deep slumber, face flushed and exposed. Her surging heartbeat overpowered the breathing as she instinctively covered her face and found her bearings. In a quick flip of her head, she shrouded her face in a curtain of her hair. It was then that she noticed Illus blindfolded and lying across the chamber- the source of the breathing. She caught her own breath, a trickle of embarrassment showing from whatever dream slowly faded from memory, then picked the mask up from where she had been laying. With a sigh, the fox mask clung to her face as if magnetized.

Apart from the soft breaths of the sleeping Illus and some crunching of her bed, the chamber was silent. A sense of tranquility slowly set in, idly watching Illus sleep. He seemed so uncomfortable on the granite floor, an old tapestry his only protection from the hard floor. A thought drifted through Ciun’s head, a tender thought of gently lifting him into bed with her and cuddling him until he woke up. She happily entertained it, yearning to feel the same peaceful touch as the night prior, in his arms. But duty outweighed that feeling, and instead she took to the mountaintop.

It was welling up to be another scorching, dry day of summer. The river would most certainly be drying soon, and she already spied smoke to the distant south. Several small fires worth. A large party, likely.

The fox hummed the song of his procession while he paced next to the river which was dry as a light brook, very aware that Ciun listened in.

But Ciun’s ears caught voices to the south and the north- more people. Speaking directly next to the barrier on both sides, amidst the same conversation.

----------------------------------------

Past the stone and down the slope there was no river, only shimmering air like heat rising from fire. Sator looked up and down the bank, clueless about where the river went or why the walls of roses were not present. He approached the shimmering air and reached his hand through.

Upon touching the shimmering air, a force pulled Sator through the space. He lost no balance, as if transported in his pose to the other side. He looked back through the shimmering air to Colonel Uthman, Captain Chitus’s investigation team, and five mules packed full of gear. Colonel Uthman’s mouth moved, but Sator heard nothing. He reached out once more and was immediately returned to the others. The Colonel was in the midst of saying something.

“-are the ruins, Sator? Do you know what this is?”

Sator scratched the back of his head. “I couldn’t hear from the other side, but the river is supposed to be here.” He pointed to the rippling space. “I think… maybe it pulls you to the other side of the ruins?”

Chitus scratched his sideburn. “When does it open, Sator? The other group is already on our heels! We need to find a way in quickly!”

“Captain,” Sator shrugged, a little defensive, “I don’t know the stipulations for when walls of magic disappear according to-to-to a-the water level or what-have-you! She said it opens when it dries and closes when it floods, and the river floods a hell of a lot faster than it dries.”

Uthman put a hand out to silence Chitus. “Sator, what is the fastest entry point to the ruins? Our timing may be barred, but we can capitalize on positioning.”

Sator pointed through the shimmer. “The north side is a lot flatter from what I remember.

“Then we will enter there and make haste when the walls come down.”

Behind them was the group led by Anilee. “Led” would be a bit of a stretch. Anilee did nothing but complain about the scoundrels who answered her call to action. She camped with the more trustworthy crowd, though even they wanted little to do with her, and only put up with her because her suitor had the map. Infighting had been prevented, but several attempts to steal the map and take off on their own led to a small deserter party of thieves who they saw no trace of by the time the sinkholes appeared. New accusations of thievery and mutiny arose every morning. New issues plagued them to no end: supplies running short, men sick, injuries rampant.

Skepticism about the ruins existing at all permeated through the camp. At every turn, Anilee refused to show anyone the map for fear of mutiny, even when the scholars and soldiers asked to know what terrain they would be encountering. Bound by a lust for treasure, little held the group together. Armed to the teeth with rifles, oil, and blades, tensions sat on a hair trigger between the privateers and the pirates.

They lagged behind the officer party by a day and several hours, and they slowed every time men fell into sinkholes never to be seen again. Heavy, humid haze rose like death from the catacombs, dread infecting the air around the ruins. They claimed several travelers every day, sometimes by accident, and often by “accident.”

The days dragged on. Dry, hot weather sucked the moisture from everything in the forest. The officer party anxiously sat by the north side, close to the mountain for a vantage point. Anilee’s hodgepodge collection of plunderers crashed through the forest, hacked through every branch and vine between them and fortune, reaching the lone stone where they originally encountered the fox.

Evening came and the heat swelled. Finally, in a blink, the shimmer flickered away to reveal the dry riverbed.

The officer party entered without hesitation, easily passing through the dry north river into the ruins until a wall of roses and thorny vines blocked their path.

Captain Chitus grumbled and stepped up to the wall, hand on his cavalry saber.

“Captain,” Sator called in a whisper, “ask them to part.”

“I am requesting permission to pass,” Chitus grumbled.

A vine defiantly twisted in the air before him. As he gripped his saber and prepared to draw, Sator snuck up beside.

“Uh, hi, roses, apologies for last time. May we please pass?”

The vine wiggled as if chuckling. A rose popped out of the tip of the vine and fell into Sator’s palm, then they promptly parted.

Sator swallowed his fear and waved them forward. “Hands on backs like we practiced.”

Uthman drew his rifle. “No firing until we have multiple confirmations on target. Sator first, followed by Chitus’s investigation team, then I’ll take rear.”

“Yes sir,” all of them said in unison as they crouched and proceeded forward, hands on each other’s backs to counter the fox’s mirages.

At the south river, the fox took off in a dash toward the rising smoke. He spotted a familiar, welcome sight surrounded by a perfectly unorganized and vulnerable army of wayward treasure hunters.

“Verily?” A smile twisted the fox’s face in sick delight. “Anilee! What luck!”

“Oh ____,” Illus groaned from atop the mountain, “of course she’s back.”

Ciun put on a reassuring smile, “the fox just found her. However, several men are approaching from the north end, by the old fishing spot. Your friend Sator, one named Chitus, some investigators, and an older gentleman who seems to be the leader.” She gently took Illus’s hand. “The fox is as occupied as we’ll get. Are you ready to go? Do you know what you must ask of the comet?”

“We’re good to go.”

“Illus,” the mask’s glare held firm on him, “do you know what you must ask?”

He nodded to the side. “I’m close to it, I know that much. There’s some bind, some shackle linking everything together. The magic, or the principle thereof, is the link which will shatter the rest of the chain. Whatever the root of this magic is, that’s the crux of the question.”

“Thinking time is limited now. Unlike me, you can’t dream about it for an eternity,” she squeezed his hand, “so I will not blame you for choosing to leave, for choosing life.”

Illus chuckled. “You’ve had eternity to think about it, though. You know it, don’t you?”

She was silent, mouth pursed like she held a slew of words back.

“And you can’t tell me, right?”

Again, nothing.

Illus nodded. “Let me talk to Sator and the investigators first. The fox will besiege this peak as soon as it catches wind of our heist. They may be able to help defend if we get them up here for the wish. We’ll hop down, have a chat, then get going.”

Hand in hand they leapt to the north river. The officer party crept low to the ground, searching bushes and columns cautiously. They didn’t notice Ciun and Illus until they were on the trail ahead.

“Morning, gents,” Illus pulled his hand away and approached the party.

Sator’s eyes lit up, but he just clutched his rifle tightly. “Of all the tricks.”

Colonel Uthman called out, “can we get visual confirmation on Illus?”

All the men said yes.

Ciun spoke up from behind Uthman. “He’s not of the fox.”

Uthman twisted awkwardly trying to keep his hand on the investigator’s back. “And who are you?”

The Ciun behind Uthman shimmered and dissipated into puffs of mist.

Another Ciun spoke up from atop Uthman’s head, bent at the waist to meet his eyes. “I am the keeper of these ruins.”

The Colonel ducked and the false Ciun drifted away.

Before he could speak, she continued from behind a bush. “The fox is on the other side with Anilee and her cohort.”

Colonel Uthman’s eyes shot open and he scowled. “What does it want with her?”

Illus interrupted. “It’s probably going to use her to hurt me or interfere once it finds out what we’re doing, which is why I need you to help us, but also get her out. We’ll give you access to the mountain. The peak is safe from the fox’s influence, but we have another task that requires the mountain to remain clear of the others.”

“And why the hell should we do what you say, deserter?!” Chitus piped up from his spot, spitting with every word. “You’re under arrest for leaking classified documents.”

“You say deserter,” Ciun appeared next to Chitus, “but he had little choice in being stranded here, courtesy of the fox.”

Chitus tried to grab her sleeve, but she blew away into mist. He quickly turned back to Uthman. “I don’t like the looks of this sorceress.”

“Forget that I am here,” she walked out from behind Illus. All eyes were on the mask.

Disbelief slapped Illus’s serious mood away. “The documents? Seriously? Chitus, respectfully, I don’t care about those files right now. They’re only classified on an arbitrary technicality.” He put up a hand to quiet Chitus as he finished speaking. “Arrest me when I get back. What I need to make clear, and Sator can attest to this, is that these ruins are incredibly dangerous, especially with more people around. I’ve been here this entire time, following clues and riddles beyond the edge of my sanity, unraveling the story. Fact of the matter: this is the fox’s prison. It ruled an ancient empire through magic and deceit. I have a chance at ending the fox for good, but we need time and a clear mountaintop. Get to the peak or leave, you’ll fall prey to the fox if not.”

Uthman stepped forward, breaking the chain. “Sator mentioned it could deceive our eyes and ears, but what can that fox really do?”

“It will have that group shooting at us within a few deceptions. Stay hidden. I’ve been victim to how it invades your mind. It plants false realities and memories, making you think you’re somewhere you’re not, doing what it wants unwittingly. Its powers here are great, but not nearly the strength from when it clutched her people’s entire empire. If the fox gets out, if anyone takes her mask, it could spell disaster for all civilization.”

Chitus sneered at Illus. “How do we know you’re not under her spell?”

“Chitus,” Illus sighed, “I can’t prove it to you other than through action, so let me work.”

Uthman stared intently into Illus’s eyes, reading him closely. His aged eyes were wrinkled beyond his years, but they could parse a speck of madness in an unknowing soldier in a second.

Illus nodded, a casual smirk crawling up his cheek.

Uthman sighed away the tense moment. He saw the same Illus in those pale gray eyes, though they seemed older, wiser, and scarred. He set his hand on Chitus’s shoulder, finally reining in the rambunctious officer. “It’s in our best interest to trust Illus. If he knows these ruins, we have no reason not to. And all we have heard about the sorceress is positive thus far.” He set a skeptical eye on Ciun.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Sator stepped forward and hugged Illus. “It’s good to see you again.”

Illus was reluctant to believe Sator was real until he felt the firm clasp of his arms. “You, too. How’s Ty?”

“Good. We thought you were dead. I wish she could see you now, if only just for peace of mind.”

“No, it’s good that she’s not here. This may turn into a warzone soon.” He shot a wary look at Uthman. “Colonel, there is no time to waste. If you care about your daughter, get her out.”

“Anilee is her own woman. She will leave or join us according to her own will.” For as confident and direct as Uthman was, he struggled to hold eye contact with Illus as he said that.

Sator turned to Ciun, who was standing still behind Illus. “Did you save him?”

She silently nodded.

“Thank you. We put the cup to good use.” He grabbed Illus’s arm. “We kept hope that you were alive, that you were saved somehow. Tyza’s expecting, living at the house we built. Even got my parents here now.”

Illus’s cheeks stretched wide with joy, his nerves leaving him for a brief moment. He pointed into Sator’s chest. “That is precisely why you will stay safe and hidden. If you die on my sister, I’ll kill you.”

Sator snickered. “Don’t you die on her either. We got a spare plot with your name on it.”

Without thinking, a stray glance from Illus hit Ciun before he quickly turned back to Sator. She noticed his eyes, turning her face down. But Illus’s heart leapt at seeing Ciun’s bashful smile and noticeably flushed cheeks. He had to fight not to mirror her. “I will never turn down your generosity, but I need to finish this first.”

Sator seemed to key into the odd glance. “How long is this thing of yours going to take?”

Ciun spoke up. “If we hurry now, it will be done tonight.”

“God willing we get out of here,” Illus took a deep breath, “she will be joining us.” He pointed back to Ciun, who lightly nodded to them.

“What’s your plan, kid?” Chitus wasn’t fully on board, frustratedly trying to cooperate.

“Do you think it's safe to say?” Illus asked Ciun.

She paused, then nodded.

“We go into those catacombs- which, by the way, stay far away from them- and when we return, you’re going to see us with a brilliantly bright glowing orb. It is vital that neither the fox nor anyone else get their hands on it, because that is our only chance of ending this mess. The fox cannot actually harm you. All it can do is trick your senses and afflict you with extreme mental anguish. It also cannot get on the mountain’s peak, which is why it will likely use the others to seize that land. We need to get there with the orb to properly execute this mission.”

Chitus nodded along with Illus’s story, still showing signs of distrust.

Illus sighed and retrieved a journal. “I’ve got all my on-site research in here. Review it afterward to your liking, but I need it now.”

“Illus,” Colonel Uthman commanded, “get going. We need that fox off the field as soon as possible. I trust you have the shot.”

“Always, sir.” With a nod to the men, he took Ciun’s hand and they set off toward the gully beneath the bridge.

“Ciun, what’s the fox telling Anilee and the others?”

“Nothing important aloud. It’s still struggling to get her up the hill.”

Illus recalled the way the fox would tell him things through delusions and dreams, invading his mind to retain secrecy. His eyes caught a rising cloud of black smoke from the river. “What about their responses? Will we run into them?”

A note of melancholy befell her as she led him through brush. “They burned straight through the roses after losing men to them. There are several groups splitting to various locations around the ruins. The louder and more rambunctious groups are beelining for the amphitheater and the mosaic. They’re…” she paused, casting a glance in the direction of her only lasting memory of her sister. “They’re chiseling the pieces off to sell. Smashing through it to find valuables.”

Illus strengthened his grip on her hand, “I’m sorry I led them here.”

“No,” she smiled at him, “you are not to blame. All pasts fall to obscurity eventually. You have given me the chance to part from it without regret.”

They reached the entrance to the catacombs, the void of darkness that not even plants would poke their tendrils into. Vines opted to grow over the entrance as if even nature knew those morbid halls were better off sealed away.

“Ciun,” Illus’s hand shook, palm growing clammy, “what will we find in the fox’s domain?”

She halted in place. No words.

“Anything you can tell me at all?”

Courage fleeted behind Ciun’s mask, her hand the source of stress. Her fear surged for what she would be walking Illus into. “I have no words which will prepare you for the depths farther than you have ventured. These catacombs unrelentingly seek to break even the strongest of mind. Keep my hand, with it a vow that no matter what wretched revelations the abyss consumes us in, we will remain faithful and true to one another.”

Illus breathed in. “On my life.”

“And I on mine.”

They stepped through the threshold into the underworld of Imahken. Down the stone steps and through the dusty halls. A procession of skulls watched them proceed hand in hand until all echoes of light disappeared. In the darkness with the dead, not a thing could be seen. The musty corridors dripped moisture. Bones cracked and scraped at every step, echoes twisting into whispers from the walls.

The hollow sockets of ancient eyes follow them, those same skulls whose smiles never ceased as though they laughed at a dead man soon to be joining their ranks. He knew the fox was not near, but shadows darker than the void still crossed his vision, the only remedy being to close his eyes and let Ciun’s hand guide him. She became the only sensation, the only source of sound in a place words had not touched in eons. The heat from her hand and occasional brush of hair returned some comfort to him, tiny drops in a split bucket. His racing mind slowed as her aroma of herbs and pears wafted into his nose.

“How long will this take?”

“It matters not,” she said. “Time does not exist down here the same as the surface. After long enough, you lose all your patterns, all sense of time and place.”

Illus’s mind was not fond of her foreboding words. “So how do you navigate down here? And why can we not have light?”

Her voice fell sullen, morbid. “I ran so long that the denizens of these halls spoke to me, guided me through this realm of death. The light burns their eyes, then they scream for the fox. Do you not hear the chorus ushering us onward?”

Illus’s voice shook and his hand shuddered. “Am I supposed to?”

Ciun squeezed his hand, a slight chuckle. “No, my apologies. Something about this place raises such a macabre humor in me. I find it best to embrace it, to laugh at the horrors within you, to make light of the dread without.”

“What if the horrors make their way out of me again? What if the fox pulls me away until I forget who I am?”

“What if I lead you into a crevice? What if I let go of you in the dark?” She stopped, her breath brushing his lips. “What if I kiss you and disappear into mist?”

“I’m at your mercy, Ciun.”

She led him on. “Just as I was at yours, yet you contained all the devious intrusions that your mind and the fox sought to corrupt you with.”

Illus clutched her hand tighter. “I wonder how I could kill that side of me.”

Ciun snickered. “I quite enjoy that side of you, I’d hate to see it go.”

“Why shouldn’t I be rid of that madness, that evil?”

“There is no good without evil, and even less if you are unaware of your own evils. Take peace in knowing your madness and you will never fall to it again, Illus.” She paused, their scraping steps filling the beat. “Do you want to know how I know where we are?”

“Is it because you can see through the mask?”

She squeezed his hand. “The markings I left when I was first trapped down here remain. Paintings in my own blood. Etchings in the walls. Remnants of bone sculptures and the friends I built to keep me company. Spend enough time down here and the voices of the dead will sound like old friends.”

His voice fell further. “How did it take you so long to get out?”

“The stone cast me into the catacombs and my city sealed me in. The entrance we came from used to be a passage to the main temple. I only escaped once it finally collapsed, long after the fox’s hunting parties ceased chasing me.”

“Every time I think I’ve heard the worst that’s happened to you, you surprise me with more.”

Ciun giggled, her tone light despite the bleak memories welling up in her. “Nobody ever found me because I hid in the lowest levels of the catacombs. Millions of corridors beneath the entire city, a labyrinth which feeds on the living. Everyone went mad or perished before they could get down far enough. And the fox could not touch me. Sleeping among the dead is oddly peaceful once you’re numb to the solitary starvation. Hell begins to feel like home.”

“Does anything good ever happen in these ruins or does everyone go mad and die?”

A smile laced her words. “You happened.”

Time went on wordlessly, but the damp darkness became less imposing than before. Nothing was with them in the depths, no matter the specters and shadows Illus’s mind showed him. Ciun’s hand diligently guided him forward, around turns and over holes in the floor, warning him how and where to step with the precision of one who had traipsed through these halls a million times over.

But even her comfort could not stay the smothering swell of dread. Shades in the darkness cackling like the fox. Their words steeped into Illus’s slowly shattering sense of space. His body just another spirit in the smoke, like a worm slithering through a vat of pitch, pulled along by beings beyond his understanding toward an imperceivable end.

His heart pulsed hard and heavy, his lungs unable to suck the thick air in. The dead called, and they would not relent until he joined them. Ciun’s hand seemed to fade, the heat of her skin falling numb even as a glow pierced the miasma.

Illus thought it was another trick of the eyes until the fox’s chamber, its domain, sprawled out before him. A craterous hill of bone dust, shadows stretching far from every grain as the shimmering moon above twisted and curled its light. The shadows danced like waves in an ominous ocean on the dust. Atop the hill in the center sat a column of fused bones, claw-like digits holding a brilliant white stone aloft. Far above that, the moon shone onto the stone, carved into the ceiling like an eye watching its most valuable treasure. Surrounding it, an empty night sky, not the deep indigo of night, but a starless void. The entire chamber hummed the dull drone of the universe, imposing its crushing weight upon Illus and Ciun.

Ciun clutched Illus’s hand as he stepped forward without her, out of the tunnel and into the chamber. “I cannot accompany you any farther, but stay close just in case.”

The air finally found its way back into Illus’s lungs. “Not a worry. I’ll be in and out quickly.”

Illus let go of her, pulling the rifle from his shoulder for fear of the fox. He scanned the interior and carefully proceeded forward. Soft crunches left prints like snow beneath his feet. The column held the comet stone high on the hill and the faux moon’s pale glow refracted through it.

He stopped in his tracks and pulled out the journal, reminded of the dual poems, one triplet in particular.

Top no ground.

Tis stone crowned,

‘Neath where found,

The glassy moon shifted when he walked forward as if there was a light within the crown of this underground chamber. Not on the ground, not on a column, but in the ceiling. Once again, Carmonia clued him into the truth.

Illus raised the rifle toward the moon. Iron sights would have to do, but it was a shot he knew he could make. If the fox did not know they were in its domain, then it would once the glass broke.

“Cover your ears.” He took a breath in and pulled the trigger.

A gunshot rang out.

And the fox cackled. Anilee ran across the bridge in a fit of hysterics, up to the mountain where she spied her father. The smoking pistol in her hand told the story of a lonely lead that never met its target.

“She couldn’t hit a shot if she put the barrel to her pot!” The fox mocked her with a cackle. “A foolish girl, but worth a whirl.”

“Anilee, wait!” Her suitor called, a blond man whose jacket wore him while he swam in his trousers. He stood a head taller than the tallest men in the expedition, yet carried himself as if he were small. A cavalry saber jangled from his belt, and he huffed and puffed from the two stuffed satchels tugging him off balance. His foot tried to step on the collapsed roof of the bridge, but he turtled with an exhausted gasp.

“Pack mule!” The fox sauntered up next to him. “Need fuel?”

He took the moment to catch his breath. “What are you on about, fox?”

“Why, food, of course. I know a source.”

“I have some, thank you. It’s a pain enough trying to find this sorceress as is, but chasing after Anilee too?” He sighed.

The fox took on a cordial, respectful tone. “I always admire love and care, but are you sure you’re a good pair?”

Anilee’s suitor chuckled. “She is perfectly imperfect, as we all are, but I know that with time and affection, she will come around.”

The fox restrained a boisterous cackle, maintaining its tone. “Aspirations so noble, but you’re quite immobile.”

“I’ll be up in a few minutes. I think you talking about her ex really hurt her feelings.”

The fox pretended remorse. “Unseen! I’m mean! I didn’t glean! I’m unkeen! So rarely do visitors come, with people I am dumb!” The fox began bashing its snout against the granite bridge.

“No, fox!” The suitor put his hand out to pet the fox, stroking its coarse pelt. “It’s not your fault! I’m sure if you explain and apologize, she’ll understand. I didn’t mean to accuse you. Maybe when-”

Suddenly, the fox’s eyes shot open.

A disturbance. A call from hence. The stone had flown.

A growl escaped its mouth, urgency shaking its wiry body. It snapped at the suitor’s hand. “Those two! A coup! Kill me! I plea! A blade! Flesh splayed!”

The suitor rolled backwards, a yelp when the fox pretended to attack. “I’m sorry! I apologize dearly! I meant nothing by it! It’s not worth dying over!”

The fox screamed rabidly, piercing the ears of the suitor. “I will not die! The time is nigh!” Its eyes flared, filling the suitor’s mind with images of the fox rabidly attacking him, but the suitor recoiled into himself and covered his vitals.

“Please! You’re better than this!”

The fox vibrated in a fit of rage, screaming while its eyes searched wildly for somebody else to do the deed.

One of the hunters stuck a finger in his ear and drew his pistol. “Oy! Shut up!”

A gunshot rang out.

Shards of glass showered over the false comet stone as the blindingly bright orb fell from its case. Silently through the air it plunged until with a dull thud it bounced on the top of the hill, rolling toward Illus.

He gave himself a nod and ejected the casing, then slung the rifle over his shoulder and ran to the stone. He whirled an empty satchel from his other shoulder and picked up the comet stone in his hands.

Whiteness engulfed him.

A deafening thunder engorged his ears like his head had been thrust into a screaming blast furnace. Pressure forced its way into his head, an invisible fist clutching his brain.

A threat.

A bitterly cold decree roared from the comet stone.

Truth or death.

No… something worse than death.

A warning.

And yet it strained, as if weak, as if the thrumming grip on Illus’s mind had not reached its full strength. As if the stone beckoned him upward, toward the sky.

“Illus!” Ciun’s voice infiltrated his mind and ripped him back to reality.

Not a moment had passed and the stone was falling into the satchel as he had intended. The invisible tendrils still coiled around his brain, though, the comet present in the back of his mind. His head reeled, losing balance and staggering to his knees.

“Illus!” Ciun yelled from the entrance with a startling fear, like something else chilled her to her core. “Hurry!”

He rose to his feet, shaking off the stone’s interference. Three steps had passed when he heard a voice behind him and instinctively drew his machete.

His feet carried him forward as fast as humanly possible, a desperate rush to get back to Ciun, stirring up bone dust and using the hill to propel him faster. Pushing to his limits, his body threatened to tumble faster than his legs could run. He turned his head to check behind him, only to see the maniacal smile of the fox.

“Our plan from whence shall now commence. Illus the saboteur, tis time to remember.”