The giant double-sided door opened easily into a massive dark chamber. The floor was dusty and made of brownstone. The four could not see how far or deep the room went as it was surrounded by an inky blackness that eluded the light from the magical torches.

“Can any of you make a brighter light?” Nameless asked.

“Zel, do that flame thing again,” Elora suggested.

The necromancer nodded and made the gestures to summon up a line of fire that zipped ahead of them, lighting a straight path but failing to pierce the inky dark to the sides.

“That’s odd,” Zel observed as they released their spell and the path ahead faded from view.

“You hear that?” Karl asked as he tilted his head.

There was a scraping sound from beyond the curtain of darkness at their sides.

“Why didn’t the flame illuminate the entire room?” Nameless asked.

“Shadow Magic,” Elora stated.

“An illusion?” The knight asked, and the elf nodded.

The scraping sound grew closer.

“They’re here,” Zel said in a shrill voice.

The four stood with the wooden door to their backs and within a small bubble of light made from their magic torches. Behind them and down the hallway was darkness. Ahead of them and surrounding them was more darkness. Materializing from the jet black were clawing humanoid figures.

“Zombies!” Zel squealed with delight.

Karl planted a hand ax in the head of one as Nameless chopped a second in half. More shambling zombies emerged into their field of vision like a waterfall with no end in sight. Clawing and reaching. The creatures had gray, dried skin and tattered rags for clothing. Their race and gender were indeterminate as they were all shriveled husks with unholy strength and tireless determination.

Elora stabbed one through the mouth with her sword. “Zel! Are you going to do something?” The elf cried.

“I’m working on it, and your distractions are not helping!” The necromancer growled through gritted teeth. They were holding their hands before them, and their face was crunched in concentration.

Karl and Nameless worked together to shove several zombies to stumble into the next row of shambling attackers. This gave the adventurers some time as they could hear the creatures shuffle and rise in the darkness to slowly materialize back into their bubble of light. First, a foot, then a grasping hand, followed by a chomping featureless face.

“I thought your skills were beyond mere zombies,” Karl huffed as he planted his ax into a reaching zombie.

A pulse of negative energy erupted from Zel that felt unnaturally cold to Karl, and the semi-circle of zombies before them relaxed. They were no longer intent on killing the adventurers.

“Protect us,” Zel commanded.

A dozen visible zombies before them turned around and formed a barrier against the wall of reaching claw-like hands. For a moment, the zombies under Zel’s control were holding back the tide of undead, but their barrier waivered. It would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed, as the number of zombies behind the inky black curtain was indeterminate. Based upon the echoing sounds of shuffling dead feet, the number sounded endless.

“What do we do now?” Karl asked. He was hunched over, trying to catch his breath.

“You are welcome,” Zel muttered. They also appeared on the brink of exhaustion.

“There is an obvious path ahead of us,” Elora motioned with her magical torch.

Their light only illuminated a brown brick path in front of them wide enough for a wagon. Their light could not penetrate the darkness to their sides. Their attackers emerged from the inky black, but in front appeared clear.

“I do not want to take the obvious path,” Nameless stated as he tried to scan the darkness to his left.

“Agreed. I do not trust that Sargus would have provided us with a safe way out of here,” said Karl.

“Well, Elora, what can you do? Shadow Magic is your field of expertise,” Zel chided.

“Shadow Magic is a broad field. I was focusing on the aspects of entertainment,” Elora growled but then tapped her chin as a thought came to her.

“This darkness is an illusion! As such, it will need a focus point,” the elf exclaimed.

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“Where could it be?” Nameless asked.

“Not far. I mean, even the most skilled Shadow Mage can not extend an illusionary field more than maybe four or five meters,” Elora replied.

“That is still a lot of area for us to explore, and we are running out of time,” Zel grumbled as they looked around them. The zombies under the necromancer’s control started to waiver from the continuous shambling onslaught.

“What is maintaining the illusion spell?” Nameless asked. His knowledge of magic was limited, but he did know that spells needed energy to be pumped into them. Otherwise, they fizzle out.

“It’s maintained by an enchantment!” Karl exclaimed. The Ooraki was ashamed that in all the action, he had forgotten the basic tenets of magic.

“Same with the zombies. There needs to be an active power source somewhere or,” Zel said and ominously did not finish their sentence.

“Or what?” Growled Nameless.

As the knight was staring down at the necromancer, Elora was scanning the room. The elf tried to connect with the shadow magic and find its source. The focal point. It was hard work because of the noise of the nearly endless sea of zombies that were trying to kill her. She lost focus as her hair was almost pulled by a grasping hand. With a snarl, she lopped off the insulting appendage.

“Sargus may be here,” Zel answered the knight.

“What? He would have to be over a hundred years old,” Nameless responded.

“One can extend their life through necromancy. Or by other means,” Zel said.

“I found the source!” Elora cried and pointed.

“That does not help if it’s in darkness that is probably surrounded by zombies,” Karl told her.

“I can block the illusion, but it will be hard.” Elora scowled at the Ooraki.

“And if it is surrounded by Zombies? Zel?” Karl said.

“Fine, I can clear the way. Like Elora, I can’t hold it forever. Be sure you do your part and do it fast!” Snapped Zel at the enchanter.

Elora lifted the veil of magical darkness where their torches illuminated a small space a dozen steps to their left. They saw a stone pillar that rose to the shadowy ceiling above and a wall stuffed with bodies, some of which were becoming animated and trying to crawl out. It made clear what this room was.

“A burial chamber for the unclaimed. The unknown,” Zel whispered.

The wall ran what they assumed was the entire length of the chamber on either side. Karl calculated that there could be hundreds, maybe thousands of corpses stuffed into this entire chamber. He needed to act fast! His skillful, sharp eyes saw dozens of mana crystals embedded into the stone pillar. The magical power source! Upon close inspection, he made out runes, and with some study, he could take control of the enchantment.

“The pillar is the source,” Karl said.

Zombies were surrounding the pillar and shambling toward them. Zel’s small force was slowly being overwhelmed. Nameless dropped his magical torch to grip his Dane axe in two hands. The knight waded in like an armored juggernaut of steel and carnage.

“Hurry!” Zel exclaimed as they directed their controlled zombies to encircle the space around the pillar.

Elora and Karl rushed in, swinging their weapons and clearing the remaining zombies, so Karl had space to work. The Ooraki traced the runes with a polka-dotted hand and took out a piece of chalk. Mumbling formulas and calculations, he etched runes with his chalk. Light glowed and faded, and nothing happened. Karl cursed and erased his markings.

“Karl, we can’t hold them back much longer,” hissed Elora. The elf removed a zombie’s head with a slice of her blade and stabbed another through the eye with her dagger.

Zel was concentrating on keeping their undead from caving in as more and more zombies shambled from their unmarked resting spaces in the walls toward them.

“I need more time to figure this out!” Karl yelled. The enchanter thumped his head as if it would rattle free the solution that was stuck somewhere in the recesses of his mind.

“We don’t have time!” Nameless roared. The knight swung his two-handed ax in a wide arc and cut in half a dozen zombies. More filled in the gaps like a rising tide.

Karl was so focused on taking control of the enchantment that he had forgotten it ran on power. The crystals! Using his ax blade, he pried the mana crystals from the pillar. The inky black around them flickered and faded away before the light of their torches. More of the room was illuminated, and the four discovered that it was filling up with hordes of zombies that shambled out from hundreds of crevices lined the sides of the chamber. The good news was that the room was not as big as they had imagined, and the light from their torches was enough to illuminate it fully. They could see a door at the end about thirty meters from their spot. So close, yet with the army of undead in between them, it was impossibly far.

“Do we go out the way we came?” Elora asked.

“Don’t give up hope just yet. Look!” Zel exclaimed.

The chamber they were in was rectangular, with four stone pillars evenly spaced out near the center. They were in the corner to the left of the door they entered from, and the supposed exit was on the opposite side. They looked to where the necromancer was pointing. Closer to them, on the opposite pillar, was a beating heart that glowed faintly red. Just like the heart in the room with the wraiths!

“Is that powering the zombies?” Elora asked, and Zel nodded.

The heart was embedded on the stone pillar across from the one where Karl had disabled the darkness enchantment. The heart was also surrounded by mana crystals and runes. Their salvation was so close, yet so far, as dozens of zombies crowded the space.

“It’s hopeless,” Karl muttered as he thudded his hand ax into the skull of a zombie.

The three academy students were startled as Nameless let out a loud guttural roar. The knight rushed across the room and barreled through dozens of zombies.

“Nameless!” Cried Elora, as it looked as if the knight would be dragged to the floor and buried under a crushing mass of undead.

Nameless was taller than the surrounding zombies and could fight off the clawing hands that threatened to drag him down. Raising the Dane axe over his head, he hurled the weapon. It spun blade over haft and thudded directly into the beating heart. There was a pause and then a pulse of dark energy that crackled throughout the room. As one, all the zombies collapsed to the floor, except for the remaining three that Zel had taken control over. They looked battered and were missing limbs from the recent ordeals.

“Hah!” cackled Elora. “I bet Sargus did not expect Academy-trained students to enter his dungeon!”

“We broke his twisted game,” Karl added as he placed a heavy arm on Zel’s shoulder. The necromancer snarled but nodded in agreement.