We walked through the open arch and right into a huge atrium. As we looked at the various entryways and exits I couldn't help but notice the two balconies above us looking down from the dark upper reaches. I could see six outlets, other than the one we came in, but not what was down them.

This place was huge, and in its prime I could imagine it bustling with workers. I could almost hear the footsteps of elves long past walking to and from the various rooms of this building, clearly some kind of massive office. I wondered if they lived in the village or if there were quarters deeper in, with the passing of time it was impossible to tell.

I also distinctly noticed something else.

"Hey, why are there no animals in here? or plants for that matter, if this place is as old as it's supposed to be, it should have been overrun thousands of years ago shouldn't it?" I asked.

"It should have, but why not indeed," Leah mused.

"Questions for later, now we need to find and put down that wolf." Olnir was right, even if I didn't like his tone we did need to deal with that monster.

"Lights," Glen directed as he pushed mana into his own sword and put it to glowing.

Each of us used some form of light or another. Dras made a small ball of cool fire, Selene used a little trinket that shed a nice glow, Robert and Leah already had out similar looking orbs and I put out one of my own. Our physicals had elven weapons and each could easily fill them with a bit of mana, letting off a small glow. Soon enough the room was well lit, and we could see the tiles, and the large counter running along one side of the room, near to the back.

We made our way over to the reception desk, it being the only thing of note on our level and found that it still had papers on it. In fact it still looked clean somehow. The whole situation was really weirding me out. The inside of this place looked like someone had turned out the lights and left yesterday, not forever ago. There was perhaps a bit of wear on the floors and walls, but otherwise it was almost pristine, I wouldn't even be surprised if the lights still worked, if we could find them.

"What in the world? How are these, what are these?" Dras asked, carefully picking up a sheet to look at.

I leaned over his shoulder and read. "The dialect is different from the more modern Atali, but it looks almost like a note detailing the movement out of materials. Some kind of notice that they needed to make sure they got everything."

"This is weird, really weird," Selene said with a bit of a tremor in her voice. "I don't like it at all."

"Focus, we can look into that after..." Olnir's rebuke was quieted by a light growl from behind us.

Ulanion was the fastest to respond, his bow up and firing another potent arrow before I could even properly register what was happening. Just after him the two swordsmen, with their better reflexes fell into defensive positions.

Things happened quickly. The arrow slammed into a column just behind the shadow-wolf, taking a fair chunk of the beasts' ethereal flesh with it. As it did so our two wizards quickly wound up heavy attack spells, pulling them together in the air before them.

It seemed wrong to me though. This thing was supposed to be smart, it had certainly acted that way before. It had let us in, adding to its larder, it had picked off guards supposedly and been a careful hunter. Why would it change now? Why would it use such an obviously stupid place to stand while it alerted us to it's presence, why...

"NO DON'T, IT'S A TRA..." I didn't even manage to finish my screaming at the three wizards before they let loose, three powerful bolts of fire and force screaming at the beast before us.

It had been ready for the attack and leapt as they fired. The thing was fast, perhaps not as fast as it had been before, but from its spot in the shadows it quickly moved to my left, off into one of the upper reaches. Where it had been the spells slammed into the same column Ulanion had struck, shattering the stone like glass.

It had led us to hitting just that spot. In horror I watched as the world seemed to slow, the column falling towards us as fractures spider-webbed across the ceiling of the huge room. I was numb, there was no way for me to avoid this rock, plummeting towards me. I didn't even have the time to properly cast. I briefly registered Glen scoop Dras and Selene into his arms, and bolt left, Ormien doing the same with Robert and Leah.

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As I was still busy trying to process my oncoming death I felt an arm wrap around me and pull me right, towards one of the exit portals behind the desk. I could see the blur of the elven archer who'd grabbed me, and only me out of the corner of my eye.

Before me stood Olnir, who, in a moment of extraordinary casting flashed out a potent wave of force, knocking back the column that was about to crush him. Sadly that didn't help much with the several tons of rock falling from the other sides. I didn't even have time to scream as a boulder the size of a horse hit him from behind, turning him into a thick red paste on the tile floor.

The world sped back up as Ulanion and I passed through the arch of the exit portal, slamming hard into the ground. I was pushed back and under him, held tight as we landed face to face. The arm holding his bow was inches above my head as the other wrapped tight around my waist, our eyes meeting as he held me close.

"Are you okay?" he asked, panting.

"Yeah," I breathlessly responded. "Olnir..."

"I didn't think I could get you both."

"You choose me?" I was a bit stunned that he hadn't gone after his primary employer, and quite grateful for it.

"Save the ladies first yes?" He almost smiled, and I was thankful to whomever was responsible for these things that I had been born as I was.

"Well thank you. Um... one thing, could you..." I looked down a bit at how I was basically pressed into his chest.

He looked down and seemed to realize that he'd landed on me in what could only be politely described as a 'compromising position' and promptly turned red. As he moved to stand I was pulled along slightly too.

Unconsciously I'd grabbed onto him at some point and it took a few moments for me to pry my fingers off. After the stress of a near-death experience they simply didn't want to let go of anything. I eventually did manage to get my muscles to respond to my commands and let go, but it took a bit.

"Okay, once over," Ulanion said as he brushed himself off. "Check yourself for injuries and make sure you've got your gear."

I did as he instructed, and did a quick once over. Other than a few light bumps and bruises from where he'd pulled me out of the way I was perfectly fine. As far as gear went, I had my normal armor for situations like this, pretty much the same as I'd had for years, a knife, and a small packet of jerky, all a fairly standard load-out for a hunt. I looked up to see him doing the same, frowning as he looked at his quiver.

"All good?" I asked.

"Fine, I'd like to have more arrows, but it'll do. Do you have some way to contact your fellows?"

I shook my head. I had pushed for us to all be given radios like those I'd made back in school, but Mystien himself had shot down that idea. While it would have made unit contact and even inter-unit contact for our mission far better it was considered too much of a risk should they fall into enemy hands. Particularly if they should fall into the hands of any of the elves, who were known for their skill at enchanting and might just have a way to backwards engineer them.

"Alright then," he said, "We'll just have to work our way through and find them. Let's go slow though, I don't like how that shadowy bastard split us up." There was only one way forward through the facility for now, so he led the way, our back being blocked by the now rubble filled arch we'd entered through.

Outside

Unknown

I had no clue what those maniacs were up to. First they go to some nowhere village, now they pick up some random elf and head into a bunch of ruins? And if I'm not mistaken they were tracking that big magical beast that had been circling the town. I'd nearly shat myself when I saw it, and could only pray that it hadn't realized my presence. Thankfully it didn't seem to, and had run off when that archer had fired upon it, but the thing moved weird, there was no way around it.

As I contemplated trying to follow them into the ruin there was another flash like a bolt of lightning, followed shortly thereafter by three explosions, and then half the facade of the building crumbling. These humans were out of their minds firing off that kind of magic indoors, and had my superiors not demanded answers in full I'd be leaving these idiots to their fates.

Sadly that wasn't an option, and regardless of what I wanted I needed answers, the only question was, should I wait out here for them, or go in after the suicidal cadre of short lived little idiots, decisions, decisions.