The roughly hewn walls glistened with moisture, and rusty stalactites dripped with constant disharmonious rhythm, feeding the stagnant pools of water that filled the tunnels. Alix had expected a dry cave with nice wide passages, iron ore sparkling all around them, but instead he found a labyrinth of confusing shafts that fell deeper and deeper into the mountain without any ore in sight.

As the path went deeper, the walls drew in, forcing Alix to crouch down to avoid hitting his head on the stalactites. His heart beat faster as he imagined having to crawl through a murky water filled tunnel to reach his goal, a new fear he hadn’t realised he possessed until that moment.

Finally a glint caught his eye and he almost stumbled in a pool in his rush to reach the ore.

“Don’t touch that!” Tifayn called as his hand reached for the glowing rock protruding out of the tunnel wall.

Alix pulled his hand back as her bark echoed painfully around the cramped space.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Only as the light of the torch fully exposed the rock did he realise that there was no way it was iron. A chill emanated from it that quickly began to seep into his bones.

“That is Frostite,” Tifayn said, at the same time as the ring also identified the rock as such.

The Frostite was a crystalline material, shimmering like metallic ice, a lustre he had mistaken for iron, although he felt stupid now thinking that. Iron ore held a duller shine, and didn’t grow in such long faceted pieces.

“Is it dangerous or something?”

“It can be, if you don’t handle it properly. It is a mineral formed from the condensed mana of Babyl. There are others, all extremely rare and valuable. It can be used for forging spellblades, but I have heard it is incredibly difficult. You are more likely to lose your hands to frostbite before you can even begin working with it,” Tifayn explained, pulling him back from the Frostite

At the mention of spellblades, his mind began to run wild at the possibilities. He could only imagine how much he would be able to sell such a blade for if he was able to craft one. No other similar blades had adorned the walls of the shops in Galdea.

“Just as well I don’t have to touch it then,” Alix said, taking out his Azurite Pickaxe and taking a swing at the base of one of the crystals. It cracked cleanly with the sound of breaking glass. Then he touched the ring to the icy blue surface and the Frostite disappeared.

* Obtained Frostite.

It appeared his previously gained skill of harvesting twice as much materials didn’t have any effect on the Frostite. Maybe he would have to mine more to unlock the equivalent skill, but Tifayn hissed with disappointment as he stepped so close to the crystal.

“Come on, this isn’t what we came here for. You can’t repair the castle with Frostite nails,” Tifayn said, leading the way past the crystals and deeper into the cave.

The Frostite became more frequent as they walked, until they eventually passed through a cavern full of the stuff. Alix had never felt such a biting chill before. It felt almost like walking into a solid wall as they stepped into the cavern. He cut them a path as quickly as he could with his Pickaxe to get to the wide mouth at the other side. They managed to escape the Frostite’s range seconds before he felt like his teeth were about to chatter right out of his skull.

The path on the other side of the Frostite field led to a tunnel that was a lot better worked than the rough passages before. The walls were smoother, and he no longer felt like the roof was going to cave in on top of him. He doubted even the rings powers would be able to save him from the weight of a mountain crushing him.

The path split at several points, forcing them to backtrack several times when they reached a dead end. One led to a cavern full of gemstones similar to the crystal protrusions of the Frostite but these sparkled a deep red.

“Is this another form of Babyl mana?” Alix asked at the incredible sight. It looked like a room made entirely of ruby.

“No, that is just plain Kingstone.”

“It doesn’t sound very plain. Is it worth anything?”

“I guess this much of it would be worth quite a bit, but it’s not useful for more than decoration as far as I know.”

Alix made sure to mine as much as he could reach before Tifayn realised there was no other exit in the chamber and left. Such a fancy looking and sounding gemstone had to be worth more than she thought.

Alix was sure they would have become permanently lost without the map, but it updated with every turn they took, showing the twisting route behind them, and it kept on going with no sign of iron ore.

Throughout everything, the skeletons followed in silence, other than the sound of their bones clacking on the stones. Alix wondered who the skeletons had once been in life. What world had they come from? Until recently, Earth was the only world that he had known, but now he knew there was at least one more, and he couldn’t know for sure if all of the previous Darknights had come from Earth. What was it about them that made them special anyway? Why couldn’t the Solknight and the Darknight come from this world?

The path came to a set of steps that looked like they had been carved for giants. By the time they jumped to the bottom, they found themselves on the edge of a giant lake that stretched off into the darkness. Alix almost decided to give up then, thinking they must have already been descending for hours and not wanting to get trapped in the mine once night fell, although there was no way to tell when that was. When he caught the distinct smell of metal in the air, he suddenly felt hope, but he couldn’t see anything in the rock around them.

“I can smell metal somewhere,” Alix said aloud, hoping to get confirmation from the others that he wasn’t just imagining it. “Also, I have to say, this doesn’t look anything like an iron ore mine.” He tried looking around with the ring, but it couldn’t identify anything other than dirt and water.

The shore of the lake gave them little room to stand on. It was obvious that there was nowhere else to go. He had no desire to cross the dark water, but Tifayn had other ideas.

“You’re right, this cave is an unusual place. Maybe we missed a turn that led to an open seam, or maybe the whole place is already mined out, but I can smell metal as well. It’s coming from across the lake. How good are you at swimming?”

“You can’t be serious. We can’t swim carrying torches and I’m not going out there in the dark. I could build us a boat-“

“Do that then.”

“-but I don’t like using the wood like that,” Alix finished. The last boat had taken more wood than any other single object that he had crafted.

“You can just absorb it into your inventory and take it with you, can’t you? You might have a chance to use it again some other time.”

Alix began to point out how few rivers there were in Babyl, but then he remembered how he had already had need of a boat before, and it hadn’t even been for any body of water on his map. “I guess we have already come this far. It would be a shame to turn back now with so little to show for it. Alright, I’ll craft a boat, but if there’s nothing out there we turn back and try again tomorrow, or look for a different mine. If we have to come this far to find it, we are probably better of just trading for it.”

Alix quickly crafted a boat large enough for the four of them and they all climbed in. Then he crafted a pair of oars and the skeletons began to row them out into the lake as Alix and Tifayn held their torches high. Alix watched his map as they glided across the water, watching as the lake extended out of sight all around them.

The skeletons rowed straight out from the shore. The water all around them was deep and dark. Once the shore was out of sight, a low roar reached them from out of the darkness, growing louder as the skeletons continued their tireless labour.

“What’s that sound?” Alix finally asked once it became too loud to ignore.

“Let’s find out,” Tifayn said, trying to pierce the darkness.

A short while later the far shore appeared, but Alix was dismayed to see that there wasn’t anywhere to land. The shore was more of a rising cliff, other than a wide tunnel where the lake drained into a river. The roaring sound came from further along. The rock to either side of the entrance was blackened as if by fire.

“We should turn back,” Alix said as Tifayn urged the skeletons onwards.

“It’s alright, I can see a platform just inside the tunnel,” Tifayn said, seeing something in the dark that his human eyes could not.

Alix was already regretting crafting the boat. At most he felt like he should have sent the skeletons onward themselves. They were at least capable of mining any iron ore they came across, or returning if they found the route impassable.

The skeletons rowed them towards the rocky platform that appeared just within the mouth of the tunnel. They quickly disembarked and tied the boat up to a rock before the current could drag it further. Alix hoped they wouldn’t have any trouble fighting it on the way back.

The smell of metal was stronger in the tunnel, although there was still no sign of ore. Alix ran his hand across the nearby wall and his hand came back covered in a black soot. He assumed it was the remnant of some sort of blasting material and took it as a sign that they were getting close. He hoped the journey was going to be worth it. It would have been easier to disguise himself and return to Galdea to purchase the metal directly.

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Tifayn set off down the riverbank, searching for a path onwards. It was hard to tell if the place was manmade or natural. The path led only a few paces before the rocks fell back into the water and a mist rose up into the air from the source of the roar, a waterfall their torches couldn’t quite reach. They were way too close to the edge for his liking, but Tifayn continued to look amongst the rocks for something.

“There has to be something here,” she said almost to herself.

“It’s a dead end Tifayn. Who would come this far for some ore. It must have been long mined out by now,” Alix tried to reason.

“There are footprints other than ours in the dirt,” she said.

Alix couldn’t see anything, but he took out his pickaxe anyway and began tapping it on the rocks in search of something he didn’t know. All the rock sounded the same, until he hit a patch of wall and it gave off a different tone. It clanged like metal, the echo faint under the roar of the waterfall.

Tifayn rushed over to his side at the sound. It took him a few moments to realise that the wall in front of him was a well disguised door. Tifayn scoured the walls for a way to open it, but there was no handle or secret latch to be seen.

Alix thought at first that it was an old mining hatch, to block off a dangerous route, but the door showed no sign of rust and grooves on the rocks showed a history of use.

With the head of the pickaxe, Alix hit the door three times, nothing else to try but knocking. The sound echoed far into the distance beyond.

After a few moments of silence, they gave up and turned back to the boat. There were still miles of passageways they had yet to explore. Suddenly a grating cut through the roar of rushing water as the door opened a crack on heavy hinges. A pair of eyes shone back in their torchlight.

“Who are you?” a voice spoke softly from beyond the door.

Tifayn stepped forward to stand in front of Alix protectively, but there didn’t appear to be any threat. Heavy chains could just be seen hanging across the inside of the door, preventing it from opening any further.

“We mean you no harm,” Tifayn said, but suddenly the skeletons were standing to either side of him, swords drawn.

“I asked you a question,” the voice replied. It was obviously that of a man, but they sounded young and uncertain in their authority. “Who are you that walks with the undead?”

Alix was sure the eyes were looking directly at him, but he didn’t know how to answer. His first instinct was to lie, but the man didn’t seem scared at the sight of the skeletons. If anything he sounded a bit excited.

“My name is Alix. We are just looking for some iron ore. We aren’t looking for trouble.”

“Alix of what? You look Galdean, but no Galdean would be caught dealing in necromancy.”

As Alix had hoped, his name hadn’t spread to such deep corners of Babyl quite yet, but there was only one way for him to explain where the skeletons had come from if he didn’t want to appear like he was here for some darker reason, or that he lived a nefarious life. The man could have a weapon pointed at them in the dark that they couldn’t see, ready to strike if his answer wasn’t acceptable.

“Alix of the castle on the mountain. Look, we’ve obviously come the wrong way-“

“Wait here,” the man said, quickly pulling shut the door.

“Let’s get out of here,” Alix said, turning to leave, but Tifayn grabbed his arm.

“Wait. I think that was…a Dark Elf. I couldn’t see much of him beyond the door, but I sensed a familiarity.”

“What the hell are the Dark Elves doing down here?”

“I guess we are about to find out.”

They waited, and then they waited some more. Alix wished he had thought to store some beer in his inventory for such occasions, or something to smoke. He would have even settled for tobacco.

Several imaginary pints later, the door finally grated open again. This time three more set of eyes joined the first.

“See! I told you,” the first voice said to his companions.

The door was shut again after the eyes finished scouring Alix, bolts and chains were drawn back, and the door squealed open again, fully this time. Four figures stepped out, armed with heavy iron crossbows, loaded and pointed at him. Tifayn and the skeletons stepped in front of him again, as he quickly opened up his Magic menu and looked for a defensive spell. He silently cursed himself for not picking up Tifayn the best set of armour he could find in Galdea.

“The boy says you are from the castle. I have heard stories about the undead that roam the halls there, eternally waiting for their absent master,” one of the newcomers said.

Alix had expected the Dark Elves to look more like elves than demons, judging by their name and the previous media he had seen back home, but the three new arrivals were as tall as Tifayn, and built like barbarians from the cover of a pulp fantasy novel. They were of a lighter shade of skin than Tifayn, but there were still some faint similarities, a devilish look, minus the horns. Alix could see pointed ears poking out from beneath their long tousled black hair. The one that had spoken to them before was the only one that looked different. He was a head shorter, skinny and lithe.

“We are from the castle, but like I said to the boy, we were just looking for some iron ore.”

“You know what we are asking,” the apparent leader replied. “There is only one person that would be foolish enough to take up residence there.”

“What difference does it make? We are the ones that slew the bounty hunters on your doorstep. You are the fools for being seen, and for not having revealed yourselves to the Darknight sooner,” Tifayn lashed out at the dark elves.

Alix expected them to attack as Tifayn revealed who he was, but they instead lowered their crossbows.

“The Revenant will want to see him,” Alix heard the young dark elf say to the others. The apparent leader looked annoyed that he had spoken, but the others whispered the same thought.

Alix had no idea who the Revenant was, and didn’t really care to find out, but when the group motioned them through the door, Tifayn marched through as if on a mission. Then the skeletons abandoned him and followed her through the door, sending him a disjointed message as they went.

Revenant…honourable.

Alix quickly stepped back down the shore to retrieve the boat, then followed after the others, the young dark elf excitedly taking the lead as they were herded on with the crossbows. The thought of all that power coiled behind him made his back itch.

Who is the Revenant? Alix asked the ring as they walked down a roughly hewn passage.

It is the name given to the leader of the Dark Elves, like their king, although it is not a hereditary position, the ring replied.

What did the skeletons mean by honourable?

The path reached a set of carved stairs worn smooth with age that spiralled tightly downwards.

They meant he is trustworthy, or at least previous ones were. I have no knowledge of the current one, but his predecessors were trusted advisors to the Darknight when they still resided in Valon. They have a curious sort of magic, with a ritual not unlike the one that brought you to this world, but instead of summoning an otherworlder, it gives the Revenant knowledge of his successor, telling him who the wisest is among their race. They hold a ring as well, although its origins are a closely guarded Dark Elf secret. I am not sure of the extent of its powers, but the one thing I do know is that when the ring is passed to the next Revenant, it gives them a vision of how they are going to die. It is a cruel fate to be given, but it ensures that the Revenant rules wisely and make the best decisions for their people.

So the Revenant can see the future?

I always suspected they could see some things, but the Dark Elves are a secretive race and the Revenant only reveals what he has to.

The steps came to an end, opening up into a larger passage that continued onwards. As they walked, the roar of the waterfall that had faded on the steps returned. Alix suddenly developed a new fear of the tunnels flooding with water.

Alix was starting to tire from the walk by the time they finally reached another door, similar to the metal one they had entered through, although this one was already slightly open and a light shone through the crack. The Dark Elves had remained silent until then, but now they ushered them inside.

The door led into a room that looked like the inside of a barracks. A few beds lined one wall, while the rest of the room was a rough living space, with a half empty weapons rack against the other wall. Everything seemed to be crafted from metal or stone, the only other material a rough fabric that made up the bedding. The room was warmed by a brazier burning with what looked like coal but gave off no smoke or fumes.

“Wait here,” the leader of their troupe said, to them and the other dark elves. “I will let the Revenant know of your arrival and see what he wants to do with you.”

Alix was becoming annoyed at the way the Dark Elves were speaking. He hadn’t intended on coming across them and had no desire to intrude unwanted. If they were going to give him hassle, he would prefer to leave then, but the dark elves locked the door behind them, and then the leader locked the outer door as he left.

“Why do you think the Revenant will want to see me?” Alix asked the young dark elf as he added another handful of black rocks to the fire. The ring identified it as Bludium.

The older ones gave him stern glances, but he chose to ignore them and answer Alix. He pulled up a seat, an uncomfortable and unwieldy metal thing, and sat by the fire before he did.

“We have…a problem here, I guess you could say,” the boy said, giving an annoyingly vague answer.

“I imagine you have a few problems, living so deep under the mountain, but I’m not sure how I can help.”

“We don’t think you can help either, but we have to report all intruders to the Revenant.”

“I’m not an intruder. You brought me here yourself. I don’t even know where I am.”

“This is Nytherai, our city,” the boy said, “We were kicked out of the world above, so this is the safest place for us to be. Or it was…”

The guards hushed him for speaking too much, but the door suddenly opened and the leader returned with another man. The boy quickly got to his feet.

“That is the Revenant,” he whispered. It had only taken a moment for him arrive, as if the Revenant had been waiting just outside. The other two straightened their posture as he walked into the room. Even the skeletons had sheathed their swords.

The Revenants eyes took in the skeletons and then focussed on the ring on Alix’s finger.

“The Ring of the Darknight. What brings you to our city?” the Revenant asked in a slow, thoughtful voice, as if every word was chosen and charged with meaning.

“We were just looking for some iron ore,” Alix replied. Tifayn studied the Revenant intently, as if he, and the other Dark Elves, were not what she was expecting. The Revenant was of a larger stature than the others. Alix had never thought of himself as short but he was by far the shortest one in the room.

“I might be able to help you with that. In exchange maybe I could tell you of the problem I have.”

“I don’t see why not.” If listening would get him the ore then he could spare the time.

“Let us go for a walk,” the Revenant said, stepping back outside. The guards herded them out, but at a raised hand from the Revenant, they stayed behind in their barracks.

Outside Alix was met with the grand view of the Dark Elf city. The door led onto a small raised platform that was carved into a sloped cliff face, with more stone steps leading down to the city. It was entirely carved of stone, but the buildings rose to delicate spires and arched across the river at the base of the waterfall. It was lit by faceted crystals that glowed along the streets. On top of many of the buildings were metal contraptions that looked like giant crossbows. In the distance the rivers spilled out into another lake. Along the shore were countless lights of a different kind. They glowed with the deep red of fire and rang with the sound of hammering.

Definitely looks like there’s plenty of iron ore to go around, Alix thought to himself, although he couldn’t see what the Revenant’s problem was yet. The city looked clean and lively, and abundant with forges. They appeared to be doing a lot better than he had imagined.

The Revenant reached over to a dulled crystal caged on top of a metal pole and grazed its surface. At his touch the crystal brightened.

“We are used to the dark down here, but I know you are not. The crystals will guide your way.” He led the way down the steps and more crystals illuminated just as the others glow was getting out of reach. The crystals illuminated blackened spots all over the cliff face.

Fresh water flowed in channels along the streets and through aqueducts overhead. Alix could barely believe such a place existed under the mountain. The heavy tang of metal hung in the air, permeated with the smell of old fire.

“So what is your problem?” Alix asked once they reached the streets that had been carved to look paved.

“A dragon,” the Revenant said bluntly.