Delanor hopped up from her seat and jumped over the railing, sprinting to me in the center of the dirt ring. “That was amazing, Anastasia!” She gave me a hug.

“It would not have been possible without you.” my heart was racing, but it was a good feeling. I could have jumped up and down, as I was so happy.

As Delanor was escorted away by a couple hooded sarassin for entering the ring without permission, spectators had begun pouring into the ring through the gates. A few stopped to pick up the defeated Exia, but I was surrounded by excited felines and sarassin, all looking at me in admiration. I spotted Kirill and Maria, limping towards me in the crowd.

“What a match! Our new champion! Sign my beer mug!” various strangers shouted. I tried my best to smile and wave at them, even as they swarmed me.

—

“It was quite a maneuver, Anastasia. I never imagined you might hand over control of the ribbons and then take it back in an instant. It was impressive.” Maria gave a dull smile.

“One million Mare. After subtracting taxes, it comes out to four hundred thousand, but that should still be more than enough for us to purchase information and anything else we might need. By anything, I mean it. Four hundred thousand is a year’s wages for a typical citizen.” Delanor said.

“They took most of the prize money as taxes?” I shouted. “That’s not fair.”

“If I could change it, I would. I figured this was the case, but I wanted to wait until we won before saying it.” Delanor expressed sadly. “Why don’t we get drunk at a tavern? We can afford it.” she perked up as she spoke.

“Sounds good to me.” The captain said.

“I am in constant pain.” Kirill muttered. His expression had returned to gloom, but when his eyes turned to mine, there was a twinkle of admiration in them.

“As am I. I could use a drink.” Maria said.

—

The following days were consumed by celebration. A celebration of sorts. Delanor spent a full day picking out a gift as thanks for the innkeeper’s help.The hours ticked by as we wandered along the round-stone paved streets, musty-odored back alleys, and antique shop basements searching for a gift. Her nose pointed her one way, and then the next. On our exploration, we saw the same orange-haired feline who had been recruiting fighters for the tournament, this time handing out tiny paper pamphlets for a recently opened bakery. She turned this and that way, trying to attract attention for the corner store. For that matter, it smelled quite good. In the end, we gave in to the feline’s pitiful expression and picked up a lumpy loaf of bread which contained melted cheese on the inside. We finally settled upon a cobweb-covered hole in the wall which was marked with little more than a sign that read: “Dolls: Hand-crafted and Exquisite.” Inside was an old sarassin who could be described as more reptile than man. He crawled on all fours, and spoke with a raspy croak which was difficult to understand, even with our rings of understanding. We settled on a porcelain figure with large, blue eyes and white hair. The innkeeper was an unassuming middle-aged feline with a hunched back and brown eyes. He smiled and thanked us for the gift.

The following day we found a physician who grumbled at our party’s poor ability at self care and spared no effort in stitching both of them up. It was a Feline who looked somewhat like Delanor with white hair and pale skin. Wrinkles in her face, especially in the cheeks and under the eyes, were proof of her age. Maria’s injuries were flesh wounds, and would heal with a bit of care. Kirill was especially unfortunate, as several of his wounds were deep below the skin and required extra attention to reach. Torn tendons and the like require a special operation, it appeared. We were introduced to a particular device as we watched the physician’s operation. It was a clear glass cylinder with a needle at the end, filled with a yellow liquid. The physician assured us that it was useful for numbing a patient while operating. After a bit of grumbling, both Maria and Kirill agreed to be treated, and we were informed to come back a few hours later. They came back to us covered in a new set of bandages, somewhat groggy from being put to sleep. They were strictly advised to refrain from intense physical activity for three weeks.

As we strolled down the streets of Margaret’s Welcome, there were some that recognized us as the tournament victors. Exia had won more than a year’s worth of tournaments in a row, so “a foreigner defeated Exia in the tournament” was uttered from time to time. It was a rare moment of fame, rather than the notoriety that Maria had a penchant for earning.

The tavern we visited had no shortage of troublemakers and drunks, but it didn’t take more than a glare and an icicle or two from Maria to shake off the most difficult of hecklers. The early evening atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and we were greeted by a handsome feline bartender. His hair was short and wavy, and his warm smile was enough to persuade even the most cold-hearted of customers to purchase another round. As the night wore on, he played a song on a wood flute he kept beneath the counter.

The drinks themselves were bittersweet, and the fruit juices did little to mitigate the taste of alcohol. But they tasted as everything else had that day, like victory. Each bite of my sweet rice cake and each cloudy shot of wine reminded me that I had won, that I had made a name for myself, and that our journey could continue on from that day.

—

One night, I had another dream. A pet dragon laid in my arm, eating pieces of meat from a pile to my side. I picked up a piece and it hopped up to snatch it out of my hand. When there was no meat in the pile, it bit off my hand instead. Something was shaking my shoulder.

I opened my eyes. Maria was lying with her body against mine. Her bare thighs rubbed against my waist. Her clothes were gone except for the bandages covering her chest, arms, and legs, which did not cover her body much at all. I quickly searched our room for her nightgown. It was thrown to the side, clearly cast away by Maria herself. Her body was cold, as it always was, but I could feel just a hint of warmth around her stomach, which was pressed firmly against my side. Her eyes were closed, and she was asleep. But her hands, wrapped around my torso, grasped my shoulder and moved about my body, almost on their own.

“Maria!” I whispered as loud as I could. Sunrise was not upon us, and I would not want to wake the others over this. My entire body felt hot and my head felt as if it was packed with steam.

“Hmm?” She opened her eyes slowly. “Oh.”

“What are you doing?!” I cried out.

“My apologies. Is it not to your liking, Anastasia?” Maria asked, as if nothing was happening.

“Your position is…compromising. And why are you unclothed?” I looked away from her. My face was red as a pomegranate, and even in the lukewarm darkness within the Great Tree, I was sure she could tell.

“It was getting chilly. And your body is…warm.” She reached beneath my nightgown from behind and ran her icy fingers along my back. It sent a shiver up my spine and sent my mind running in circles.

“Please, Maria. I am trying to sleep.” I pleaded.

“Very well. Perhaps another night then.” she suggested.

“P-perhaps.” I breathed out an angry breath and turned to the side. She slid off of me, as easily as she had curled atop me while we slept. The last I heard before drifting off was the sound of her nightgown rustling as she put it on.

—

Delanor carefully studied a slip of paper and looked back and forth between it and a tiny scrawled emblem on a piece of wood. It was a sign posted next to a door in an unassuming location. After scouring a dozen back alleys, my legs ached and I felt sluggish. I couldn’t find myself looking at Maria, who acted like nothing had happened. I tried standing far away from her, but she casually tailed me, making sure to always be at my side.

“This is the place.” Delanor said. “One step closer to gaining reminiscence.”

I stepped down some dark wooden steps which sagged as I stepped on them. Each step was treacherous. They could collapse at any moment. When we reached the bottom, we found ourselves in a room lit only by a tiny oil lamp on a desk. That desk was on the opposite side of this cramped rectangular room. Aside from the entrance from which we had just entered, there was a single door of vertical wooden boards.

At the desk sat a sarassin, dressed in the same grey hood. It wrote down something on a piece of paper as we approached.

“Ten thousand Mare, and then state your business.”

Delanor placed a small stack of coins on the table. The sarassin snatched them with a clawed hand and placed them within a drawer behind it.

“We have come to learn of the Great Trees. The reminiscence of the ancient ones used to foster their growth.” Delanor said plainly.

“Wait one moment.” The sarassin turned around and swung open the door behind it. Whatever was in the next room was shrouded in complete darkness, and even looking at it made me uneasy. The sarassin walked in and shut the door behind it. Some shuffling of papers later, it reappeared holding another note.

“One hundred thousand Mare.” it said.

“Greedy.” Delanor muttered in Sveshen under her breath. She produced a bag of coins and placed it on the desk. The sarassin snatched it in much the same manner, and after counting every coin, deposited it again in the same drawer behind it.

“You seek the seer of the Great Trees. It dwells deep in the roots beneath your feet. Descend until you can descend no further. Travel beneath the fifth street of the west and the second of the north. You may gain entrance through a door in the ground. The password is ‘Victory’.” the sarassin said. “More business will be ten thousand Mare.”

“Thank you.” Delanor nodded and motioned for us to leave.

“Ughh. What a cheapskate. A hundred and ten thousand for that? We might as well have busted our way through.” Delanor groaned.

“Who was that?” I asked. “I saw the emblem on its hood. It has been here and there, at the arena, on the clothing of these sarassin who prowl about.”

“It is Exia’s crest. It is a guarantee of quality, I suppose. If someone wears it, they are working under him.” Delanor said. “Given how much they’re charging, I suppose it is quite the lucrative work.”

“At least we know it is reliable. They would not charge so much if it were bad information.” Maria said.

“Trust me, a robber would not hesitate to steal more than you can afford. They will rob you for everything you have.” Canary grumbled. “We will not know until we check, anyhow.”

For most of this journey, Canary had been largely stuck to the captain, and they formed their own pairing, so I had little chance to speak with either of them. While it was good that they had something between themselves, it was a little unsettling that I sometimes forgot they were even present.

“Exia knows what we’re doing too, I suppose. If he controls the information dealers, then I am sure they feed everything they know to him for free.” the captain said.

“What are you supposing?” Maria asked.

“A man like him would certainly have investigated this for himself. The power to grow a Great Tree? We know he’s a scholar of the same breed as Maria or Anastasia. We are following in his footsteps, even taking a path that he has put out for us.” she said.

“A good observation.” Delanor smiled at the captain. “We should be on our guard then, for any followers?”

“Of course.”

“I am sorry. I should have asked him about this.” I apologized.

“Oh, you spoke to Exia?” the captain asked.

“Yes. I am afraid I was so consumed with the match I did not think to talk about this.” I admitted.

“You needn’t apologize. We are only remaining by our original plan.” Maria reassured me. I nodded back at her awkwardly, my head still swirling with thoughts of the prior night.

—

We sat at one of the tables on the first floor of the inn. It was the early afternoon and the room was empty except for the six of us. It had been about a week since the end of the tournament, and we had continued resting and exploring the city until Delanor called us up for a meeting. The lack of sunlight within the Great Tree made the days stretch longer, and rather than the clean splitting of days, the cycle of sleeping and waking felt like one continuous stretch. It explained why the streets were fairly busy at all times of day. Only a pendulum clock next to the entrance and a bell announcing noon and midnight were any indication of the passage of time.

There was some sort of stand at the end of our table. A map of the underground was posted on it.

“While you were lazing around, I was doing research.” Delanor smugly stated.

“Lies. You were having just as much fun as we were.” Canary yawned and looked away.

“That’s not true!” she shot back.

“You were with us for most of the time. Do you mean to tell us you spent every second away on research?”

“In fact, I was.” Delanor unloaded a pile of books and stray papers on the table. “The library here is quite a gem. Nothing compared to our grand Archive, but it had what I wanted. I will reveal the results of the research to you all, as we should depart for the roots of the Great Tree as soon as we can.”

I nodded along. The aimless luxury of living here without a worry was a distraction from the mission we had come to achieve. A welcome one, but every distraction must be cast away eventually.

“We are listening.” Kirill said. “Please begin.”

“I petitioned the Archive for information regarding this Great Tree but did not receive an answer. Naturally, I used local sources instead. There is quite a wealth of literature on the roots of the Great Tree, but much of it is fiction or outdated hearsay. Only a small portion of what I could find was of use.

First, there is a water drainage system that stretches under the city and disposes of dirty water in a river far from here. That should be our first destination. There are reports of hostile creatures that roam the sewers, especially at the lower levels near the water’s exit from the tree. This area should be largely regarded as uninhabited by residents of the city, as no one but the occasional poor government underling ever goes there. Near the water’s exit, there will be another way deeper into the roots. The roots are large enough to have their own hollow pockets, and that is how we will travel. Little information exists on what lies below the sewer system, so we will have to be careful.

I have arranged for supplies using a portion of our remaining funds. Are you all comfortable with heights? We will be moving vertically for most of our descent. Based on what I know, the declines are steep and difficult to cross.”

Canary turned white with fear. He quickly returned to normal, but the momentary shift was enough to show something was wrong. “I would prefer to avoid heights. I have had some unpleasant experiences with them.”

“I was not asking that because you would be able to avoid them. It was a warning of what is to come.” Delanor said crossly.

“I’ll be right under you. There is nothing to worry about.” the captain reassured him.

—

“We’re here.” Delanor pointed to an intersection ahead. It was the same as the others, a stone-paved road with buildings at each corner. A conspicuous alleyway cut through one of the large cut-stone towers, a tunnel piercing directly through its first floor. Passerby flowed naturally to and from the intersection, but rarely did a person even look at that tunnel, much less step into it.

As we entered, it was scarcely tall enough for me to stand straight. Kirill and Canary were forced to crouch as we walked. The tunnel ended at a trapdoor, made of metal and sturdily built. Delanor looked at it with a puzzled expression and hammered her fist on it as hard as she could. “Victory!” she howled.

The door swung open, released by a mysterious force. Delanor, who had been crouched directly above it, tumbled downward with a yelp. The captain closed her hand around Delanor’s arm and successfully broke her fall, but not before awkwardly hitting Delanor’s body against the side of the vertical column. A long ladder stretched downwards to a passageway below. The sound of flowing water could be heard from a distance.

—

“Ew. Smelly.” Delanor perked up her nose and made a disgusted expression. It was dark. Our only source of light was the narrow circle beneath the ladder we descended. The captain reached around her back and produced a stick.

“Maria, if you would. A light please.” she said.

“Understood.” A puff of orange burst from Maria’s hand and engulfed the now-lit torch. It sizzled and spat sparks until the top was fully consumed.

“Is there a reason behind your choosing of torches and not a more efficient source of light, such as a lamp?” Delanor asked.

“If we fell and one of those broke, we would have to travel back to the surface and purchase another. While these torches are heavy, they burn brightly and will not go out easily. We will have no worries about light for at least a few hours.” the captain explained.

Each of us had a pack on our backs, loaded with food, water, medicine, cloth, and other supplies. It was a weight on my shoulders, but the captain had been careful to keep our loads light to quicken our travel.

“Not quite as bad as I thought it would be. We are in a sewer, after all.” Maria observed.

“Look here.” Canary motioned us towards him and bent down. At his knees, a thin canal of dark fluid was flowing into the larger waterway. He dipped a finger in and sniffed it. “It smells like a plant. Strong too. I imagine the city uses whatever this is to manage the smell. These do appear to be sewers.”

The water was murky and a greyish brown. Lumps floated along its surface, and bits of garbage could be seen bobbing up and down the dull water surface. The whole air smelled of dead vegetation, of rot mixed with the fragrance of blooming flowers.

We continued onward. Our path turned left, right, and continued forward. The light of the captain’s torch bounced along the stone walls of the sewer tunnel. Our footsteps echoed against the smooth stone walls. An hour of aimless walking passed. We had seen little of note besides other tunnels merging into ours. We knew our way by following the direction of the flow. The tunnel aged as we walked; cracks and red-brown stains of unknown origin began to appear on the walls.

The first descent came at the abrupt end of the tunnel. The water took a swift turn downwards and disappeared below us. Our walkway also ended at a rickety wooden ladder held in place by spikes. An ominous echo floated up from the black abyss. At this point, it was pitch black, and our only light source was not nearly enough to illuminate the grounds below.

“Do you think it’s stable?” Maria asked.

“Looks to be.” Delanor said. “Emperor, are you able to use your arm yet? It has been more than a week.”

“You think lightly of me. I will manage.” he said quietly.

“I will stay up here.” Canary suggested. “I can hold on to the rope for you, and if something happens, I can pull you back up.”

“I hardly believe you are strong enough to support the weight of five people. We would be better off mounting a spike to the side of the wall.” Maria rebuffed. She removed a metal stake from her pack and rammed it into the ground with all of her might. With a clink, it bounced out of Maria’s hand, the stone beneath completely undamaged. Maria clutched the rattled hand in discomfort.

“Curses.” She muttered. Grasping the stake again, she drew an icy vine out of her palm and wrapped it around the stake. As she placed her hand against the wall the vine split into tendrils. Each end sunk deep into the porous stone until the stake had become sturdily mounted to the wall. “Tie yourselves to that. Assuming none of us weigh more than a horse, it should support our descent.”

—

Downward progress was slow. Canary’s frightened whimpers were aggravating and followed by Kirill’s grinding of his teeth in irritation. This made for a horrible set of noises every time we went down a single rung. Maria periodically returned up to bring down our mounted rope, as its full length wasn’t close to the full height of the vertical tunnel. Her job was the most dangerous, as she had nothing to stop her fall when she ascended to bring it down. We could have used other ropes, but the captain decided it was too risky to waste materials so early on.

As the distance from the top increased, the flow of water widened and our clothing grew moist with droplets of sewage. It was here that the putrid stink of waste stifled our breaths. No amount of odor prevention could fight the overpowering stench of dirty water.

The ladder abruptly ended. Kirill, who had volunteered to be first in the order, followed by Delanor, stopped suddenly while we clung to the walls. Kirill had climbed down nearly one-handed, holding a torch in the other. When he needed both hands, he held the torch with his teeth.

“The ladder has been broken. I believe I see the bottom of the tunnel.” he said. “I will drop the torch down to confirm. It is nearly spent.”

“Go ahead.” the captain shouted from above our heads.

—

“EEEEEEEIIIIIHHHHHHHHH!”

An otherworldly screech raked past my ears. The sound left my head ringing and my field of vision spinning. There was a pressure in my skull, like my eyes were about to burst. The inside of my ears felt warm and wet. I tried turning my head in the direction of the noise. The darkness below me seemed to wobble and grow.

“Something is below!” Kirill shouted. I blinked at him blankly, trying to focus on his words. Was that…blood coming out of his ears? The sensation in my ears must have been blood as well. The captain’s ears were bleeding too. I could still hear him. His voice was faint and distant, and echoed inside my head like it were a ball bouncing around an empty box.

A twisted face appeared from below. Its eyes were empty black voids, and its elongated mouth was stretched in a twisted expression of agony. The sewage poured into its gaping mouth. It was made of a fleshy-colored material, and the edges of the shapeless mass filled up the tunnel, blocking our path. It sensed our presence. The torch, still barely lit, flickered and died out on the side of the creature’s face.

The captain hastily passed an object to me. Its thickness was that of a torch.

“Hand that to Maria. I need it lit.” she ordered.

“Maria! Light this torch!” I reached up and passed the torch upwards. I was fourth in our order and she was fifth. The dim outline of her finger reached down and breathed another puff of flame into the ball of tinder at the end of the torch, setting it ablaze.

The creature was enraged. It twisted and shook. The fleshy appendages it used to suspend itself crawled upwards. They looked like thousands of fingers, with suction at the end. It was getting closer. Kirill was a safe distance from it, but he wouldn’t be for long.

“No. I am not going into the mouth of that thing.” Canary took one glance downwards and immediately began reaching upwards. He had forgotton that we were all attached by the same rope. I felt a sharp tug at my waist. Maria had tightly fastened the twine-twisted rope beneath my outer clothing, so it dug into my back as he pulled.

“Canary, you coward. Are you so weak to turn your back on this foe?” Kirill shouted.

“At least I will live to see the next day. We should turn back.” he shouted back.

The wall of flesh pulsed and prepared another scream. The walls of its mouth closed shut from the sides. Its wide black eyes widened, and like a balloon, it began to swell, growing closer and closer to Kirill’s exposed shoes.

“Turn back, and the strength you seek will remain a dream.” Kirill said.

Canary paused.

“Remember your training,” he said. His cold tone was scarcely encouraging, but it seemed to shake Canary’s efforts to leave.

Possessed by Kirill’s words, Canary began unwinding the rope from his waist. He swept the hair out from behind his eyes to reveal his twinkling, gold-black eyes. They were a mystical sight. I could feel myself being pulled within just by turning myself towards him. With a push of his arms, he launched himself off of the ladder. A rush of air brushed past my skin as he passed each of us, directly towards the mouth of the creature. I thought I saw him grab something from the side of Kirill’s pack as he dropped down.

Into the creature’s closed maw, he stuck his fingers. “Ahhh-!” he strained from the effort. Like an old cabinet finally opening after years of neglect, it popped open and closed, swallowing him up. Canary had disappeared. He had vanished within the abyss of sewage and muck.

—

Another scream. We each had the sense to cover our ears, but it was still a head-splitting noise with our best attempts to prevent it. Over a minute had passed since Canary’s heroic dive. It was unclear what he had attempted to achieve, but there was no time to think about it. Its slow ascent clearly meant to chase us out. At Maria’s instruction, we had all slowly climbed to avoid being swallowed up by the mass of meat.

The texture of its flesh seemed like a fusion of wood and flesh. Pink veins ran along its skin, but the body itself appeared to be made of wood. The same wood as the walls of the Great Tree. As we slowly made our way back up, its ascent slowed. The expression on its face became relaxed. With its eyes and mouth closed, it appeared as the face of a baby carved into wood.

The peace on its face quickly turned to horror as an explosion rocked the walls of the tunnel. Like a tower of wood blocks collapsing, the face fell far, far into the abyss. It quickly left our field of view, and the tunnel was once again quiet.

—

Canary’s blood-covered body was at the bottom of the tunnel. Calling it a body was generous. A standing pair of upright legs stood amongst the ruined remains of the creature. The expanse at the bottom was littered with pockets of mangled flesh and waste obstructed by the body of the creature. It was long and segmented, like the body of a caterpillar. The face itself was only one part of many. In spite of its appearance, its veins had pulsed with a black blood that was different from a human’s. The blood on Canary’s body was his own.

“Uugh. I hate this.” Canary’s tired voice spoke. The other half of his body was buried beneath a pile of rubble.

“Well done, Canary. You have shown true courage.” Kirill smiled a true smile. There was not an ounce of disgust or cruelty in it.

“I appreciate it. If you do not mind, would you bring my legs to me? I am quite tired.” Canary said.

“Anastasia? Maria? Could you two not have done something about this? Did it take a suicide mission to defeat it?” Delanor asked.

“I was busy keeping our anchor intact. Producing a weapon large enough to fell this creature would disrupt my focus and cause us to fall.” she said. “The air here is thick, my ice does not hold the same power here as it does above ground.”

I nodded. “I could not dirty my ribbons on the likes of this thing. A monster that consumes sewage? I would have to burn my ribbons touching something like this. At least this outerwear protects me from most of it.”

“It isn’t a suicide mission.” Canary said. As his spine fused with his dismembered pelvis, he stood up straight. “No one could survive that kind of explosion but I. It was something I had suggested, but our former emperor was the one who bought the gunpowder and canister to go with it.”

“It worked. I have no complaints.” Delanor relented. “The sooner we leave these disgusting tunnels, the better. I would like to take a bath.”

—

Canary’s contraption rattled and shook. A single drop of clear water dripped out of its metal outlet, into a metal pot. Beneath it, a large fire, burning chunks of fat taken from the caterpillar-with-a-face, blazed with life. We had not thought of a better name for it, but since we were unlikely to come across other caterpillars, Delanor suggested we call them caterpillars.

“I have some reservations about drinking sewage water.” I said. I eyed Canary’s so-called “distillation column” with suspicion. Regardless of how many times he explained the mechanics behind it, the thought of growing sick from the potential blight dwelling within the clear water was a weight on my mind.

We sat inside of a small room adjacent to the terrace that formed the caterpillar’s home. It was sealed shut, but after a kick the wooden door crumbled to pieces. There was nothing inside but an old table which was scrapped for firewood. The nature of the room suggested that this drainage system once had workers who frequented the area, but they were nowhere to be found.

“If you grow sick from drinking blighted water, so shall I.” Kirill said. He picked up the pot and raised it to his mouth, swallowing the small amount of fluid that had accumulated at the bottom. He quickly swallowed. “No dirtier than the river water. Cleaner, even.”

“Thank you…Kirill.” I looked at the pot placed beneath Canary’s device. It was empty, but I looked intently at the blackened bottom, waiting for my turn.

“We should do what we can to conserve our water supply. Once we leave these sewers we may not have another chance to gather clean water.” the captain said.

“Next you’d be telling us to eat the caterpillar to conserve food.” Maria chided.

“Even I wouldn’t be able to stomach that. It was allowing sewage to pour into its mouth. Drinking untold amounts of it. I cannot imagine what its meat would taste like.” the captain shuddered at the thought.

“Speaking of which, it is time for us to eat. As we started the journey at midday, we can sleep here. We do not know when we will next have the fortune of a safe place to stay, so enjoy it while you can. If any of your food has been contaminated, throw it out. It is better your stomach is empty than for you to get sick and die while we are here.” Delanor said.

“I get it. You didn’t have to remind me.” Maria removed a metal box of rations from her pack. It was a package of hard, dry-baked bricks of flour. She handed one to me. It tasted like salt. I ate it quickly. The others followed suit. Kirill removed a piece of dried pork wrapped in paper, Canary munched on an apple, Delanor drank a small bottle of milk, and the captain nibbled at the same type of flour-brick. The odor of sewage had only grown stronger as we descended, and it was difficult to place food in our mouths. The smell only made me want to gag as I swallowed.

Canary was still covered head-to-toe in black sludge. He didn’t seem to be bothered by it but the air was unbreathable within a few feet of him.

He noticed me looking at him. “You can all sleep, I’ll keep watch. I doubt I can sleep feeling like this.”

We took his offer. I huddled in a corner with Maria, while Kirill and Delanor placed their mats out alone. The captain tried to set her mat near Canary with some metal clip holding her nose shut.

—

“That is the exit. Right there.” Delanor pointed to a large crack in the stone wall far below. We had spent most of the early day cleaning the tree-fiber cloaks which were dirtied by splashing water. Following that, navigation of the second level had proceeded as expected. The flow of water had been somewhat disrupted by the exploding caterpillar, but by the time we awoke, it had reached a steady state. Our direction of travel was clear.

The disrepair of the passageways had grown more severe as we descended. In several places, the ceiling above had collapsed. Some holes had been hastily plugged with a mixture of pulpy wood and rocks, but it was clear even the repairs were quite old. These sewers had been abandoned for some time.

A ray of sunlight pierced through the top water’s exit. A tiny piece of the river outside was visible. It was dark blue and vibrant. Maria narrowed her eyes. “I would have preferred to come in through the water’s exit.”

“It may be too high to reach. No one knows how high up we are. My sense of altitude has been dulled through our stay in the city.” I suggested.

“We have a pressing matter to handle.” Delanor informed us. A bulbous mass of at least three caterpillars clung to the walls surrounding the black crack. They stood guard, preventing the entry of any intruders. One even looked directly at us. It said nothing, but its widening black eyes sent a clear message. It had seen us.

I felt the soft cotton pad on my right ear. At the captain’s suggestion, we had used bits of mat stuffing as makeshift ear protection. Defeating the enemy without any noise was a top priority. My hearing was disorganized and I felt a strange rattling inside my head whenever I heard a voice.

Maria swung her hand outwards at a caterpillar. Its finger-like appendages slithered back and forth as it laid still on the ground. Naught but a withered frozen rose fell to the floor below. Maria retracted in disappointment.

“We will need to find another way. My power here will not be enough.” she said.

“Emperor, have any gunpowder left? I could destroy them again.” Canary eagerly suggested.

“Only one. There are too many.” Kirill held out a ceramic ball. I imagined it was filled with explosives on the inside, set to burst the instant the delicate exterior was breached. A dangerous design, surely, but perhaps that is why he only purchased a few.

“I have an idea. Throw the bomb as far in another direction as you can. With luck, they will release their scream, and we will have a window of time to slip past before they have a chance to release it again. They are slow. Their limbs are tiny, and their bodies are massive.”

Kirill wound up his good left arm and prepared to pitch the bomb as far as he could. It hit a wall with a click, and another massive boom shook the ground. Unlike before, the ground continued to shake even after the explosion. A loud rumble sounded above our heads. A large boulder plummeted downwards, straight at the captain’s exposed head.

“Captain!” I shouted. The undamaged ribbons on my arms spewed forth and formed a net and caught the boulder. They stretched and struggled, but inches before hair on the captain’s head was touched, the boulder had come to a stop.

“It’s a cave-in! Run for the exit, now!” the captain yelled. “Well done, Anastasia.”

Amidst the rubble and rocks crashing down around us, we quickly descended the ladder leading to the lowest floor. Like the first ladder, it stopped a few meters before the bottom, but the captain, who led the way, jumped down and landed on all fours. The height made me dizzy but I braced my body and leapt. A numbing feeling like a bolt of electricity shot through my hands and feet, but I landed without issue. The rapidly growing crack in the roof would give way at any moment.

The caterpillars were stunned at the sound of the explosion at first. Their expressions were blank, confused. Soon they released their awful scream, but their sluggish bodies could do little more than inch towards the noise. One was killed by a sharp piece of falling rock, its head crushed. The rest of its body went limp and spread out flat on the ground. As we ducked and dove into the crevice by the exit, the cries of agony of the caterpillars as they were buried in rubble signified the final moments of their pitiful lives.

—

A was awoken by a quiet shuffling further down our camping-hole. The inside of the tree root was narrow but provided a convenient shelter for the night. The exit had collapsed behind us. There was no turning back.

A light blue light emanated up from the divot. I scooted down, careful to keep my feet planted on the sides of the root, and bent over to peek at the source.

“Anastasia…my beloved. Your green eyes warm my frozen heart like the rising sun. Why could it not be just you and I? What purpose do these…distractions…serve?” Maria delicately pinched a tiny ice sculpture in her hand. It was a girl, with curls in her hair, and a dress just like the one I wore at home. It looked just like…me.

A circle of blue mushroom caps formed a circle around her feet. They danced and spun, parading around and around. They were the source of the cold blue glow.

“Who’s there?” Maria turned her face to look in my direction. As I turned to run, a collar of icy vines tightened around my neck and pulled me back. Her expression was amiable, almost happy. Her yellow eyes were wide open. “Oh, it’s just you, Anastasia. I was meaning to speak to you.”

“Good evening, Maria.” I grabbed at the vines wrapped tightly around my neck, but they didn’t budge. They were frozen solid. “Could you please, undo these restraints?”

“I have a few questions for you, Anastasia. You are important to me. Am I important to you?” she asked. Her eyes twinkled in the darkness. Her mouth had begun to curl into a frown.

“Of course.” the words could barely escape my mouth.

“Back in the plains, there was a night where I felt a bit tired, and when I opened my eyes you were gone. Where were you?” she asked.

“Many nights fit that description.” I answered. I searched my mind, unsure what she was asking about. The memory quickly surfaced. I could not say it.

“You know which night I am speaking of. Please be honest with me.”

I stayed silent. It was the night of Kirill’s proposal.

“On the night of the planting festival, you were with someone. Someone besides me. Who was it?” she asked. Her anger was palpable in her tone. “It was that man! The horrible, disgusting man who only seeks to get in between us. He is the reason we had to flee our homes. He is the reason we have lost our homeland. He is the reason your father died.” A string of accusations flew from Maria’s mouth.

“Do not say that, Maria. It pains me for you to talk of him in that way.” I pleaded. Something about her was wrong. Her normally cool, calculating nature had given way to her current state.

“I hate him! I hate him for taking you from me. I see the way he looks at you. Whenever you return his gaze, I am frightened. I am frightened that he will hurt you. That he will dirty you with his stain! Cast him away. He isn’t worthy of your attention.” She shouted. Her voice was loud. Surely the rest of the party could overhear her.

“He has not taken anything from you. We are still together, as we have always been.” I said calmly. Maria was not listening to reason, but I hoped she would come to her senses on her own.

“You are mine! I love you, Anastasia. You pain me, but I only feel joy when I suffer at your hands. Every moment you spend looking at him is a moment wasted.” Maria paused. “It is no matter. Should you not heed my words, even that is fine. You and I will be the only ones to reach the bottom of this tree.” Maria planted the vines extending from beneath her arm’s sleeve into the wall of the hollow root and turned to leave.

The ribbon at my neck grew hot and burst with a powerful blast. The searing heat stung my neck for just a moment, but I had succeeded. The vines squeezing my neck were gone. Before Maria had a chance to react, I threw all of my ribbons, expanding in every direction to wrap her body in as tight of a bind as I could muster. The ribbons never reached her. In a single motion, she turned backwards and closed her icy hands around my neck.

“I do not want to hurt you, Anastasia. But if it is what I must to to show you my love, I-”

A heavy thunk came from behind Maria and she crumpled to the ground. Delanor, wearing nothing but a white cloth undergarment, stood with a metal pot in her hand. Her breathing was heavy and nervous. She bent down to look at Maria’s unconscious face.

“Mind mushrooms. I can’t believe they live down here.” She turned Maria’s body over as best she could while Maria lay on the sloped floor of the hollow root. On the back of Maria’s neck, a small blue cap, the same as the ones I had seen, bloomed with a vibrant blue.

Delanor ripped the cap out of Maria’s neck without a second of hesitation. She pierced Maria’s skin with her sharp fingernail, digging out bits and pieces of the cap that remained rooted in the neck. I winced in discomfort, but I felt compelled to continue looking. Red blood flowed from the wound.

“Stop it, Delanor, you’re hurting her.” I reached out a hand to stop the operation.

“And…done.” Delanor pulled her hand back. Two of her fingers were covered in blood, and the wound on Maria’s neck looked ugly, but her face looked warm and full of life. She breathed softly, as if peacefully asleep.

“Mind mushrooms are a common growth in underground caves. Their spores creep into your head through your ears and usually sprout somewhere on the head. They are not dangerous as long as you remove the main root threads.” Delanor smiled at me. “Do not mind what Maria said, Anastasia. Mind mushrooms exist to destroy groups of living creatures. What she said was a result of their influence.”

“I…I see. Let me dress the wound.” I bent down to assist Delanor with the procedure. “Thank you Delanor, for saving me.”

“I would do it anytime. Maria is the one who invited me to come with us, after all. My four ears allowed me to hear the commotion, even after suffering from the scream of the caterpillar. The others are sleeping soundly with bandages over their ears. We are lucky to be together on this quiet night.” Delanor cheerfully said. After pressing down on Maria’s neck with a small piece of cotton cloth, together we carried her back to the camp.

—

It was the smell of rain. The scent of water and dirt, calling forth thoughts that there must be a storm overhead. But there was no storm. The root we crawled through opened into a wide chasm. As I looked to my left and my right, the edges of the chasm were not in sight, perhaps they were hidden by darkness. A dense thicket of trees, as close as an arm’s reach away, covered the ground. Instead of the sun's rays, the familiar lifeless glow of the mind mushrooms permeated through my eyes. They clustered on the ceiling of the chasm in small bunches. They formed their own blue starry sky for the inhabitants below.

Delanor had removed a booklet from her pack and was jotting down notes. Her hand traced one of the blue, paper-like growths protruding from the tree branches in place of leaves. “Hmm,” she said. “I was not expecting such a large cave to exist down here. Anastasia, can you move one of these?” She carefully removed one of the ribbon-like tree leaves.

“I can try. Give me a moment.” I thought for a moment. It looked fragile, so if I attempted something complex it would tear itself apart. It was also a piece of plant I had never seen before, so it likely wouldn’t take to my commands well, if at all. Something large was out of the question. In the end I settled for a butterfly. A flying insect should be easy enough. The leaf strand jumped out of Delanor’s hand and flitted about the air for a few seconds. Its gait was awkward and unbalanced. Soon a wing broke off and the rest of the main body spiraled to the ground.

“Curious. What is it about your ribbons that allows you to control them so?” she asked.

“They were a gift from my father when I was young. They have been with me for many years, so I know their every thread like a strand of hair on my own head. The replacements I was provided with at the capital were an exact copy. The gold trim at the edges is cosmetic.” I answered. “My father started examining ribbon crafts before I was born. I take after him.”

“So it is a family legacy, of sorts?” she asked. Her ears perked up.

“One could consider it so. It was a hobby picked up by my father, and later by me. I never met my grandparents.”

“I am sure he is proud of his daughter.” she said.

I smiled. “I hope so.” It was unclear to me whether she said so with knowledge of his death. Regardless, having the chance to mention him brought back a few sweet memories, long buried. The ribbons were one of the first gifts he had bestowed upon me for Saints’ Day. It was a cold winter night, and when I opened the wrapped box, the ribbons were folded in a neat square pile, wrapped in white paper. From that day forward, I never took them off, unless I had to bathe or use them. “Thank you for your words.” I said to her.

“Don’t mention it. Meanwhile, I am worried about Maria. She looks a little tired.” Delanor observed.

Maria trailed the rest of us slowly, her dull yellow eyes lacking a shine as always. The sunkenness of her eyes made it look like she hadn’t slept well, and she trudged forward while looking at her feet.

—

“Maria…”

I walked beside her. I tried to say something, but each time I looked at her face, I was reminded of last night. She looked half-dazed, half-sleepless, and every few steps, she would stumble forward before catching herself. I took a deep breath and drummed up the courage to let some words tumble out of my mouth.

“The weather is warm down here.” I said. Good enough. At least it wasn’t anything embarrassing.

“...” Maria looked at me. “It is.”

“A-are you not feeling well?” I asked.

“I am feeling a little tired, that is all. Perhaps you should speak to someone else, I will not be able to provide much conversation in this state.” she said. She was pushing me away. Was it because she recalled the events of the last night, or because she was too exhausted to speak.

“Did you sleep well last night? Maybe we can take a break for a moment-” I suggested.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“I am fine. Leave me be.” she said coldly. A fragment of her normal coolness returned to her expression as she spoke.

“Maria, I-”

“I said, leave me be.” Maria repeated. Her face tightened. She was not angry yet, but I continued to pry, I could be sure she would be.

“Sorry. We can talk later.” I apologized. I walked next to her quietly. Even if she did not want to speak, at least I could accompany her silently.

Delanor hacked away at the thicket with a wooden stick. There was no path to follow. We walked in a straight direction as Delanor marked our steps in her notes. The density of these half-living trees was enough to obstruct our route sometimes.

I looked gloomily at the captain with Canary. They were talking and laughing, seemingly without a thought for the dangers we faced. Since when were they so close? When we first met Canary, the captain was there. I supposed they had a great deal of time to kindle their relationship. It was sweet in a sense, but seeing them together only deepened the unease that surrounded my feelings for Maria.

I had never considered what might become of Maria if I was ever taken under a man’s wing. She always had been stuck to me. When she departed for the faraway Academy almost three years ago, it struck me by surprise. But when she returned, in spite of everything she had said about gaining her own independence, none of that mattered when she was with me. Was her goal to become my equal not a search for independence but, rather an attempt to win my hand? I could not fathom the thought. Viewing her in such a light was difficult, at best.

“Anastasia.” Delanor flicked my forehead with her middle finger. The sting of pain knocked me completely out of my path of thought. “You weren’t with us.” The rest of the group had walked ahead and were waiting for me. Even Maria. I counted the number of people in the party. Delanor, me, Maria, Canary, captain. Only five of us were here. Kirill was nowhere to be seen.

“Delanor, where is Kirill? Did he storm off after an argument with someone?” I asked.

“Fortunately, no. He said he felt restless and would blaze a path ahead. He didn’t do much blazing but he definitely did run off.” she said. “If he runs into something he can’t handle, I’m sure he will let us know. I’m still worried about that shoulder, but if he says he’s fine, I won’t tell him no.”

“I see. Does he know what we are looking for? I do not recall you telling us about this forest.” I said worriedly. Delanor had talked for a while during our meeting, but I could not recall a minute of an underground forest populated by mind mushrooms and trees with ribbon-like leaves.

“I did not tell you about it because I did not know about it. I’m sure the local government keeps some record of what is down here, but we don’t have the kind of connection to get that. He doesn’t know what we are looking for, and neither do I. As far as I know, there should be some way further down the roots of the Great Tree. We are sweeping the area to hopefully find something.” Delanor explained. Her ears were drooping and her expression melancholy. The lack of any concrete plan was wearing on her, as a makeshift guide. “Did you speak to Maria?”

I was surprised at the question, but I shouldn’t have been. Delanor was the one who suggested I talk to her in the first place. “I did.” I said quietly.

“Based on the look on your face, I will guess that it didn't go as well as you’d hoped. No matter. Maybe she needs time to think about things herself. I did not hear everything that was said, but mind mushrooms tend to make you as provocative as possible. It might be hard, but you would both be better off forgetting about it altogether.” Delanor advised.

“Thanks, Delanor.” I smiled weakly.

“Don’t mention it. I’m hungry. Let’s stop for lunch.” she called over the rest of the group.

—

We had been underground for so long that it was difficult to tell the time. According to Canary's supposition, it was the mid-afternoon, but I had doubts about that estimate. He had likely just guessed based on the last time we slept.

Canary still smelled of death. Having no chance to bathe, he continued strutting around covered in dried sewage and gore. He did not seem to mind. Neither did the captain, who sat alongside him with a cotton pad stuffed up each nostril.

There were no lucky abandoned cabins in the middle of this forest. We sat in the open, among the trees. Delanor offered a bit of salted meat to Maria, but she shook her head, not even speaking to decline. Delanor ate it herself. I wasn’t hungry, but at the urging of others, I tried my best to eat a few pieces of baked flour. A few treats were stashed hidden in my bag. Among them was a loaf of cheese bread and a buttery pastry with cream and fruit on the inside. It had been a few days, so I would need to eat it soon. Maybe tomorrow.

Footsteps came from behind Canary. Kirill ducked under a low-hanging branch to appear before us. He was covered in sweat, and in spite of his attempt to hide it, he was out of breath.

“I’ve…found you.” He said between deep breaths. “A stone structure exists to the east. It is sealed by a gate, but that will not be a hindrance. Abyssal, you reek.” he turned his nose up at the sight of Canary.

“I do believe you were already aware of this.” Canary said defensively.

“I was. After separating from you for a while, I was again reminded that most things do not smell of feces and rot.” Kirill tried to smile. Was this an attempt at banter? Canary seemed not to mind him.

“And? Why are you pointing it out now?” Canary asked. “While we were in the sewers, you seemed not to care.”

“There is a pool of still water at the structure.” Kirill said. “If nothing else, clean the bits out of your hair. They look horrid.”

—

Canary carelessly stripped off his clothing and jumped into the now-still stone fountain. He yelped as his bare skin touched the surface of the water. The fountain was a circular bowl. A pillar of stone rose from the center. Coiled around it was a snake with many tails. It was carved delicately and perhaps out of the same piece of rock as the pillar. It bared its fangs at the lifeless forest, keeping watch for an enemy that would never appear.

Kirill turned around to look at the rest of us. “This is it,” he said. Behind him, a tall structure stood. It was lacking in color or elaborate detail. Only a large slab, surrounded on the sides by a simple rectangular arch, stood out among the tightly packed wall of bricks wider than an owlbear’s wingspan. The slab carried the same thousand-tailed serpent as one on the wooden gate in the Great Tree.

“This is curious. There is no doubt about it. Someone from the surface has been down here.” Delanor excitedly ran towards the engraved stone. “I’m lucky to be one of the few to see this.”

“I wonder if this one came first, or the gate of the gate tree. One had to be based off of the other.” I supposed.

“This one came first. See the scales? There is much more detail here. I can hardly believe that the one with less detail was the original. That Exia, almost like he wanted everyone to know that he’s the king of his tree.” Delanor grinned. “The scales are clearly carved here, and more tails are present in the background.” she ran her hand along one of the tails, hardly reaching a tenth of its length with her outstretched arm.

The thousand-tailed snake on the stone door, if it could even be called such, appeared to be a flat rendition of the one on the pillar in the fountain. Dozens or hundreds of tails expanded from the center of the engraving, and at the center, the head of a snake, baring its fangs, directly faced the viewer. Instead of a flat, club-shaped head typical of a snake, the one in the engraving had a clear set of small teeth surrounding the fangs, and the ridges above its eyes and protrusions above its spine resembled that of the sarassins living in the Great Tree.

“There’s an engraving here.” Delanor pointed to our feet. Etched lightly in the stone, it was difficult to make out the words. They were in a language I didn’t understand anyway, but I would have liked to see the whole thing. We had walked on top of a large sign of sorts without knowing it. Delanor bent down and studied the words, sniffing around and wagging her tail. Perhaps it was a feature of feline behavior, but when she had to translate anything written in the sarassin language, her tail would wave back and forth.

“I will do my best to tell you what this says. It is a little confusing, but I should be able to do it.” Delanor said. “Stand back, you all. I must see all of the words. Captain, a torch please.”

Delanor took a deep breath after looking over the entire inscription for several minutes. She often referred back to the notebook she had been carrying, writing things down and looking back on old pages. “I’m ready.”

“We’re listening.” I said.

“Here lies the venerable Thousand-Tailed Serpent.

The creator of worlds and mother of our people.

Cast aside by her child, she sleeps in a bed of stone,

In a cradle to be buried and forgotten.

Enter if you will,

May you reminisce upon the fallen.”

Delanor spoke in a strange voice. It was rougher, closer to the sarassin accent and farther from her typical feline one. This was odd, as we had long returned the rings of understanding to the innkeeper, and she was speaking in Sveshen. I dismissed those thoughts as a perk of someone who could speak in multiple languages.

“That word appears again. Reminisce. If there is anything that might lead us to what we seek, it certainly must lie within this tomb.” Kirill stated. “Feline. I have a question.”

“Tell me.” Delanor said.

“I may be unable to call any power forth, but I am a scholar among you.” he said sheepishly.

“Truly? Why did you wait so long to tell us-” Some words spilled from my mouth again.

“I figured that already based on what the Archive knew about you, but go on.” Delanor said.

“That power remains sealed away alongside a curse that would otherwise ravage my body. Is there a chance that this ‘reminiscence’ will be possible for me to achieve?” he asked.

“Hmm.” Delanor put her hand to her chin. “Perhaps. I do not know. If you are looking to unleash that power alongside the curse, this ‘seer’ the informant told us about can likely do that for you. What you desire is purification, which I imagine is harder. Tell me more about this curse.”

Kirill revealed the same brand underneath the bracelet on his arm. It pulsed with the same red color, as if it were stealing his blood. “Without any treatment, the curse would take my life in a few hours. Emily produced the seal and gave me the bracelet alongside it. It grants only a fraction of the strength I was once blessed with.”

“It is better than nothing. The more I hear of her, the more I think she was a loyal servant. It makes her betrayal puzzling, but I suppose everyone has something which they would damn the world to save.” Delanor expressed solemnly. “We can look for someone to help you with it, but if the strongest scholar in the whole country couldn’t do more than seal it away, the chance of finding help is slim.”

“Unfortunate.” Kirill said one word and looked away.

“We still need to find a way past this door. It is a solid piece of rock, and I don’t see a lever, button, or other way to open it.” Delanor looked at the door and tapped it with her foot. “It’s a piece of solid rock. I doubt anyone has the strength to push it over.”

“They don’t make these things to let people in and out. They put it up once, and that’s it. No one comes in, and no one leaves.” the captain said. She had been silently observing the door of the tomb. “I don’t think there’s a way in. Say, Kirill? Was that your name? Got any more of those bombs left?”

“None. I do not believe you have received permission to use my name.” He said coldly.

“Excuse me, then.”

“Foolish.” Maria slowly walked forward. Her tone made her typical flat voice sound full of life in comparison. “Get out of the way. If you value your life.” Her left hand shoved Kirill out of the way as she passed him. He grabbed her shoulder in reaction, but as he touched her shawl, it turned blue and froze.

“Insolent girl! You will find what it means to-”

I grabbed his hand and held it tightly. It was ice cold, and as I rubbed it with my hand, I could feel the tendon beneath. “Please Kirill, not now. Just this once, forgive her.” I pleaded. His shoulder relaxed and he lowered his hand.

“If it is your wish…then I suppose it cannot be helped.” he muttered.

Maria placed her hand against the stone door. Her five fingers, pointed all in different directions, imitated the engraving etched into it.

“Stand back. I think she’s got something incredible planned.” Delanor said. The four of us took cover behind the nearest ribbon-tree. Its trunk was hardly wide enough to provide cover, but it was the best we had. Canary, without a care in the world, continued scrubbing away at his body.

“Moonlit Snow on a Clear Night.” Maria was several paces away, but I felt her voice resonating in my head.

A shockwave expanded from Maria’s hand. The ground behind her was covered in a sheet of frost; the water Canary had been using to wash himself instantly solidified, freezing him in place. The surrounding trees bore a new decoration of jagged spikes. From behind the tree, the air felt frozen, and even behind my closed eyelids, the moisture in my eyes felt painfully cold.

When I opened my eyes, the gate had changed. It was laced throughout with cracks. Those cracks, like the rest of the front-facing side of the tomb, were caked in deep blue ice. Maria removed her hand. As Maria walked back to us, the stone barricade before us collapsed, as did the rest of the tomb. All that was left was a large pile of rubble, and a small opening at the top of it that may allow a person through.

“How did she-” I blurted.

“Stone, metal, and other materials shrink when they are cold, and grow when they are hot. The change is usually small enough that no one notices, but if you can shift the temperature of an object fast enough, you can cause it to shatter. Have you ever placed hot water within a cold glass?” the captain asked.

“I have. It cracked and broke apart.”

“Right. Soon it can’t contain the pressure within itself and crumbles to pieces. That’s how cold Maria’s ice has gotten.” the captain explained. Her eyes were opened fully, in awe at Maria’s display of sheer power. “I don’t believe this is the first time she’s used that technique. It didn’t have a name, but it stopped an enemy in their tracks in a duel on our way to the capital. The poor girl was frozen solid and died without any last words. If anything, Maria’s gotten stronger since then. It’s frightening.”

“Was her power not restrained from coming underground? Why is she able to do such a thing?”

“Maybe she’s found what we’ve been looking for already. I wouldn’t put it past her, given everything we’ve seen.” the captain looked at Maria’s still figure, unmoving before the collapsed chunks of the blockage.

“So this is what that girl’s heart can muster. I admit, it is something to behold.” Kirill said. He rubbed his chilled right hand. Most of its color had returned and he was wiggling his fingers.

“Ahhh! Ah, Ahhhh!” Canary’s cries for help were almost humorous. His ankles were fully encased in solid ice.

“I’ll take care of that. You all can go inside and wait there, I’ll meet you after I’ve taken care of Canary’s business.” the captain said. She waved us away and started towards her grounded companion.

—

“Delanor, as we wait, tell me more about this thousand-tailed serpent.” I said.

“Sure. Whaddya want to know?” she asked.

“Anything really. We may be seeing it soon. Its body, at least.”

“Okay. I’ll start with one of its signature stories.” Delanor cleared her throat. “Many nations have their own story about how the world was made. Here in the sarassin nation, that creator is none other than the thousand-tailed serpent. First, there is only one of these things, so if the ‘real’ one is here, then that means none of the other Great Trees have one. It was once alone, roaming the earth. At this point the earth was nothing more than a ball of mud and water. It thrashed its tail around, making the mountains, and the places that it rested when it slept soon sunk and formed the oceans. One day, it decided that perhaps companions were good, so it produced another snake, just like it. In order to make the snake, it had to sacrifice one of its tails, as to produce life, you must first give life. The snake slithered around, but could not speak, and so the thousand-tailed serpent set it free to run about in the wild. It tried again and again, but with each new creation, it could not produce a being equal to itself. After it had birthed a thousand forms of life, even ones that could converse with each other and multiply, it eventually gave up. The now one-tailed serpent took joy in watching its children thrive and shape the earth to their liking, but felt great sadness that it was still alone. One day, it retreated to the heart of the earth, never to be seen again.”

“What a sad story.” I said.

“It doesn’t end there. It’s said that the sarassin were one of its last attempts to create a partner. According to legend, the sarassin are the closest thing we have to an animal created in the thousand-tailed serpent’s image. That is why it is so revered here. It does not explain why a tomb of this serpent should exist here, though.”

“We’re back.” The captain, shouldering Canary’s weight, stood at the entrance to the tomb.

“Let’s head inside. The day will come to an end in a few hours, at least we can make some headway into this place before then.” Delanor waved the torch in her hand.

—

“Such a quiet tomb.” I said. “It is the same as the forest outside. No living creatures roam these lands.”

“It’s the fault of those mind mushrooms. I wouldn’t expect much since this place gets no sunlight, but their presence spells disaster for anything larger than a cockroach. Did you see those trees? They were covered in them. It’s an infestation, and a serious one. The only good thing about those horrible fungi is they die when exposed to sunlight. Their caps bubble and burst in the sun, like salt on a slug.” Delanor exclaimed profusely. “It seems this place is safe, so if you’d like, you can remove the cotton in your ears.”

“These walls have been abandoned for centuries. Not even insects can survive in this dry wasteland.” Kirill said. Sure enough, he was right. The smooth stone tunnel was clean as a freshly swept floor. It seemed to stretch endlessly both forward and back, the light from Delanor’s torch lacking the strength to illuminate more than a dozen meters ahead.

“Someone else should hold the torch. I need to map our route.” Delanor removed her same notebook and handed the torch into the captain’s outstretched hand. They walked side by side, and Delanor periodically looked down at her book, putting lines and numbers on the pages.

The end of the tunnel came into view. It split to the left and right. The two sides appeared identical. Left or right, the end was again shrouded in darkness, and so Delanor pointed left and we followed. My foot hit against something on the ground. As I looked down, my blood turned to ice when the hollow sockets of a dead sarassin’s face came close to mine.

“Ah!” I jumped back. It was in a grey cloak with an emblem on the hood.

“Exia. He’s been here the whole time.” Delanor said. “For quite a while, based on the look of this corpse.” she was seemingly unfazed at the sight of the dead sarassin. She felt its brown-white skull and ran her fingers along its teeth. She carefully opened the cloak with her hands, revealing the entire skeleton. After a quick search, her hands came up empty. She turned the body over, displacing the arms, legs, and ribs, but there were no signs of anything of use. “It’s totally empty. Whatever it was holding has been taken. Let’s move on. And Anastasia, don’t walk too far to the side, if you would prefer not to see dead bodies.”

—

Soon after, the first room appeared. It was too large to be called a room, as the ceiling was far above our heads and two rows of stone pillars supported its weight. Dead sarassin littered the corners. One or two dead felines were among them, but their skeletons were unmistakably human. Some bore the signature uniform of Exia’s underlings, but others, dressed in various styles of traveling wear, composed the majority of them.

A statue stood at the center. It was the same thousand-tailed snake as the one on the fountain, but instead of a full-bodied snake, its bones were the only thing shaped in stone. At the bottom, another plaque, written in white marble, was engraved with words.

“None shall enter the land of the dead.” Delanor bent down and read the lines. “Whatever that means. Stay away from the dead bodies, you never know when wanderers with actual malice might come to inhabit them.”

Delanor’s stance shifted slightly. She stumbled on her feet. When the captain brought the torch lower, the tip of a worn dagger had buried itself in Delanor’s side. A sarassin had thrust its point at Delanor, hidden by the shadow behind the statue.

The skeleton was skewered from the left and right with thorny rose vines. Maria didn’t spare a moment to separate every segment of living bone from another, encasing every one in its own frozen flower. The room filled with the sound of rattling. The bones, reassembling themselves, stood up. But they did not move. That was, until my head turned, and I felt the cold tip of another blade sinking into my back. Ribbons quickly cut off the blade’s advance and as I turned around, they severed the skeletal feline’s head from its shoulders.

“Quickly, everyone, to me!” the captain shouted. “Form a circle. No one take your eyes off of the enemies.”

Our group huddled around Delanor, who pressed at the wound in her left side with both hands. In spite of her best efforts, her outerwear was stained red, and the blood showed no signs of stopping.

Maria released waves upon waves of thorns from the ground and impaled the horde of undead that had surrounded us. As soon as they were destroyed and Maria’s ice gone, they reassembled and stood up again. It was futile. My efforts were the same, as the instant my ribbon formed a razor-sharp blade to dismember one, it reformed once I moved on to another.

“My ice cannot hold them for long. As soon as I destroy the skeletons, they soon reassemble and attack again.” Maria said.

“Could you encase them all in ice?” I asked.

“I do not have enough to do so for them all. We need another way to defeat them.” she replied.

The skeletons would not move if we watched them. We peeled back our eyelids, doing our best to focus our gaze on every enemy in the pack, taking care not to miss even one from the collective field of view. Yet, the burning pain in my eyes soon grew too much. I had to blink, if only for a fraction of a second. In that time, the skeletons inched closer. Their blades hung in their air like reaper’s scythes. The moment we were within range, the process to initiate us into their ranks would begin. The old equipment worn by the skeletons only served as a reminder. They were also once alive. They came down in search of power, and were instead swallowed up by this dungeon ruled by the dead.

The clicking and clattering of bone against bone sounded each time a member of our group blinked. To my left, a rattle. Maria blinked. Behind me, another pop. Kirill had blinked. The silence accompanied by the variable sound of impending death was maddening. It drove the rhythm of my heart berserk and the darkness around seemed to wobble and grow.

“I have an idea.” Maria said.

“Please tell us.” I pleaded.

“The wanderers are skeletons because they take the form of skeletons. If we were to crush the bones into dust, to the point where the form of the skeleton was lost entirely, would they lose their ability to fight?” she proposed.

“Sounds like a good idea, Maria. How are we going to do that?”

“Simple. Any heavy object is fine. Even a rock will do. Anastasia and I will grab bones from the skeletons, and the rest of you will break them into as small fragments as you can muster. Spines and skulls should be preferred, as they form the primal symbol of what makes a skeleton a skeleton.” she said.

“Fine by me.” the captain said.

“Not a bad idea.” Kirill agreed.

Over a hundred enemies had gathered and surrounded our location. Their empty frames were frail and limp, but when they got close, their speed was blindingly fast. We could waste no more time. An icy vine extended from Maria’s hand, and its end wrapped around the neck of a skeleton. She pulled with all of her strength, and when the head and rib cage of this dead feline fell into her hands, she handed it to Canary, who heartily pounded away at it with a rock, careful to keep the remaining skeletons on his side in view.

—

It took hours to fully dispose of the undead in the large room. We were surrounded by thousands of spent bone fragments and discarded teeth and fingers. The room smelled of wood and dust, as the constant smashing of bone against the ground kicked up a substantial amount of dust left over from the process. Once the path was clear, defeating them was more of a chore, and only in a few moments of carelessness was Maria forced to use her power to a significant extent. Delanor leaned against the statue, exhausted but alive. The captain had wrapped her stab wound in a tight cotton wrap.

“We can set up camp here. It should be around evening, in any case.” Delanor said.

The captain had taken up the mantle of caring for Delanor, who’d lost a significant amount of blood. Canary silently moped on his side of the makeshift fire. Dry bone fragments burned surprisingly well. Besides the occasional exploding piece, the fire crackled heartily and offered a warmth which was scarce in these depths.

“What a close encounter.” Delanor said. “I will not stand in the front next time.”

“What, and let one of us get stabbed instead?” Canary asked.

“Precisely. Your body is tenacious, is it not? Something like this is nothing more than a scratch to you.” she replied.

“Abyssals still feel pain. A stab to you is the same as a stab to us. Besides the part that we will never die from such a thing.” he protested.

“That’s the most important part.” Delanor giggled.

A deep rumble shook our feet. It was over in an instant.

“I wonder what that was.” I said.

“I hope we never have to find out. I think I’ve had enough of the underground. When do we return to the surface?” Delanor asked with a sarcastic expression.

“A lot from you, as our guide. You tell us.” the captain said.

“The journey back up is always longer than the journey down, and we are not yet at the summit of our journey. Or would it be right to call it the deepest point? Regardless, it took three days to get where we are. With a fourth to come, it should be a minimum of six days after tonight. A short trip for us, really.” Delanor yawned. “We can talk more tomorrow. Even with no sun, I can feel myself getting tired from being awake for too long.” Delanor curled into her cotton-stuffed sleeping mat and closed her eyes. Before long she was asleep.

—

The six of us piled into a tiny abode. The inside was surprisingly spacious and filled with a strange, chemical smell as well as machines I’d never seen before. They were blocky and white, held together by bits and plates of metal. In a conspicuous door sealing us off from the inner rooms, there was a voice.

“I thought I asked you to handle it yourself! What do you mean, there’s none left? Your place was crawling with them, last I asked!” It was a woman’s voice. She burst through the door with a device in her hand. It was a sarassin unlike any we had seen until that point. Its scales were pure white, and instead of the bulky, muscular build of the sarassin we had seen so far, her body was sleek and narrow at the waist. Even her clawed feet were smaller and lacked the wide triangular shape of the others. Her appearance was unmistakably womanly, in spite of her reptilian features.

“I’ve got other matters to attend to. We can speak about this later.” She said. The sarassin tossed the device into the room behind her, paying no mind to the crack it made when it hit the floor.

“Welcome. Can I get you some tea, or perhaps a bath, or maybe a meal? I am sure the journey here has been tiring.” She greeted us.

“Wow. What a selection of furniture.” Canary said.

“Don’t touch those. I barely know how they work, and if you press a button I don’t know about, it could explode.” the sarassin said. “Just kidding. I’m serious about not touching anything, though. I believe this is our first meeting. I have no name, but some call me the thousand-tailed serpent on the surface.”

“Everyone, bow your heads. We’re standing before someone important.” Delanor said.

“No thanks. I only see one tail.” Maria declined.

“...” Delanor went white in the face.

“It’s quite alright. If I had been looking for more than a casual conversation, I’d have us meet in something a little more formal.” she said.

“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady thousand-tailed serpent.” I gave a brief bow. “Please excuse my rudeness. Where are we? I remember falling asleep in a room with a statue.”

“You are still there. This place is only a means to speak to me. Most coming here are looking for the same thing, after all. You had the pleasure of meeting with the rejects. Did you enjoy that?” she asked.

“Not one bit. Getting stabbed is quite discomforting.” Delanor said.

“I didn’t expect you to. This is only a formality, but I still have to ask. For what reason did you come here?” The thousand-tailed serpent produced a tea set, its pot still steaming, and placed it on the table. I gingerly picked up one of the gold-rimmed white teacups.

“To meet the seer of the Great Trees. Whoever that might be. Do you know them?” Delanor asked.

“Of course I do. That’s me.” she said.

“Can’t say I’m surprised to hear that.” Delanor grumbled. “We’re looking for reminiscence. Some of our enemies in the east are quite strong, and we need the power to fight them.”

“Have you considered training and exercise?” the serpent asked humorously. “If you wanted that power, there is little more I could do than tell you it exists. Take a memory of yours, and project it outwards with your power. It will manifest into something unique, and a world only you can call yours will come into being.”

“That’s all?” Maria asked.

“You must be considerably strong in the arts first. But I can sense that should not be a problem for you.” the serpent looked at Maria. “Or you.” She looked at me. “I could do something special for you, perhaps. Or even, you.” She looked at Kirill, who was still quietly standing behind us. The rest of us were sitting on a wide cushioned seat, like a bench and a bed mixed together with the back of a chair.

Kirill’s body grew faint. It looked half-transparent, like it was shrouded in mist, and soon his form vanished altogether.

“Uh oh. That isn’t good.” the serpent said. “I have to say, you have a surprise waiting for you when you leave.”

“What kind of surprise?” I asked.

“He’s been taken. At least, he will be taken when you wake up. Time doesn’t pass the same way here as it does in the tomb, so you will awaken at the same time whether you leave now or later.” she said.

“We’re listening. What else did you want to say to us?” I calmly asked. Keeping my calm in this place felt easier than it did elsewhere. It was like I was inside a dream; my emotions and even the sensation of the teacup in my hand were dull and sedated.

“I’ve got a request in exchange for the information I’ve given you.” she said. “For one, don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t create all of you. The legend has a few inaccuracies. Most of the beings with reason that walk the earth were created by different creators. We worked together on many of them, sharing ideas and designs, forming combinations based on our likenesses. Feline, the idea for you originated with a friend of mine. You easterners came from someone else. And finally, Abyssal, you are the only true foreigner. You are something of an abomination, a perversion of something else, if I may be frank”

“I didn’t hear a request in any of that.” Maria said.

“Give me a moment. The man who made the humans keeps pestering me about how all of you are dying and soon his work is going to be destroyed. This is annoying because he’s normally sitting around, doing nothing as your country goes around and destroys everyone else’s work. Could you set things straight to shut him up? It would be a big help.”

“We need to get Kirill back first. Can you help us with that? If you do, we will do whatever you ask.” I stated.

“Ermm.” the serpent hesitated. “Is that really necessary? There’s already two of you who can produce reminiscence. Do you need a third?”

“He’s important to us.” I said.

“Fine, fine. It’s most likely he was taken by Exia, one of my children. Kind of a sneaky guy. He and his friends dug a deep hole down here like a worm, so he shows up with some stupid question every few weeks. I redesigned this whole tomb to keep him out, but he’s persistent. He still comes once in a while.” she explained.

“What does he want with Kirill?” I asked.

“No idea. Why don’t you ask him yourself?” she laughed coldly.

“We will. Thank you for your help, Great Thousand-Tailed Serpent.”

“One more thing. He most certainly has his own reminiscence. I told him about it a while ago. You can also get to the surface faster if you use his tunnel. The entrance should be past the skeleton room to the right, and then a left, in the place with my main body. There will be a pile of rocks behind one of my tails, go through there and you will arrive at the surface in a few hours. I hope you like ladders.” She waved us goodbye. The world began to twist and bend, and then it faded to black.

—

“Wah!” I sat up straight. The air felt heavy, and the odor of dust again filled my nostrils. The others woke up one by one. Delanor yowled in pain as she sat up, clutching the wound in her side.

“Delanor, are you all right?” the captain asked.

“Yes. Moving around is difficult, but we should continue. For the first time, it is a matter of urgency.” she said.

Maria slowly rose from her sleeping mat. The bandages peeking out from her arms and legs were clean. If she still felt the injuries from the match, it didn’t show on her face.

It was true. The spot that Kirill had laid down on for the night was empty. His possessions were gone. It was like he had never even been there. A wave of panic sent my heart racing, but I gripped my thumb and did my best to ignore it.

We cleaned up our things and quickly made our way to the tunnels. Our brisk footsteps crunched against the bone fragments strewn about the ground. The captain’s torch blazing with life, she took the lead as we entered the dark passage once more.

“Right, then left. That was what the lizard said. Right?” the captain asked me to confirm. I tried to keep pace with her long stride, but her two steps were my three.

“I believe so. Let us make haste.” I replied.

Delanor caught up behind us. Her breath was ragged and her steps uneven. In her hand, she had a piece of paper. It was a letter folded four times horizontally, with a line of words written in large print on each fold.

“Here…Anastasia. I found this behind the statue. It was likely left by one of Exia’s men.” Delanor said.

“What does it say?” I asked.

“Greetings, Anastasia. How is the weather there? It is getting chilly here. As you may see, one of your party members is missing. He is in our care. If you would like to bring him back with you, I would cordially request a rematch between the two of us. If you win, you may have him rejoin you at the moment of your victory. If you lose, then please consider him as one of my allies and no longer a matter of your concern. Signed, Governor Exia Asan.” Delanor said in a cheeky voice. “Does he always talk like this?”

“It sounds like him.” I answered.

“So he’s asking for a rematch with Anastasia. What a sore loser. Can’t he accept that he lost?” the captain groaned.

I paused. “Captain, reconsider for a moment. If he had wanted a rematch, he could have easily used his power to make it happen. But he waited for us to come down here, for us to learn of the reminiscence, and then he took Kirill and ran off. It should be clear that he wants to fight Anastasia at her full strength, or at least the one that has achieved this new power. Otherwise his actions are not sensible.”

“Do we really need to do so? The two of us should be enough to defeat anything that girl in the white dress can throw at us.” Maria protested.

“We cannot simply leave the emperor behind. For all we know, he might be the last of his line. Without him, we cannot expect anyone to stand with us, especially with the situation surrounding Anastasia’s father.” The captain said.

“He was already unpopular before. Let’s hope whoever the enemy’s new leader is so uniquely horrible that his people are happy to have him back.” Delanor smugly said.

Canary, who had quietly been following behind us, laughed loudly at Delanor’s joke. He had grabbed a handful of hollow bone fragments and was placing them over his fingertips, making a morbid-looking set of claws.

“Ew. Canary, don’t play with dead bodies.” the captain ordered.

“Why not? They won’t be needing these anymore.” he asked.

“Because it’s weird! Plus, those claws make your fingers look unnatural. I’d never hold hands with someone like that.” The captain flipped her black hair and smiled. Canary hung his head and quietly pulled them off, scattering each one on the ground.

“The thousand-tailed serpent didn’t speak to us for long. She was quite punctual. She said Kirill could achieve reminiscence too. It is a shame we could never see his power for ourselves.” I said. “Do any of you know what it is?”

The captain looked down, searching her memory. Even from those who lamented his actions, hardly a soul would speak of exactly what happened at his inauguration. “I heard briefly from Reshevsky back while we were in the capital. He can call forth a pack of huge dogs. Each of them is the size of a house, strong, and fast. I heard he leveled a city in a few hours.”

“He could be quite the warrior then! To help us in our battles.” I cheerfully said. “If only we could cure whatever curse ails him.”

“Why doesn’t he just…cut off his arm? Sure, it would hurt, but in exchange, he could take his power back.” Canary suggested.

“Curses are more complex than that. It likely flows in his blood and violates his body, and the brand we see on his wrist is only a symbol of the seal. Destroying that symbol does nothing. The only one we could seek advice for such a thing is Emily, the scholar who betrayed us. It is possible she wanted to mute his power to serve her own interests. It is also possible she lacked a complete answer, and so we see the half-baked remedy now.” Maria said.

“Asking a traitor for help? Doesn’t seem likely that will work.” Canary said. “I bumped into her, you know. I found her daughter, lost in the woods, and the next thing I knew, she threw me off of a tower. For the crime of trying to help her daughter find her way back!”

“Knowing you, you were up to something horrible.” Maria teased.

“Do not say that, please.” Canary protested. The captain gave him a suspicious glance. “Please trust me, I would never do anything to a poor child in need of help.”

“Whatever. I believe you. You’re a kind hearted man, after all. Even if you look to hide that part of you.” the captain said.

“We should be arriving soon.” Delanor pointed at a dim point of light in the distance. As we inched closed, the point grew larger, and soon it was clear that we were approaching the entrance of a magnificent room. It was several times bigger than the one with the statue, and it contained an incredible sight. The skeleton of a snake, wider than the trunk of the largest tree, coiled up in the center. From its body sprouted hundreds of tails, all sections of bone, which stretched along the ground and up the walls. Each bone was a pure white, and not a single section contained the slightest scratch or blemish. The sections were large enough to only touch the ground with a small ridge on their bottoms, and we walked between them. It was a stroll in a forest of bones.

As I looked up, the serpent’s skull looked down at me. Its eyes were empty, dead. But I could not take my eyes off of its gaze.

“So, it was real, after all.” Delanor said. She was busy at work, sketching a picture for her notebook.

“‘An exit behind one of my tails’ is not exactly specific. This room is gigantic.” I said.

“Then we’d better start looking. There should be footsteps, or a trail. If we sweep the edges of the room there should be something.” the captain suggested.

My skin was crawling with curiosity. A dead legend, sealed within these walls. Something truly dead could never speak to us. My ribbons unraveled.

They crawled along the floor and up to the nearby tails, sliding up and up, farther away until finally, they reached the skull. I could feel its shape, as if I was spinning it in the palm of my hand. Its eyes, the tiny holes that formed its nasal passages, the polished white fangs which could pierce solid metal. There was nothing dead about this serpent. It lay sleeping, waiting. It was a goblet, awaiting someone to fill it.

I fell to my knees. My eyes, my ears, my nose, my own limbs. They were all distractions. The captain’s voice grew dull. I was in total darkness, total silence. Before me was the goblet. It glittered silver. From deep within my heart, an outpouring of pure conviction flooded into the endless vessel. With every drop, the serpent was coming closer. It was becoming mine. Every segment of bone was a part of my body. My ribbons, their black threads coursing through the serpent, became the serpent’s blood.

A recalled a dream I had long ago. A wild animal sat by my side, its naive black eyes unaware of human danger. That animal could have been anything. But this time, it was a serpent.

“A Legend of Perfect Form.” I called the serpent forth with those words.

My eyes opened. The skeleton was all the same, but different. My ribbons were the serpent’s flesh. It lowered its gigantic head towards me. The degree of separation between myself and the serpent felt greater than that of my other creations, but it felt closer than ever to a friend whose thoughts were more than an extension of my own.

“Woah, Anastasia. Did you do this?” the captain’s jaw dropped at the sight of the moving serpent. Most of its tails remained still. Each one was a finger on my hand, perhaps a little tiresome to control, but still within my grasp.

“Climb on.” I said, confident.

“Anastasia.” Maria called my attention.

“Yes?”

“Your eyes. They…are radiant.” she said.

“Thank you…but now is not the time for that.” Blood rushed into my face. Maria was stingy with compliments. I would treasure this one for a long time.

“Wow, Anastasia. With this, we’ve got nothing to worry about.” Canary said. With a running start, he jumped up and grasped at the bottom of the serpent’s jaw. With another leap, he grabbed hold of a strand of ribbon. The pinch was a little uncomfortable for me, but after grasping a ridge below the eye, he successfully mounted the beast.

“Captain, Delanor. With me.” Maria motioned them to approach her. A lotus flower sprouted from below their feet, shooting upwards until they were level with Canary. I grabbed hold of a ribbon and held on as I pulled myself to the rest of the group.

“You think this thing can break out of here?” the captain asked.

“Most certainly.”

—

“We’re going to get shredded on those rocks!” yelled the captain. Our course was pointed directly towards the ceiling of the serpent’s mausoleum.

“Maria, can you cover us?” I asked.

“Of course.”

With a thunderous crack, we breached the exterior. The ceiling came apart like a broken cracker as we tunneled upwards. Our blinding speed made my insides sink. We tunneled up through the upper levels of the tomb, the forest with a sky of mind mushrooms, and finally through a sewer system. It was a different one from the one we’d descended, but nonetheless a caterpillar let out a pathetic squeal as its body was crushed by the descending rubble.

The mixture of dirt, wood, and rocks tearing past us was held back by Maria’s ice. It was a thin bubble, cold to the touch. It was clear as glass, and if one weren’t careful they might forget it was there and walk into it. That is, if we weren’t barreling towards the main surface of the at the speed of a full horse’s gallop.

We pierced the surface into the Great Tree after worming through a complicated network of roots and solid wood. The hundreds of tails below us gripped at every crack and surface they could latch to.

“Anastasia!” Maria shouted.

“What is it?”

“What I said two nights ago…I remember it all. And…that is how I really feel.” she confessed.

“I already knew that. Sort of.” I spoke a few words of admission. “Long after this all finishes, you will still be by my side. I am sure of it. We will never be separated, not ever again. I will not allow you to leave my side either, because just as I am yours, you are mine.”

“I hope you are ready to pay the price of those words.” Maria grinned.

“Any time.”

We burst through the surface into the main city of the Great Tree. Chunks of bricks and debris thumped against the garden where we surfaced. It certainly had been beautiful before we rammed a large hole through it. I looked down at it from the head of the serpent. Flower beds arranged in the pattern of several concentric triangles, forming a geometric pattern. We surfaced in the center, uprooting the deep grey bricks composing the garden’s walkway.

A crowd of terrified sarassin gardeners, concealing their faces with grey hoods, had gathered in front of us. The one in the front waved his arms and barked something incomprehensible, followed by Delanor saying something back. Their conversation went back and forth briefly, but soon the sarassin nodded and turned around. A mansion stood behind the garden. It was a simple construction but its sheer size gave off a sense of grandeur.

“Let us descend.” requested Delanor. “Exia’s waiting for us in the mansion. I asked if he would be angry that we wrecked his garden, but I didn’t get a reply.”

—

I stepped into the mansion alone. The entrance hall was simply decorated, with a single painting of a sarassin hanging between the staircases leading up. That sarassin was the same orange-red as Exia, but the length of the spines on its head indicated that it could not have been the same one.

Exia stood below that painting. He was not wearing the same armor. Instead, he had replaced it with a white buttoned shirt and black pants; a simple outfit which revealed his bulky frame.

“Welcome, Anastasia, to my home. Please forgive the lack of furnishing.” His fiery scales glistened below the yellow lamps mounted to the walls.

“You speak our language?” I asked. “Quite nicely, too.”

“But of course. I believe it is important to uphold means of communication, even with those outside of my realm. Is it not natural to learn the tongues of neighboring nations? Without such persons, how could the two ever come to terms with each other?” Even the typical rough sarassin accent was minimal in the words exiting Exia’s mouth. For a race with such an intimidating figure, he gave off a feeling of refinement with every word.

“I’ve come to take back my companion.” I said.

“I see you have. You are familiar with the remaining terms of the agreement, yes?” he asked.

“It was less of an agreement and more a set of conditions you thrust upon us.”

“I understand how you might see it that way. Sometimes one is not free to choose their methods when setting their sights on a goal. I had a goal, Anastasia. I knew, more or less, why you had come here. Besides fleeing the imminent danger in your own country, you were one of the handful of those who’d arrived here seeking the power of the Great Tree.” he concluded.

“You are correct. What of it?” I asked, slightly irritated. “I’ve come here to retrieve a companion, not to discuss the weather.”

“Worry not. I am sure that man is quite comfortable, awaiting your rescue. You were the first of many to come back from that tomb unscathed, you and your party. The thousand-tailed serpent is not so kind to most.” he continued.

“I am aware.”

“But alas, you have returned, and stronger than ever. Instead of the fragmented remains I was given, the serpent itself is drawn to you. It is nourished by your support. I would like to see such strength for myself.” He lowered his eyes. “To take it from you, even, if you prove to be unworthy of it.”

“That will never happen.” I told him.

“Perhaps we shall begin then? Combat runs in the sarassin blood, after all.”

“Anytime.”

—

We circled each other slowly. The space in the center of the entrance hall was smaller than the dirt arena, but plenty of room to stretch our legs. The empty skeleton of the thousand-tailed serpent waited in the courtyard. My ribbons had returned to me. From the outside, they looked the same. But wrapped around my skin, they coursed with power.

Exia breathed a short breath and shattered the air between us. A tear in the wall of the mansion, cleanly severing the space between us. Another tear to my left, my right, and behind me. I was trapped in a prison. As my ribbons felt the severed space between us, it was clear. These walls were immaterial and unbreakable. They were the same as those that dismembered my dragon, and brought Exia within an inch of his own victory. Or so he’d thought.

He didn’t take any chances. He stood a safe distance from me, placing wall after wall, cutting the air into disjointed shapes. The prison shrank inch by inch. Unlike our previous match, however, I was calm. My heart didn’t even skip a beat.

“My deepest apologies, Anastasia. I’m afraid I may have overestimated you.” Exia said. His left hand, black as a void, grasped at my ribbons through the cage. Whatever trickery it was did not affect him. The ribbons recoiled and snapped as they struggled to stay bound to my body. “I will be taking your power. I too have my own ambitions.”

“If you overestimated me, then why take it? Are you not already the greater one?” I called out.

“To take from the weak can only make the strong stronger. Perhaps it is your duty to relinquish what you have gathered for me. The good cares not for the one who carries out its will.” he said coldly. His signature politeness had given way to a much more sinister, calculating tone.

“A friend of mine told me something today.” I said. “I told her she would always be by my side, and she said hoped I was ready to pay the price for my words. Are you ready to do the same?”

My ribbons scattered from my body, in an instant. If the barrier trapping me in place was void, then my ribbons were creation. They naturally opposed him. Under no circumstance could he become the master of something that denied him. The thousand-tailed serpent formed from my hair-thin threads. At least, its head. Its beautiful white scales and jewel-like red eyes peered at Exia with contempt. It was a perfect creation. The legend of perfect form.

From my feet, the scenery began to change. One moment we stood within Exia’s mansion, but I blinked and soon we stood in a grassy field. The rolling plains were endless in all directions. With the head of the serpent at my side, Exia’s figure looked small and weak. In the face of his creator, all he could do was kneel. He knelt as a ray of light from the serpent’s mouth engulfed him and sent him sprawling to the floor.

We were back in the mansion. Exia’s severed spaces had melted away to nothing. Besides the painting, which had been cut in half, the entrance hall was untouched. Even the wall which had been split by Exia himself stood undamaged.

“I take it, you admit your defeat?” I asked.

“Of course. No imitation can surpass the beauty and strength of the original.” he replied. Besides the scratches on his face and rips at the edges of his clothing, he appeared uninjured. He stood up. “Your friend is on the second floor, having lunch. I made up a story about you all falling unconscious in the tomb, so be sure to correct that misunderstanding if he asks.”

—

Kirill was munching on a pork leg. The room was cluttered, masses of unidentified furniture in place of chairs surrounding the table he ate at. Kirill sat beside a triangular instrument turned on its side, ivory keys lining a sand-colored finish. His table was much the same. His dish aside, the table was stacked with a pile of miscellaneous empty pots, pans, and unused cookware.

“Anastasia. You are looking well.” Kirill set down his food. “Come in.”

I widened the crack in the door and stepped inside. The atmosphere within Kirill’s quarters was different from the hall, warmly lit and smelling of oil.

“Likewise. I’ve come to…retrieve you.” I said sheepishly.

“I suppose I have no choice then. Let us depart.” he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and stood up. His clothes were neatly cleaned and he’d even shaved since the day before.

Exia was waiting outside the mansion. He was saying something to his panicked gardeners in sarassin, which I could not understand, but based on his emphatic hand gestures I figured it was something important. He stopped and waved as he saw us leave.

“Anastasia! I hope you have found your friend’s condition satisfactory.” he said.

“Of course. I’m afraid we have caused some damage to your garden. While we may not be penniless, repairing it may be slightly beyond our budget.” I replied. The gaping crater in the groundwork was patrolled by a few more of Exia’s servants, keeping watch to prevent any unaware passerby from falling in.

“Speaking honestly, your group has done me a favor. The costs for drilling such a hole would be incredible. It will be a boon to our economy, to move things between here and far below. Consider it paid for.”

“There was one more thing.” I got close to Exia’s face, such that only he could hear what I was about to say.

“What is it, my dear?”

“You wanted to establish good relations with us, did you not? Perhaps you could accompany us.” I proposed.

“Oh, and for what purpose? It would be more prudent to wait for your empire to sort out its…current governmental predicament before taking sides.” he said.

“When we fought, you spoke of the good. That it should be carried out, regardless of the one acting out its will. You planned on an endeavor into the empire regardless, and so you desired my power. The strength of the thousand-tailed serpent. Otherwise, I cannot think of a reason you might take the estranged emperor for yourself.” I responded.

“What you say is true.” he relented. “Under an equal relationship, and with the promise of mutual cooperation, what do you say?” he spoke to Kirill, who up until this point, had stood behind me silent. Exia held out a fiery red hand to him.

“Very well. A thousand years to our partnership.” Kirill grabbed his hand and smiled warmly.

—

We departed from Margaret’s Welcome the following morning. More than a month after our flight from St. Keres, we returned stronger and with a new ally. Perhaps more than one, as Exia’s personal troops constituted a substantial number. It was a surreal feeling, every moment being followed by a caravan of sarassin carriages. The carriages were fire-orange and dome-shaped, pulled by mannequins of similar nature to my ribbons.

The body of the thousand-tailed serpent had to be left behind a short distance outside of Margaret’s Welcome. Moving it with my ribbons for more than an hour was intensely exhausting and it was too massive otherwise to transport. The spirit of the serpent remained in my ribbons, so its pristine skeleton was little more than an idle monument, anyhow.

Kirill’s horses were largely untouched as he’d paid someone to take care of them before descending into the sewers.

Delanor came down with a large fever and it was discovered that the stab wound she’d sustained from the skeleton in the tomb was infected. According to Exia, she would survive with some medical assistance, but she would be staying at Margaret’s Welcome for a while longer. In a sense, Exia came into our party right as Delanor left it. But she wouldn’t be gone for long. Maria looked slightly displeased as they wheeled Delanor into Exia’s medical ward.

“Exia, I’ve been meaning to ask.” As I sat behind him in the lead carriage, I spoke to the fire-colored sarassin.

“Anything at all.” He said. At the very front, he overlooked the path ahead.

“Most of your kind has green skin. Why are you so brightly colored?”

“Ah, so you’ve also seen my brother.” Exia felt the body spines on the top of his head. “It is the result of intermixing of feline and sarassin blood. My grandfather was a feline, my grandmother a pure-blooded sarassin. Their son, my father, had fire-colored skin, which he then passed on to my brother and I. That is all.”

“I never would have expected that.” I twirled one of the spirals in my hair.

“It is nothing, really. Not a creature on this earth ponders twice about the skin they were born in.” he said. “Except for that.”

A wall had been erected before us. It was thick and bundled, green vegetation twisted with the faces of the dead imprinted in its flesh. The sweet-sour reek of decay oozed from their open mouths.

“A new enemy, lacking even the courtesy to respect our borders. Anastasia, would you allow me to do the honors?” Exia asked. Black lightning ran along Exia’s arm, converging at a point in his palm.

“Gladly.”