Meera huffed. They'll finish me off before I finish them off. She was sure of this. Blood dripped from her fingertips, and she felt light-headed. She tried to heal as much as possible while ensuring her Mana didn't dip too low as she needed it for Shadow Step—the skill keeping her alive.

[Health: 198/530]

[Stamina: 258/600]

[Mana: 221/580]

Aside from her health, most of her stats were doing okay, all things considered. But it would not be enough to kill the horde of monsters before her. She had to have taken down dozens of them so far, but it didn't look like it.

The decomposing, smoky monsters were coming for her relentlessly. Even now, they stared at her while she clung to the far side of the cave. Her torch fluttered on the ground. She was surprised that it had stayed lit in the fighting.

A couple of wraiths vanished from the group. She knew where they would appear. Tactician's Gaze had an effective pattern down for these things.

Meera drew a deep breath. Well, this is as much rest as I'm going to get.

She turned around and slashed with her chakram. The two wraiths that had appeared at her back got their bellies opened, washing her with white light. They were about to slash at her already ruined back. An arc with her chakram to the back of its neck, followed by a couple of slashes to its back, and it evaporated into thin air.

She didn't wait and got to work by throwing herself at the horde. It was not the smartest thing to do, but it needed to be done. She needed to create an opening to get out of there, and the worst part was she couldn't turn back. She had to go deeper and was sure to find more of these things there.

She eyed where her torch was, and thanks to the wraiths around it, there were enough shadows for her to teleport to it. She used Shadow Step and emerged from the shadows, slashing with her chakrams. She killed two more wraiths, and the others scattered. Before they could converge on her, she used Shadow Step into the narrow tunnel from where these things had come. While they were still confused, she used Shadow Step several times to go further in.

Then, finally, one of the wraiths noticed her. He hissed, the others turned, and they teleported towards her. She Stepped a few more times until she exited the tunnel and entered a large cavern. As soon as she stepped in, torches lit with green flames, lighting up the place, throwing a green shade.

Meera turned around and tossed her torch into the horde of wraiths. Some of the more foolish ones stopped, thinking it was her chakrams. It gave her time to run into the cavern and decide her move. She ran to the middle of the cavern. The torches were placed beside narrow tunnels like the one she had come from.

There were torches up above as well, like a second floor. She couldn't tell if it had tunnels as well. She decided to explore it later. The wraiths had begun running again, and their wails and hisses made it harder for her to think.

"Please, come this way!" cried an echoing, haunting voice.

Meera nearly jumped out of her skin. None of the wraiths had talked before. She didn't think they could, and she was sure it had not come from them.

"No, no, you want to come this way," said a second voice. This one was more squeaky, as if someone was trying to imitate a mouse.

"I have lots of goodies in my room," said the first voice. It was coming from her right.

"I have better stuff in mine," said the second voice. This one was coming from straight ahead.

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The directions were her best guess, as the wraiths were not making it easy to discern their source. If she had Nimble Ears, she might have been able to, but now she had to decide quickly.

The wraiths spilled into the cavern. A couple disappeared and reappeared to Meera's right, striking at her. She moved to the left to avoid the blow.

"No! Don't go that way!" Cried the first voice. "You must come to me. I'm right here. Waiting with the goods."

The voice sounded a little too desperate. She didn't even have time to think as more wraiths attacked, driving her to the left. She slashed and killed a few of them, but unlike the first, these wraiths were more ferocious. They cared little for their safety, only that Meera should be cut down. They drove her to the mouth of the tunnel on the left.

The two voices shrieked and told her not to enter there and come to them. It was getting to the point where it was hard to think.

"Stop!" Shouted someone from the tunnel behind her. She didn't see anything but darkness, but someone powerful had spoken, as even the wraiths stopped at his command.

"You cannot enter here!" The masculine voice said, and then Meera's ears played tricks on her, or she heard a little neighing like a horse.

"See," the second voice said. "He doesn't even want you to go in there. Besides, you won't find anything in there."

That was all it took for the wraiths to return to their ravenous self, and they began attacking again. This time, even more ferociously. Meera had no option but to jump into the tunnel.

"GET OUT!" Roared the third voice. "I command you. Leave my tunnel immediately, or it won't be good for you."

"He has nothing in his room," said the first voice. "It's useless going in there. No wonder they discarded him and moved on to us. Come to us. We've got lots of goodies."

Now, Meera was sure there was something in this tunnel that they did not want her to find. The best part was that the wraiths had stopped at the mouth of the tunnel. They did not attack or force themselves in. They simply stopped moving and stared at her with their dead, vacant eyes.

Meera stood, looked into the dark tunnel, then lit another torch from her Lunar Hoard Belt. The tunnel was much like the last few she had been in. Jagged stone walls but at the end of it was a…door. She almost couldn't believe her eyes. She rubbed them and made sure she was seeing it correctly.

Leaving the wraiths where they were, she moved in towards the door. The other two voices outside begged her to come back, and then there was the one coming from inside the door.

"Stop! Turn around if you value your life."

Meera used Vitalize to heal herself of everything but minor scratches. Then she pulled out a Mana potion and chugged it to replenish her Mana.

"Stop, I say!"

She didn't, of course. What was one more wraith after fighting so many.

"Please stop. I promise there is nothing here. You're just wasting your time. You could be out there having fun with the wraiths, and I'm sure those two have much more stuff."

"If you have nothing, then you wouldn't mind me coming in to look," Meera replied.

"Uh, uh…If you come in here, you will be cursed. Cursed! Cursed to roam these caves like us, and this curse will be unbreakable."

"Hmm, I'm sure."

Meera reached the door. It was a door made of polished wood with a brass knob. She tried opening the door, only to find it locked.

"Ha, see, it's locked. Now, turn around and be on your way," said the voice from the other side, but it was not nearly as confident.

"We'll see about that." Meera pushed on the door and tried ramming her shoulder into it. Nothing worked. The door held. She sighed, stepped back, activated Primal Power, and kicked the door. The door nearly flew off its hinges as it smashed against the adjacent wall with a loud bang.

Her eyes widened, as inside the room looked like a laboratory. There were some beakers with dark liquids in them. It wasn't much different than what you would find in a chemistry lab, aside from the dead horse on the table in the middle of the room. The nauseating smell of the corpse almost made her gag. She placed her torch in the holder and covered her face with a hand as she carefully stepped into the room with a chakram in hand, ready to fight whoever had spoken.

For now, she saw no wraith or specter but knew they could appear out of nowhere and attack her at any moment. She carefully inspected the cobweb-covered instruments and realized it had been a long time since anyone had been there. There was a diary on a pedestal opposite the dead horse. Its pages had yellowed. She moved to the diary while watching the rest of the room with Mirror's Perceptivity.

There was something written about maybe extracting the horse's muscle, which had failed. Then there was talk about removing his heart, which had killed the animal. Apparently, the horse had killed someone named Larth, as it bucked when they tore into its chest cavity. Ultimately, that, too, had failed. In the end, they called it a failed experiment.

Meera was about to inspect the other contents of the room when white smoke originated from the table, and the ghost of the dead horse rose from its corpse. It had glowing blue eyes and the vague shape of a horse, but only its head had a solid form.

"You should not have come here. Now it's time for you to die," the dead horse said.

Meera should have been readying herself for a fight, but there was only one thing on her mind. "Wait! You can talk?"