Somewhere deep in the underground, two tall figures with golden eyes stomped through a narrow, pitch dark hallway. The lead figure, clad in full plate armor and hefting a massive two-handed battle axe, moved with purpose, while behind him trailed a mage in skin-tight robes, gripping a staff. Their heavy footfalls echoed through the silence until they reached a break in the stone wall.

The woman lifted herself off the ground, hovering slightly as she casted fly. “Ugh, damn you! Why didn’t you say something?” she growled.

"Maybe if you actually looked down for once, you’d have noticed the guts on the floor. Oh wait, you can't," he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Her expression shifted from disgust to amusement. “It’s a good problem to have,” she smirked.

“Sure," he muttered, and with a casual kick, he sent a corpse skidding into the wall with a splat.

As she floated lazily on her staff, the woman’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “So, there's our failure... But why did he fail? So strange.”

“He wasn’t on time. That’s at least part of it,” the armored figure replied, noticing a narrow crevice in the wall. He twisted and ducked his way through. The mage, tried to follow him, yet found herself stuck halfway through the passage.

"Fucker! Are you just going to stand there and watch me struggle?!” she snapped, wriggling in frustration.

A laugh erupted from under the man's helm. “I think this suits you.”

Fuming, she waved her fingers, and with a flick of her magic, the stone wall exploded into floating chunks around her. "Let’s see how you like it!" She sent hundreds of bricks flying at him in a whirlwind of fury.

With a smirk, he spun his battle axe in a burning arc, turning the bricks to dust mid-air.

She floated past him, laying sideways on her staff. "No fun," she muttered, clearly dissatisfied.

They approached the centerpiece of the room. A large stone coffin.

"You feel that?" the man asked, staring down at the heavy stone lid.

Her face tensed. “I felt it the moment we entered. What’s shocking is you can feel it…”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The hulking man planted his axe beside him and tried to slide the lid off. His muscles strained as he gritted his teeth, but the lid wouldn’t budge.

"Stop!" she shouted. "Are you insane?! Don’t open it!"

“What ever is in here will be our new found success,” he stated, still struggling.

She casted appraisal, her eyes widening in alarm. “It's sealed with a powerful spell. I think this is...”

He cut her off with a smirk. “So, you can’t crack it?”

She scoffed. “I can break any spell. But this thing gives me a really bad feeling.”

Hoisting his axe onto his shoulder, he replied, “There’s nothing I can’t handle.”

She glared at him. “Fine. But if this goes south, I’m leaving you.”

“This is so stupid. Can’t we just hire someone else?” she muttered, reluctantly beginning to chant the spell.

After several minutes of near-silent chants, the coffin began to glow with a deep purple hue. Suddenly, with a loud bang, the lid shot straight up and embedded itself into the ceiling, sending dirt and stones crashing down. But neither of them moved; their eyes were fixed on what emerged.

The woman shakily pointed her staff at the coffin and stammered, "It's uh... a uhh—"

"A death knight," the man interrupted, gripping his axe tightly.

"You know my species, yet not my name. Shameful," the undead rasped.

Before them stood a being of pure darkness, an entity that was the near pinnacle of undead martial prowess. Its bones were thick and charred black, while its armor was matte black and exuded an aura of decay. In the center of its ribcage swirled a green flame, the same eerie hue that radiated from its eye sockets.

With a sudden clang, the man in armor turned and fled, screaming in terror as he rammed into a wall, stumbling over himself.

"You shit, get back here!" the woman screamed after him.

"Where is it?!" the death knight roared, his voice booming with anger.

She began to chant under her breath and replied, "Where is what?"

"Insultant!" the death knight snarled, conjuring a massive ball of green flames and slamming it into the ground.

The room went white for a moment and shook violently as boulders crashed down from the ceiling. Dust filled the air, and when it cleared a bit, the chamber had transformed into a hellish landscape. The floors and walls had become gleaming obsidian, with sporadic pyres of green flames flickering here and there. The most prominent flame, however, moved steadily toward the woman, who was now badly injured and lying on her back.

"Please, I don’t know anything! Spare me!" she pleaded, her voice trembling.

"Lies," he groaned as he gripped her face with his gauntleted hand, inhaling deeply as if taking in a breath of fresh air.

She screamed in agony as the death knight assulted her mind, probing her spirit. The sensation was unbearable, as if her skull were being slowly split open, and all she could do was flail in helpless pain.

The death knight let out a slow, deliberate breath. "The amulet is near it too. Interesting." With a dismissive flick, he hurled her body into the rubble, stirring up another cloud of dust.