Thermal does his best to remember Umere Academy in its elegant and ancient beauty during his research days rather than the terror at the height of the second Calamity. Every night, he replays memories of quiet libraries and lecture halls, letting his better memories lull him to sleep. However, Elle’s whispered translation of a sign leaves him blinking away the sight of his mangled colleagues.

“The University of Una,” she says, pointing at an engraved archway many arm-spans away from them.

He hears “Umere Academy” and sees his mentor transforming into a mutated wolf with jagged teeth and claws. In one moment, they are transporting their research notes to safety. In the next, Thermal has to smash a chair into the monster’s head. Black blood drips to the floor.

“Thermal, are you okay?” Elle’s voice cuts through his thoughts.

Thermal stiffens as he realises that the entire group is looking at him with concern. He coughs, “Yes, my apologies. I was distracted.”

Serena frowns, “Alright, just keep an eye out from now on. We don’t want you tripping on anything or getting ambushed.” She gestures at the roots sprawling through the city’s remains, leading up to a giant tree towering in the distance. It glows a pale blue, giving light to this cavern. “Are we avoiding that?”

Thermal brings out his spellbook. “One moment.” He casts Locate Soul for Fesper Bleck, and the red sigil points down a main road directly leading to the tree. “Seems like we cannot.”

“Of fucking course,” Serena mutters. “Well, I guess we’re going down rather than over then. Don’t want to risk anyone falling off a rooftop.”

They start down the conveniently placed ramp which makes hairs on the back of Thermal’s neck rise. Someone built this path intentionally to bring victims to the tree. Although they are walking as quietly as possible, he can hear every step ring in his ears. As they cross the engraved archway, he notices the familiar sound of a prowling animal. For a second, Thermal thinks of a wolf’s maw closing down on his arm. Then he shakes his head and points out the noise to the group.

Elle guides them through a nearby alleyway to avoid the monster. After a few twists and turns, Thermal loses orientation, but she seems perfectly at ease. Despite their attempts to throw it off, he still hears the occasional noise behind them. Multiple noises simultaneously, in fact. They exchange glances and pick up their pace.

The limestone walls seem to narrow as they progress, tall and smooth. It’ll be a tough climb even for Serena since there are not many footholds besides the windows. He whispers to her, “Shall we hide in one of the buildings?”

She gives him a tight nod. “Let’s pincer it in a hallway. Elle, can you take us somewhere with a wide one?”

Elle leads them to a grand lecture building, decorated with artifice and statuettes. Like the rest of the university, this structure makes no secret of its long history. Busts of regal men and women line the hallway, staring sternly at the group as they set up their trap. Faint blue light pours in through the windows.

Before the Calamities, Thermal would stay until closing hours at the library, researching his project to the point of obsession. The staff would snuff out all the candles before he even left. He remembers walking through the building late at night, finding his way only by moonlight. This is not so different. Thermal shivers from the cold air and squints through the darkness.

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More light pours in through the doorway as the beasts push their way into the hall. They look like lions, sleek, golden bodies with wild, tangled manes. They prowl down the hall. They are not wolves, but Thermal’s hands shake all the same.

Hidden inside a lecture hall, Elle opens her inventory above the lions and drops her bowling ball and recently acquired shot puts. Serena fires arrows. One of Serena’s arrows strikes true and pierces one of their eyes. Yesterday, the trio stocked up on weaponry, and Thermal is glad to see them put to use.

The lions snarl in pain. One of them charges down the hall towards Serena. The others see Thermal and Sanu and go to attack them. However, the shock of their wounds slows them down.

He raises his hand and fires two searing rays which thankfully only consume his aura but not his spellbook pages. They scorch the beasts’ flanks, filling the air the scent of burnt flesh. As Thermal prepares another volley of searing rays, Sanu steps up to swing at one, sending a spray of black blood across the floor.

On the other end of the hall, Serena switches to her daggers. She bounces off a wall to dodge the lion and slashes it across the back. When it tries to bite her, Elle drops her bowling ball on its head which gives the half-nymph time to dodge.

Thermal manages to fire off two rays before the lions get uncomfortably close to them. One distracts a lion enough for Sanu to take off its head. The remaining beast convulses as the second ray strikes it directly in the head. It slams into a nearby door, shattering it into pieces. For a second, Thermal thinks he might need to strike it again, but it slumps onto the ground.

Serena finishes off the last lion with a slash to its neck. She glances over to them. “Need any help over there?”

Sanu walks into the now-open room and decapitates the lion. “Nope.” He looks around for a moment. “Huh, we might want to take a look at this. It might have some interesting things.”

Thermal raises his eyebrows but follows the healer into the room. Instead of an expected lecture hall, they find someone’s office. Books of a foreign language line the shelves beside a large, wooden desk. Dust flies into the air as they disturb this lonely space. It looks quite similar to the offices he’s visited back in Umere Academy.

Sanu tries the drawers and finds that all except one are unlocked. Pulling out documents, he lays them out on the desk before shaking his head. “Damn, I can’t understand a word of this.”

Thermals leans over the desk, examining the papers. They’re hand-written in the same language as the books in the room. When he can’t find anything useful on the desk, he starts investigating the rest of the room for hidden compartments.

Serena and Elle arrive in the office, glancing around curiously. Seeing Sanu fiddling with the locked drawer, the traveller extends a helping hand and unlocks it with surprising speed. Inside of it, there are colourful potions as well as a thick notebook. When Thermal opens the green flask and wafts it, he identifies it as a minor health potion, good for emergency healing.

Elle picks up the papers and starts skimming them. “These look like research notes on historic incidents of increased elemental magic flux in the area. I don’t think they’re super relevant to our mission though since they were probably written before the Calamities.” She flips through more of the papers and begins to frown. “Hmm, okay. There’s other stuff too.”

He folds his arms. “Is it all research notes?”

“No, these look like evacuation plans.” Elle begins to read one of the papers with closer intent. “In the event of a malfunction inside Lab Obelian, faculty are advised to head underground and take cover. If it is not possible to take cover, they should remain motionless instead. The automatons are designed to only attack moving objects while on automatic mode to save ammunition and energy.” She blinks several times before setting the papers back on the desk. “Well, I vote that we don’t go near that lab then haha.”

Although Elle tries to play it off in front of Sanu, Thermal can tell that they had a similar thought. What if Lab Obelion has what Bleck’s group was looking for?