Jace walked down into the tunnel, leading with his Whistling Blade. As he walked, the cutting edge glowed a faint white, lighting the hallway. Lessa followed close behind, holding her stolen plasma rifle, and Kinfild kept up the rear, holding his own rifle like a staff.

When the light of the hallway and the Koedor-Terginian facility faded behind them, Jace’s Whistling Blade barely produced enough light to see by. Thick shadows still glommed in the corners of the hallway, and he could barely see more than a few meters ahead.

Kinfild activated his basic, flame snap technique card and held the wisp of fire on his fingers, illuminating the hallway and scaring the shadows away. Square bricks formed the floor, and each was nearly a meter along its edge. About every ten steps, a thin pillar helped support the wall. Everything was angular and smooth, but cobwebs and black, oozing vines clung to the ceiling. They radiated a pressure like the spirit pond back on Lyvarion.

Probably Aes, or something to do with it. Shadow aspect? Dark aspect?

“So…this was made by the same people who built the giant space wall, right?” Jace asked. “What was this place?”

Kinfild shrugged. “No one knows why the Luminians built such structures, but some of them seem to be tombs or simply enormous treasure vaults. Inside the Wall, most of the low-level dungeons have been explored and raided, and anything valuable in them has long since been removed. The higher level ones? Well, they require more powerful Wielders to loot them, and more powerful Wielders are hard to come by. Only the truly powerful, secretive sects have the privilege of controlling the high-level dungeons within the Wall.”

Jace swallowed. “And outside the wall?”

“Corrupted by kobolds and other darklings. They set up nests and live in them.”

“That’s what happened here?”

“Presumably,” Kinfild said, holding up his hand to cast his light further. The wisp of orange light on his fingertips flickered, but stayed strong. “Stenol and his crew have been raiding this dungeon and using the kobolds. He even has them marching in lines.”

“They…don’t march normally?” Lessa asked.

“Kobolds were the ancient foot soldiers of the Enemy. They would only listen to him or his lieutenants—dark, fallen Wielders.” Kinfild shook his head, then grumbled, “But very few people remember or know that, and dark-aspect Wielders are no longer shunned or cast out.”

“And light aspect Wielders are…” Jace breathed.

Maybe things were worse than Kinfild thought.

After a few seconds, Kinfild said, “Indeed.”

“But Stenol isn’t a dark-aspect Wielder!” Lessa exclaimed. “His aspect is flame. Yeah, it might be Redflame, but it’s still flame.” She turned around and walked backward, staring directly at Kinfild. “Right? He doesn’t use any dark techniques?”

“Flame can be corrupted. Yellowflame is the least-corrupt, pinnacle of flame, then orange, then red, then black—a mixture of two aspects, flame and darkness.”

“So he’s one step off being a corrupted Wielder,” Jace muttered. “I doubt the kobolds can or care to distinguish, and he can sway them just fine. Or they’ll listen to him, or however it works in this place…”

No one said anything.

“Whatever it is,” Jace continued, “we need to find some kobolds and take them out. If they’re darklings, they should give me enough Aes to keep going, right? And they’re advanced, complex darklings—that has to count for something.”

They walked for what was probably another half-hour. The tunnel sloped downward, and the air grew heavier and more stale. This planet had no humidity, and each breath felt like he was sucking in a breath of sand.

Plus it smelled like rotting leaves and stagnant water.

“Funny,” Jace muttered when they arrived at an intersection. “The Split didn’t prompt me. It didn’t ask me to come down here or give me a little subquest or anything.” He stopped at the middle of the four-way intersection and turned in a circle, surveying the surrounding walls. A statue stood at each corner of the intersection. They were metal, and, aside from crowns and natural wreaths of dark, liquid-y vines, they hadn’t rusted at all.

There was very little moisture down here.

“It probably didn’t think you were strong enough to tackle the dungeon,” said Kinfild. “And it might have been correct. It wouldn’t purposely send its champion to their death.”

At that, Lessa gave a little snicker, then nudged Jace’s arm. “You’ll get there. I believe in you!”

“Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes. Then, he said, “But it told me to kill Stenol, and there’s no way I’d be able to do that even now, let alone when it gave me the quest.”

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“But that was a main quest, a Destined Quest, yes?” Kinfild turned his plasma rifle over and leaned on it like it was a staff. “It sends you on subquests when it deems it advantageous and feasible, and Destined Quests when it wants you to do something important soon. But not instantly.”

Jace blew out a puff of air, then opened his mouth to ask which direction they should go, when a distant chitter rumbled through the hallways. It was the exact same high-pitched, insectile noise that the kobolds in the quarry had made.

Jace strained his ears, trying to pinpoint exactly where it had come from. It echoed around the hallways and reverberated off the statues in the intersection hall, but it sounded like it was coming from the left.

He tilted his head. “Anything I should know before going after the kobolds?” he asked.

“Aim for their neck and upper body,” Kinfild said. “That’s where their cores are, and where it will be easiest to destroy them from.”

“Understood.”

“Wait, we’re running straight at them?” Lessa asked.

“Well…” Jace shrugged. “We’re not here for treasure. At least, I’m not…” He raised a finger. “Though, I won’t say no to anything that could help us.”

But gathering Aes from kobolds was more important for the moment.

“Alright, fine.” She lifted her rifle and flipped the safety catch off. “But you owe me a drink or two next time we get back to Lyvarion.”

Jace raised his eyebrows, then chuckled. “You got yourself a deal.”

They sprinted off down the hallway. The chittering cut off, but Jace kept moving. He’d find it eventually, and it wasn’t like they were being quiet, either. No matter what, darklings seemed to attack living creatures.

“Should we be watching for traps?” Lessa asked as they ran.

“If there were traps, the kobolds or Koedor-Terginians would’ve tripped them long ago,” Kinfild said. He tilted his head toward the wall, where a set of holes had been drilled into the stone. Jace took another step, and a loose brick depressed into the floor.

Nothing happened. No poisoned arrows, no spears. When he lifted his foot, the brick just clicked back into place like nothing had ever happened. “Ah. Wonderful. How many other traps would I have died to already if not for the kobolds?”

“Thirty-four,” Kinfild said plainly. “For Jace. For Lessa, forty-seven.”

“What?” Lessa exclaimed. “I’d have died more than him? How? I’m careful! You’ve seen how careful I am! No one’s more careful than me!”

Jace and Lessa stopped and stared at Kinfild. The Wielder spread his arms. “What? If they were still armed, I would’ve stopped you and kept you alive. Yes, including you, Ms. Kendine.”

They kept running until they reached another intersection. Metal statues lined the walls, holding spears and stretching their hands out, and an abandoned, dry fountain stood in the center.

And a trio of kobolds stood behind it. They chittered softly, gnashing their jaws and letting off nattering that sounded like a grasshopper clacking its wings together.

But as soon as they stepped into the room, the kobolds’ heads shot up. They stared directly at Jace, Kinfild, and Lessa.

[Level 10 Kobold], [Level 9 Kobold], and [Level 11 Kobold] read the tags above their heads.

Well, he’d found what he was looking for.

The beasts opened their mouths, revealing a broad maw of canine teeth, each a glimmering shard of black crystal. Their eyes were empty, and wounds covered their bodies, weeping black blood. They were all darklings, still.

Jace widened his stance, holding his sword out and pointing it at the kobolds. They threw their arms out to the side, revealing their claws. Coal-crystal talons clung to the tips of their fingers.

“Hit them at the neck and upper body, and they’ll die,” Kinfild said. “Be fast.”

Jace sprinted toward them. He vaulted over the edge of the fountain, then swiped at the nearest beast—the level eleven beast. It slashed at him, swinging its claws like a wild beast, and he raised the Whistling Blade. He slashed through one of its claws. Yowling, it reeled back, then gnashed its jaw at him.

The other two converged from the other side, trying to flank him, but Lessa blasted one in the stomach with a blast of plasma. Kinfild activated a technique card and struck the other kobold in the corner with a condensed bar of fire, sending it staggering away. Neither attack killed them, but it did knock them away and give Jace time.

He lunged at the first kobold. It was intelligent enough to jump back while swinging its claws. He angled his sword to the side and slashed through its wrist, severing its hand. It screeched, interspersing the boiling-kettle roar with clacks of its teeth.

As it screeched, Jace jumped closer. He slashed at it again. The tip of the Whistling Blade sliced through the upper layer of its flesh, but it leapt back again. Its skin was tougher than some of the other darklings, and its rough, angular armour of leather and black plates resisted the heat of his blade.

It was a few levels more advanced than him.

Kinfild blasted one of the other kobolds again, and Lessa shot one in the knee, keeping it distracted and down. But even wounded, it was trying to crawl toward her, and even up close, its armour had dispersed the majority of the blast’s energy.

Jace didn’t have time to mess around with the kobolds.

He lunged one last time, thrusting with all his might. The blade seared through the kobold’s chest and pinned it to a steel statue behind. He dragged it up, cleaving through its chest, then hacked its head off, leaving a single glowing gash in the wall behind. Its flesh was tough, but not enough to stop the direct blows.

Golden dust poured out of the air and floated into his chest. He ignored the heat for a few moments and turned to the other two. The beast Lessa had shot was crawling on the ground, now. “If you’re gonna kill it and take its Aes, do it now,” Lessa said. “Or I’m shooting it in the face.”

Jace turned his sword over to a reverse grip and approached it, then stabbed the blade down through the back of the beast’s neck.

Kinfild had the last Kobold under control, but Jace turned toward it anyway. He approached and slashed through its neck, destroying it. It fell and dispersed into a cloud of black ash. More Aes flooded into Jace’s chest.

Jace flicked the blade down, evaporating the last of the beasts’ dark blood. But just when he was about to sheath it and keep moving, a deep roar penetrated the chamber, making the floor rumble. The walls shook and dust fell from the ceiling.

Not good.