We wound our way through the buildings until we reached the largest of them all.

Tharkun pushed the membrane sheet that served as a door out of the way so that we could enter the large room. Starna had to use her light to illuminate the room, as the luminance from the glowstones wasn’t able to get through the membrane. Tharkun was also the only Dwarf who came inside with us, the others just stood by the door.

It wasn’t hard to spot the door that the Dwarves wanted us to look at. There was only one thing in the large, empty room that could qualify as a door and it was on the floor. The entire structure was the color of dried mud, while this five foot square was pure white, like it had been made out of flawless marble. Black and gold etchings around the outside of the door and the door frame circled around it, in what looked like a language, but not one that I recognized. I knew enough of the main races’ languages: Elf, Dwarf, Ogre, Goblin, and a little Mebope, but there were over a hundred different languages and that didn’t include the various dialects. If I had to take a guess though, I would bet that it was written in Exindo.

“What was this room?” I looked around at the bare walls. It was the largest building we’d walked past, though it was only about fifty feet wide, so not the biggest building that I’d expect to find.

“Based on what we found in here, we assume it was a temple to their god, though we can’t be sure.” He shrugged. “The Exindo don’t like talking to us, so we haven’t been able to get their help, which is why we were hoping a Sineater might be able to glean something.” He glanced over at Vin. “Bringing a Camadt was probably a good idea too in case…” His voice trailed off as my brother flexed. “There are any complications.”

“So you want us to help you graverob whatever is in there.” I raised an eyebrow. I had no idea what the Exindo rites and rituals might be, but breaking into a sealed room under one of their temples felt like a very bad idea.

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“We want you to help us keep it out of the cult's hands.” Tharkun shuddered. “I’m not even old enough to remember the Demon War, but I’ve heard the old ones talk about it. Trust me, if the cult wants it, we can’t let it fall into Kinwell’s clutches.”

“Have you tried digging around it?” I knelt down next to the edge of the door and ran my fingers over the laced writing. There was a little buzz under my fingers that felt familiar, but I couldn’t remember ever feeling anything like that from enchantments.

“The whole thing is covered in that white rock.” The old Dwarf stomped his foot on a black X about five feet from the corner. “We marked the edges here.”

I tapped on the door and it felt like solid rock. I’d learned the basics of how to siphon magic recently, but there didn’t feel like any that I could grab even though I could feel a small magical aura.

“Vin, see if you can do anything.” I scooted back as my brother lifted both of his right fists and slammed them down on the square.

The bang that echoed around the room sounded like an explosion, even though not a single crack was visible on the floor.

“That actually hurt.” Vin rubbed his fists as he looked at me. “It’s not magically shielded. I can keep hammering at it, but honestly, if the Dwarves couldn’t crack it, then I doubt I will do any better.”

I turned to Tharkun. “Have you tried to use a magical scan on it?”

“That’s the first thing we tried, but something keeps blocking our scans whenever the magic touches it. We thought that maybe since you were a Sineater that you could break whatever Camadt-like mechanism was inside it.”

What he said clicked with the mystery that I’d been trying to solve. The reason why it had felt strange was because I had been expecting it to be a magical enchantment. While I had a feeling that might still be the case, it was so much more than that.

The reason why it felt off was because the stone was alive.