The next morning, they hung the strips of venison off the saddles of the horses so they could keep drying. As soon as they’d cleaned up after themselves—burying the deer’s remains, then washing off in the river—they continued onwards. There was no clear start to the mountains, but Vayra decided to count the first mound where a large wedge of bare rock pushed through the brown dirt and obsidian shards as a mountain.

They followed the river. As long as they could see it and it didn’t dip below the surface, they could keep following it. Besides, she hadn’t found anything that looked like an entrance into the Night Vale Chambers.

“How will we find an entrance?” Vayra asked about halfway through the day, when she couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.

“There may be one close to the river,” Glade said. “If we can’t find one when the river dips underground, then we should try to find the mountain pass and follow it as far as we can. Or rather, until we come within sight of an entrance.”

“Do you guys know what’s inside?”

Glade shook his head.

‘The Night Vale Chambers are one of many ruins scattered around the galaxy,’ Phasoné explained. ‘They were made by the old dragons to store treasure, and would be ignorant to assume they left no defenses.’

“By…dragons?” Vayra swallowed, then looked down at the river. The bed sunk deeper and deeper away from the shore, and the hills around grew taller. They were taking the higher road; they ended up further and further away from the rushing water.

‘Dragons,’ the Goddess confirmed. ‘Like you, almost. Races like the dragons and full-blooded phoenixes had a mostly-human form with which they could breed with other humans, if they chose to. They used their human forms, and their powerful God-heirs, to build the Chambers.’

“Dragons had God-heirs?” Vayra asked.

“I truly wish I could hear Phasoné sometimes…” Glade muttered.

‘There were dragon Gods, Vayra,’ said Phasoné.

“Were?”

‘Their lines weren’t succeeded. With so many squabbling, competing heirs, sometimes the dragon Gods weren’t able to properly pass their Godhood on. Or so the story goes.’

Vayra nodded slowly. “So…what should I expect inside the Chambers?”

‘Traps and guardians.’

“I do not mean to break up your history lesson,” Glade said, “but the river has ended.”

Vayra looked down into the valley. The steaming river disappeared into a stone culvert, and all around it, the valley closed in. Ahead, the sharp, black peak of a mountain ensured that no river could pass above ground.

Vayra looked around for anything that might be an entrance to the Chambers, but she saw nothing.

They kept riding for a few more hours, following the general course of the river as best as they could guess it (without seeing it, nothing was certain), until they came upon a path of trodden dirt. It didn’t look like a proper, well-marked trail, but it was good enough.

‘I don’t think this is the pass that Perron was talking about,’ Phasoné said.

“She did say something about the Kudmen Chambers Company using these to test their explorers and recruits,” Vayra replied. “Perhaps this is one of their trails.”

Glade pulled the map that Perron had given them out of his satchel, then ran his finger along it. “I would concur. It looks as though there is an entrance…around this area, though the map is awfully small.”

“We should keep moving, then.”

When the path began to slope up the side of the mountain, Vayra felt hopeful. It wound around the edge, curving in a circle until it had wrapped a full loop around the edge of the mountain. The path became more and more vague, until she wasn’t sure if they were even following it anymore. Their horse’s hooves began to slip, and the forest of obsidian shards below waited. If they slipped, they’d be impaled.

After another loop around the mountain, slowly scaling it, Vayra was certain the path had ended. She looked back and sighed. They’d probably just wasted an afternoon chasing a terrible lead.

“Up ahead.” Glade pointed forwards, where a ledge of stone sat. They could rest their horses, at least, and come up with a new plan.

When they arrived at the ledge, Vayra turned in a circle, looking out over the landscape. They stood on a high peak, but there were plenty of taller mountains to the south. She strained her eyes in the fading evening light, trying to see how far the mountains went. She only saw an endless range of dark stone.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Every mountain was blanketed in obsidian shards, up to a certain point—like forests clinging to normal mountains. An orange glow shot up against the ash clouds in the distance, searing the sky—a volcanic eruption, she guessed.

‘All the more reason to get inside,’ Phasoné said. ‘Sooner than later, I’d hope.’

“If you see a way in…” Vayra muttered. She and Glade turned to face the rocky wall behind the ledge. It was mostly flat, except for a few rough stones protruding outwards.

“A bit too flat,” Glade muttered.

Vayra narrowed her eyes, then ran her fingers along the wall. She felt a few bumps and indentations in the wall, which were difficult to see in the fading light of the day, but they were too rigid and straight to be natural. “Glade?” she asked. “Are these runes?”

He had talked about runes before, but she’d never seen them.

Running his hand down the wall, he nodded. “Someone carved them here.”

‘Well, there you go,’ Phasoné said. ‘You found the entrance.’

“How do we get it open?” She leaned against it with her shoulder, and it felt completely sturdy. “It can’t be too hard, right? The resistance has managed to get in before.”

Phasoné hummed to herself, then said, ‘Runes aren’t common for a reason. They’re not terribly useful, and they can’t take much power.’

Glade said the same thing a few moments later, then added, “Dwarves used them to write, but the rest of the galaxy saw their power. They function the same way the Seekerstones worked—you can fuel it with Stream water, or your own mana. If the runes’ creators used a starsteel chisel, there should be starsteel flakes in the runes, which will allow a mana circuit to form.”

“Seems useful enough to hide a door,” Vayra commented. “So…I just give the runes a little power, and it opens up?”

“Different shaped runes have different effects. I would assume this one will open and let one person through.” He brushed away some dust with his hands. “I doubt the runes were even carved by the original builders of the Chambers. It is far more likely that the Chambers Company added them afterwards to make it harder to find.”

‘And so they could test their recruits without interruptions,’ Phasoné added. ‘It wouldn’t be much of a test if they could work in teams. Just pour a little Stream water on it, and it’ll open—and it will probably ensure only one of you enters at a time.’

Vayra crossed her arms. “We don’t have any Stream water with us.”

‘Then use your own mana.’

Vayra took a deep breath, and nearly choked on the sulfury air. She felt her Arcara swell, though, propelled by mana. Placing a hand on the runes, she imagined she was creating a circuit with them, then poured a little Arcara into it. Mana followed, necessary to push it, and a line of pale blue light slithered along the stone, lighting up the wall.

In a few seconds, an archway of glowing blue runes formed. It looked drawn onto the wall, and when she leaned closer, she could see the individual letters in the rune script along the door frame. Vayra pulled her hand away.

“Should I…push it?” she asked. The moment she reached out and tried to place her hand on it, a set of blue sparks erupted up from the center of the door. The smooth wall of stone shuddered, and dust fell off it, revealing a wall of brown bricks in the center of the archway.

Glade nodded. “I see…”

“See?”

“They would not be able to continually power the runes without a source of mana. So they built a solid door, with runes to turn it…less solid when needed.”

Vayra nodded uncertainly, then decided that runes were above her pay grade—for now. She was here for Nathariel.

As she watched the wall, the mortar began to dissolve. It didn’t crumble or fall away, but it became less…solid. As soon as the mortar became invisible, the bricks all disappeared with a snap.

Already, the runes around the doorway were dimming.

‘I don’t know how long it will stay open, Vayra,’ Phasoné said. ‘If we’re going, now would be the best time.’

Vayra turned to her horse and gathered up as many strips of dried venison as she could from its saddle. She tucked them into her ammunition satchel. “Thanks for guarding this door, Glade.”

He sighed. “It is the most I can do.” Then, grabbing both horses’ reins, he guided them away from the edge. “I will see you when you return. Hopefully, you have a teacher in tow.” After another sigh, he added, “Do not put yourself in unnecessary danger, more than you already have. And…do not anger Nathariel. I can guarantee that he is more powerful than Myrrir, and if he holds a grudge against Mediators as well, he may just choose to destroy you.”

“I’ll run if things get bad.” Vayra picked up a pebble from the ledge and tossed it through the open doorway. It slipped through, though the air in the doorway rippled like water. But already, the bricks at the edge of the doorway were beginning to materialize.

‘It’s closing…’ Phasoné warned. ‘Go.’

Vayra turned her shoulder forwards, then walked through the doorway.

It was a few feet thick, she guessed, and every inch she travelled, the air seemed to resist her. It was like pushing through water that didn’t want to part to let her through. She held her breath, and for a brief moment, a wisp of panic reached into her gut. If the door shut while she was still trying to push through it, she’d be entombed in bricks.

‘Then go faster!’

“I’m trying!” Vayra hissed. “I’m—”

Her shoulder broke out of the doorway on the other side, and she stumbled forwards. The rest of her body slipped out as well. As soon as she was through, the bricks snapped back into existence with a boom, sealing her in and preventing anyone from following.

Everything was dark. Completely dark. She held out her hands, feeling sharp, smooth walls on either side of her. A hallway.

Hesitantly, she took a step. The hallway sloped downwards. She walked for a few minutes, until up ahead, around a corner, she spotted a glimmer of light.

She ran towards it. Through a small, fist-sized vent in the roof, outside light filtered in. The sun had nearly dipped behind the horizon, and the first stars were glimmering in the sky—beyond a thin patch of ashy clouds.

She held out her hand, and using the three little stars she could see, she conjured her seer-core. It wasn’t very mana intensive, but it was bright.

Her surroundings lit up. A hallway led forwards. She tilted her head and bit her lip, then muttered, “We’re in now. Let’s just get to the other side in one piece…”