Meera dusted her hands off with the powdered remains of the crystal and moved for the door when something stumped her. She paused and looked at the smoky steed. "Can you leave this room?" Meera asked. "Or is your soul tethered to this room."

"I'm not sure," he replied. "I've never tried to leave this room, but I don't think I'm tethered to this room. I believe the master set up barriers around these rooms prior to his experiments failing, so the wraiths couldn't come in, but I should be able to leave."

Meera shrugged. "Well, let's find out."

She went to the door, opened it, and motioned for Onyx to leave first. Despite their conversation, something still unnerved her about having a ghost at her back in a narrow tunnel where she would have no way of defending herself if he set upon her.

Onyx neighed and looked uncertain but nodded. Meera didn't think it was to say yes, but more of an instinctual habit from his life as a horse. Onyx left his body and came out as a full-fledged steed. To say he was huge would be an understatement. His back alone was higher than Meera's head. His head stood about ten feet high, scraping the ceiling. The door wasn't tall enough for him to walk out of.

"How did they get you in here?" Meera pondered.

"Oh, they strapped me to the table and kept me strapped until…you know…until I died."

"You mean, until they killed you."

"Yes, that is one way of saying that," Onyx paused, looking about. "Meera, I will walk out first, but I must say I am entirely useless in a fight. I am going to rely on you to keep me safe."

Meera squinted at first and then sighed. "You're a ghost, Onyx."

"Yes, and they are wraiths. The more vengeful form of ghosts. I am sure they can cause me lots of harm if they will it."

Meera nodded. "Okay, but stay in front of me and cause a distraction with your smoke."

"What for?"

Meera smirked. "You'll see. And when I call out to you, you better run after me. We'll be headed for the other two talking souls. I want to see what sort of treasures they have. Then we'll go for your master."

"O-Okay."

Onyx moved out the door. His head was in the roof, so he bent down to ensure he was going straight. His white smoke was like a smoke bomb obscuring Meera from the waiting wraiths, whose snarls echoed in the tunnel.

It didn't take them long to reach the tunnel's mouth, and Meera patted Onyx's behind, only for her hand to go through him.

"Tsss," Meera called, and thankfully Onyx got the signal and stopped. It was rather comical. The horse froze in spot, with his head lost in the rocks above.

The wraiths snarled some more. Through the smoke, Meera made out that they didn't try to lunge for Onyx, which meant they saw him as one of their own or Onyx's prediction about the magical barrier on this tunnel was true. This gave Meera an idea.

She stepped through Onyx, making sure none of her chakrams touched him, as she didn't want to send him to the beyond this way. The wraiths immediately went into a frenzy when they saw her. They hustled and tried to get at her, but the invisible barrier on this tunnel didn't let them come in.

She pulled off her chakrams and activated her new skill—Mirror Eagle's Perceptivity. Everything went into sharp focus. Then, she started target practice with the wraiths. One after another, her chakrams flew into the wraiths. She heard the notification bells go off as the chakrams cut into them, and they started dying. The world in the cavern beyond was washed in a green light from the burning torches. They provided enough light for her to do her dirty work.

The best part was she didn't have to waste any Mana or run for her life as she simply stood there and wasted them. They began evaporating with two or three hits.

"Wow, that is quite…"

"Ingenious," Meera finished for him. "If you can kill them from a safe spot, then why do all the hard work? Besides, my armor is in pretty bad shape."

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The wraiths' numbers began to thin as she worked on one after another. Her aim had gotten so good that she didn't miss a single wraith's head. No matter how much it tried to wiggle as they pushed against the invisible barrier. Then, after a few dozen chakram throws later, the last of the wraiths finally evaporated. Meera had an urge to check her notifications, but she didn't want to stand there for another half an hour looking at them and trying to filter out what she needed and what was useless.

I'll do that when I get to the next room, and I hope it has another thing as useful as the Failed Crystal.

"Okay, Onyx, we're going to be moving out, but stay close," Meera said. "I don't think all the wraiths are dead. I saw some in the back vanishing. They will come for us when we leave this tunnel."

"Understood. Which direction are we headed in?"

"Good question." She looked at the tunnel on the other side of the cavern and was sure that was where she had heard the first voice from, lay on her right now. "Hey!" Meera yelled. "The other two souls who want to be free of this place. Are you still there?"

"Yes!" cried a loud voice which echoed through the cavern. "I'm here."

"So am I."

"Okay, I'm coming to you, and I'm bringing a friend along, but I need to do this one at a time. I've taken care of the wraiths for now, but more will be coming for me. So, keep talking, it'll guide me to you."

"Sure thing, miss," said the first voice. It was a heavy voice, but not naturally heavy, but more like someone was trying to overcompensate.

"You got it," said the second one. "But please come to me first. There are lots of treasures here."

"No, I have even more treasures than him."

"You're a liar," cried the second. "I have the bigger hoard, and you know it."

Meera sighed and looked to Onyx, who would have shrugged if he could've. "Any idea which one of the two bickering idiots we should visit first?"

"Always heard them talk about room number thirty-nine and how it had some breakthrough," Onyx said. "But I'm guessing these two were also animals and would not know how to read numbers."

Meera sighed. "Not helping, Onyx."

He chuckled. "Sorry."

She turned back to those still going on about whose treasure was bigger.

"Your treasure is not even big," said the fake heavy voice. "My treasure is so big it would leave you flabbergasted."

The second snorted. "My treasure is so big that its shadow would block out the sun."

"My treasure is so big you're probably standing on it."

"I can guarantee that my treasure is bigger than both of yours combined," Onyx snickered.

Meera glared at him. "You just had to go there, didn't you?"

The horse shoved his head back into the rock ceiling to avoid her gaze. She turned to the cavern. "Okay, let's stop this. Which one of you is in room thirty-nine?"

"I am."

"No, I am."

Meera groaned. "You're both getting on my nerves."

"Sorry, miss, but it's the truth. I truly am," said the fake, heavy-voiced one.

Before the other could but in, Meera spoke up. "If I find out you're lying to me, I'll feed you to the wraiths."

"N-No, miss. You'll see I'm telling the truth."

"Fine. We're coming to you. Just keep talking."

He started singing, which worked, but his voice broke in so many places that it was more squealing than singing, but it was better than them trying to measure their treasures.

Meera looked at the headless ghost. "Onyx, we dash to the middle of the cavern and try to figure out where he is, but if the wraiths attack us, you get to the safety of a tunnel. I will try to hold them off as best as I can and join you."

"Understood."

Meera drew a deep breath and dashed out of the cave. The clopping of hooves behind her told her the horse's ghost was right behind her. She had gone maybe two meters when the wraiths descended from the upper floors.

Meera's guess was correct. The singing was coming from directly opposite them. "Pick up the pace. Go!"

She used Shadow Step and had to immediately duck when she reappeared as a wraith used its Phantom Strike on her. She rose with an uppercut with a chakram held in her fist. It left a cut all along the wraith's body. She slashed it one more time, and it was gone. Onyx had made it to the tunnel, thankfully untouched. She was surrounded by the wraiths already.

There was still half the cavern to get to. They hissed and snarled while some laughed. Despite having killed so many of them before, more seemed to have returned to take their place.

"Meera, get here quickly," Onyx cried. "You can't fight them all."

He was right. It wouldn't take them long to overpower her. Just as the first one attacked, she used Shadow Step and teleported up into the air. Found a shadowy spot closer to the tunnel Onyx was in, which was still more than ten feet away as a torch burned right beside the tunnel.

She Stepped to her desired spot, but before she did, a wraith she had not seen appeared behind her and slashed out her back.

Meera cried and teleported out of there. A moment after she appeared in her desired spot, another invisible wraith left a deep cut on her left arm. Meera shrieked and dropped her chakram.

How are they invisible now?

Without thinking, she ran for Onyx. The invisible wraith was on her tail. It left two slashes on her, one on her shoulder and the other on her lower back.

"Come on, Meera," Onyx cried. "Just jump."

Meera gritted her teeth, activated Primal Power, and pushed so hard with her legs that she cracked the rocky ground. She was launched towards the tunnel. She sailed through Onyx and nearly cracked her head on the rocky tunnel wall.

"Are you okay?" Onyx asked, bending down, which made half of his body disappear into the wall.

"I will be in a moment," Meera huffed and activated Vitalize.

Her wounds sealed up after a few breaths. She stood and dusted herself off. She felt around her back, and her armor had three more holes. Maybe all-leather assassin armor is not the right thing for me. I should get some metal added to this.

"Okay, let's go see what this soul is and what treasure he has to offer," Meera said as she moved for the door at the end of the tunnel.