Tugging at my armor, I knelt beside one of the Giant Spiders, examining it closely. It hadn’t died long ago, but something about it was…off. The tiny hairs that covered its body were notably absent around its chest, and as I traced a hand over it, I found three long slashes. An itch at the back of my mind suggested familiarity, but the memory eluded me.

“Clover,” I called. She was by my side in an instant, sharp eyes scanning the spider corpses with a scowl.

“That's definitely not the work of a scorpion. I'm glad to not deal with that again, but… I don't like not knowing what we're up against.” She glanced at the other bodies, her frown deepening. “This isn’t the only one with burns, either. We’re likely dealing with another fire-type creature. Whatever killed them may be the reason this place is so sweltering.”

She traced the slashes. “But these are odd. They’re deep, definitely not from teeth. Maybe some kind of knife or talon…”

A monster that controlled fire, with talons, in a dungeon whose entrance had a bird carved into it. Dread settled in my gut as the pieces clicked together.

Swallowing around my suddenly dry throat, I choked out, “Clover, we need to leave.”

She spun toward me, raising an incredulous brow. “I'm sorry, what? This heat must be frying my brain because I thought you just said we needed to leave, when we're finally almost to the bottom floor.”

The urge to scoop her up and run screamed through my veins, but I forced it down, scanning our surroundings with renewed paranoia. “That won’t matter if we’re dead.”

Clover jerked, surprise and wariness coloring her features. She glanced around, the furrow between her brows deepening when nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Frederick, you’re going to need to throw me a bone here because I’m lost. What do you think we’re facing that’s so bad we have no chance of surviving against it?”

Adrenaline hammered through me with every heartbeat as I waited for the sound of crackling flame… or beating wings. I tugged at Clover’s arm, trying to guide her back the way we’d come. “We don’t have time for this, we need to–.”

She smacked my chest plate, the harsh clang bouncing off the walls until my ears rang with it. It snapped my focus to her. I hissed, “Careful, it'll hear us!”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Clover squared her shoulders with a scowl, though her voice was a whisper when she responded. “Frederick, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because you've had a truly shitty week and until now you've seemed like a smart man, but if you want me to leave here, you're going to need to give me a damn good reason.” She crossed her arms and waited.

I stopped trying to pull her, frustration breaking over me as I gritted my teeth. If I was right about what rested here, we needed to leave before it found us, but I couldn’t leave her, and she wouldn’t move until I explained. We probably had long enough for me to clue her in, and if we didn't… may the spirits watch over us.

Forcing the wild panic down before it could fully cloud my judgment, I whispered, “Clover, what was the image carved into the door of this dungeon?”

She frowned, thinking back. I saw the moment understanding dawned over her features, quickly followed by dread.

“You think we're dealing with a Phoenix.”

It wasn't a question, but I nodded, noting the way color drained from her face. “Yes, and we are woefully under-leveled for something like that. Even disregarding the fact we don't have aerial attack capability, my armor will be more of a hindrance than a help thanks to the fire. I'd have to dodge razor-sharp talons in plain clothing, which is also very flammable, and you already said you don't have spells that will work against a flying enemy.”

That wasn't even getting into the difference in experience or the fact that phoenixes came back to life unless killed with a special kind of iron.

Clover nodded, looping an arm around mine and walking us back toward floor three. “Right, we'll go to the dungeon closer to Starkfell and look there. I hate that we wasted so much time for nothing, but you're right. We won't be of any help to those people if we die.”

I kept pace with her, relieved to be putting distance between us and the firebird. With any luck, we’d sneak out without it being any wiser and–.

Clover slammed headfirst into a shimmering wall of magic, the force sending her backwards into me. I caught her on instinct, my relief doused under unease as I took in the barrier. “I thought only boss rooms locked you in?”

She steadied herself, examining the wall, her shoulders in a hard line. “Any monster can do this; bosses are just the most common because of their casting capabilities. More importantly, there's no point in running. Whatever cast this knows we're here now.”

The hair on my neck stood to attention as an ear-splitting shriek cut through the air. We spun toward the sound, and my heart dropped.

The firebird flew overhead, its beady eyes alight with fury as it tensed for a dive, talons glinting like daggers in the firelight.

I wrenched Clover behind me, barely raising an arm in time to shield against the bird’s talons. They latched on, their points digging into my armor and sending molten heat into the skin underneath.

Pain tore through me as blisters formed, and I bit back a curse, bracing for the worst.

Unless we came up with some kind of miracle, we were screwed.