The first griffon leapt at them from the left-hand corridor, almost invisible due to its sleek black body, shrieking and flapping its juvenile wings.

Nox swung Erebos. It met resistance with a crunch, then passed swiftly through feather, bone, and flesh. The griffon uttered a wailing cry and stepped back gargling as its throat spilled blood.

“Go! Go!” He was already pulling away Ireela even before the body collapsed with a thud.

They shot through the darkness. Cries and thumps echoed behind them. Ahead, light and darkness danced in a confusing haze as Torma’s lantern swung back and forth. Galos brought the rear, his ice lance at the ready.

At another junction, two griffons hurled out of the passages on either side. Nox slew the one on the right with a burst of ice daggers, spraying blood on the walls and ground. Galos impaled the other through its chest, slamming it into the wall. The griffon buffeted him with its wings, but soon frost rapidly coated its feathers until it was a living ice sculpture.

They pressed on, and this time no one checked if they were going in the right direction. Ireela was whimpering. Her hands shook, and Nox squeezed them in comfort.

Their flight took them through broken chambers and endless corridors. At one point, they circumvented a gaping hole on the floor, and Nox was reminded of the Coltar Ruins.

Please don’t let there be a Remnant here, he thought.

The cries soon faded behind them, but they didn’t stop running. Upon reaching a crumbling staircase that spiraled into the gloom below, Nox paused. Griffons build their nests high in open towers and mountains peaks. It would be safer below.

“Here!” He looked at the others. Torma and Galos looked skeptical, but they nodded and followed him.

Down the staircase they went. It was steep, and many of the steps had already cracked, but they kept going. The griffons’ cries faded above them.

When they reached the final step, Torma swept his lantern around. They were in another vast room, another hall, whose crumbling pillars held the ceiling. Several arched doorways ringed the walls, dark and cold, the doors hanging on hinges.

Torma and Galos glanced at Nox, waiting. Ireela was still shaking. He scanned the walls, hoping that something might provide a clue on where they should go next. But the doorways were identical.

He led them toward the second passage on the left. As he drew near, he noticed the runes carved on the archway. Elvish? No, it looked older than that. And elves didn’t build floating islands and fortress.

It almost made him choose another doorway, but the other arches also had the same runes, differently shaped. Mere signs, he hoped. But why would the former inhabitants write directions?

They were soon passing beneath the arch. Nox gripped Erebos tightly. He didn’t like the runes, but they had to find safety.

The passageway took them deeper and, to Nox’s worry, lower. A passage that led underground, just like the ones in Coltar Ruins. The walls were slick with grime and the air was suffocating, tinged with a putrid smell.

“You guys smell that?” Torma asked. He kept up with Nox’s pace. In the lantern’s light, his expression was worried.

“I do,” Galos said. “And I don’t like it.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Nox didn’t like it as well. It smelled like rotten eggs soaked in vinegar and left to ferment. The stench invaded his nose, though he could still breathe fine. But the more they proceeded, the more the stench intensified.

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They passed several doors. Some were locked, but many were broken, and Nox glimpsed dark rooms that held untold secrets. And much as his academic mind wanted to check each room, it was best to keep their secrets untold.

Another arched doorway waited for them, inscribed with another set of runes. Nox hesitated. His heart pounded. He didn’t want to enter. He didn’t know why.

Neither do I, but we have to keep going.

Nox agreed. They weren’t far away enough from danger yet. If there were holes on the surface, the griffons could pursue them even underground. They might be even trying to find a way now.

Taking a lungful of air, Nox nodded at his companions and they stepped inside.

The chamber they emerged into was nearly twice the size of the great hall. Torma shone his lantern around. Shattered tables and chairs were strewn, as if a great fight had occurred. Lumps of metal littered between those, reflecting the lantern’s glow. They had a strange arrangement, all lined up in rows, pointing toward the far wall directly ahead.

“I think this is a dining hall,” Torma said. Nox gave a nod, though the metal lumps were unnerving. They had a distinct, familiar shape that he thought he had seen before.

He put those thoughts away and searched for a spot they could rest on. They settled on the corner, as far away from the entrance as possible and partially obscured by a pillar. The smell wasn’t bad there, and it afforded some protection if a fight occurred.

Ireela sat on the floor. Her trembling had stopped, and her eyes were more alert. Nox crouched next to her, tucking a strand of hair behind an ear. Lowering his voice so Torma and Galos wouldn’t hear him, he said, “You’ve been attacked by monsters before.”

His Squire looked at him and slowly nodded, casting her gaze to her feet. “Yes. Urevan hounds. Back in my town.” She shivered. “They ambushed us too, my friends and I, all seven of us. Only two returned.”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. Living at the edges of the kingdom was dangerous. Monsters and bandits often prowled the borders, seeking prey and valuable treasures. It was surprising how Ireela and her family even survived that long.

“No. It’s fine, Master.” She chuckled as she wiped a lone tear from her right eye. “I should be the one apologizing for being useless back there.”

“You’re not useless,” Nox said firmly,. “Most people would have panicked when we were attacked. There’s no shame in that.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Master.”

Nox stood up and joined Torma and Galos huddled over the map and locked in a discussion. He crouched next to them. “What’s wrong?”

Torma pointed at the base of a tower. “I think there’s an exit here. If we find the corridor that leads outside, we can bypass the keep entirely.”

Galos shook his head. “It would take us hours to find it. By then a rescue team would have already reached us. Besides, I don’t want to go further. This place doesn’t feel right.”

The Water user shivered. Nox pursed his lips. He had noticed it already, but he thought it was simply a baseless fear born out of the stress of their situation.

He scanned the chamber again. His eyes drifted to the metal lumps, and something caught his attention. With a start he rose to his feet, his brows furrowed. Slowly he approached one of the lumps that lay at the edge of the lantern’s light.

“Hey, where are you going?” Torma asked.

Nox ignored him. With each step he took toward his destination his suspicion subsided while his worry grew. When he reached it, he knelt on one knee and tapped the metal of the largest pieces. It produced a dull rang, but it was obvious now what it was. How could he have missed it?

“Torma, Galos, take a look at this.”

As they joined him, Nox picked up the helmet, carefully lifting it from the skull. The black visor was coated in rust yet still whole and undamaged by battle. And so were the rest of the set.

Torma sucked a breath. “Is that a corpse?”

“One of many,” Nox said with a grim twist of his mouth. The lantern’s light bounced off the armored corpses. “This is a tomb.”

Even as he said that, a chill crawled down Nox’s spine. He looked around again, seeing the room fully for what it was despite the blanketing darkness. Rows of skeleton encased in armor, flat on their torso and facing one direction: the wall ahead of them where a broken altar stood.

Galos caught on immediately. “Not just a tomb. It seems this is a ritual chamber of some kind.”

“And they performed ritual suicide.” Such a tradition wasn’t uncommon hundreds of years ago in many nations in the south, but this was Faven, a northern kingdom. What was a nation like that doing here?

He shook his head and stood. One mystery at a time. “Let’s find another place to settle in. Staying here isn’t good.” He could think of a few ways a group of skeletons would be problematic.

They started toward Ireela. She probably heard their conversation; she stood by a pillar, wide-eyed with fear. Her eyes suddenly darted behind Nox, and they widened further.

Nox didn’t think twice. He summoned Erebos and spun, blocking a gauntlet. The skeleton soldier tilted its head in silent confusion, clacking its teeth.

“Run!” Nox shouted.

As if his voice triggered an unknown spell, dozens of black armor stirred to life.