The first thing Nox noticed upon his return to consciousness was the warm liquid dripping into his head.

It was dark, but his eyes slowly adjusted. He lay on the hard ground, limbs bent at awkward angles. Thankfully, they weren’t broken; he could move his hands just fine, and he slowly pushed himself off the cold ground.

A drop of liquid fell on his brow. He looked up, but even his eyes couldn’t see beyond five feet in the encroaching darkness. Another dropped fell, and this time he smelled the metallic stench.

Blood. But whose?

His heart hammering, Nox squinted hard then breathed a sigh of relief. It was only one of the griffon juveniles, dangling at the edge of a large piece of the rubble, half of its face gone, beak shattered.

What was it doing up there? The last thing Nox remembered was rushing to his friends’ aid and—Ireela!

He whirled around hoping to catch a glimpse of his Squire, but he was alone in the darkness. He looked up again. The floor had gave in. His body hurt, but nothing seemed to be broken. If they fell beneath the hall, it must have been only a short fall. There should be an exit somewhere.

But he had to find the others first. He tried sending his thoughts to Estella. Trapped below the keep. Send help. Nox didn’t know if it went through. He could only hope for a swift rescue.

Filling his lungs with air, he started walking, Erebos outstretched in front of him. He may not be able to see more than five feet in front of him, but he could still navigate in the darkness.

Nox counted his pace with each second that passed. When his Animarta struck something solid, producing a ringing sound, he paused and groped with his free hand. A rocky wall coated in slime greeted him. He took at least four minutes to reach it. The chamber was vast.

Carefully, he followed it to the left, keeping one hand on the wall while the other gripped Erebos tightly. There was no sound save for his own breathing, and no sign of his group. Where were they? If they had fallen together—and he remembered that they did—they should just be nearby.

His fingers slipped from the wall a moment later. Air wafted from within it, cool and earthy. A tunnel.

He proceeded slowly, his footsteps echoing around him. Where the tunnel led, he didn’t know. But it was the only way he could go for now. It might take him to the others.

As he went on, he noticed a faint orange glow ahead. It wavered, but when he drew closer, it solidified into the solid images of burning torches, illuminating the smooth walls on either side. This must be part of the fortress. Torma was right; there was a passage somewhere.

Still, Nox wasn’t sure if it led outside. But at least he no longer had to navigate in the dark. It would be easier finding Ireela and the others.

The tunnel continued for a hundred paces. Nox sensed a chamber at the end. He wasn’t good at drawing maps, but it was a starting point. He could make his way from there.

Upon entering, he scanned the room. Torches also burned here. Odd. The fortress had long been abandoned. Either the torches were enchanted to keep burning for eternity… or someone was maintaining them.

Both explanations didn’t sound reassuring.

He crept forward. The passageway in front of him merged with a flight of stairs that disappeared around a bend. It probably led to the surface. But he had to find Ireela and the others first.

There was another tunnel to his left, the opening nothing but yawning darkness. Nox didn’t see any other tunnel. Adjusting his grip on Erebos, he approached the entrance.

A scream echoed beyond.

He plunged through without thought, his legs thundering on the rocky surface, slick with a substance that he dreaded knowing. The scream was unmistakably Ireela’s—a scream of pure terror and despair.

Nox didn’t know how long he ran or even in which direction he was supposed to run into. All he knew was he had to save Ireela, save her from a gruesome fate.

Unlike before. Unlike Ria.

The scream came again, louder and shriller. Nox strained his ears, hearing past the constant boom of his heart. The tunnels here twisted like the intestines of a giant beast, order thrown aside for ease of travel, as if whoever dug these passages simply wanted access to wherever.

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When Ireela’s scream came for the third time, it sounded closer. Nox swiveled his head. Left? No, it came from the right. A distant hiss.

He shot toward that direction, his blood pumping. It was a monster, that much he was sure of. And it was coming for Ireela. He had to save her!

His frantic legs spilled him into a circular chamber aglow with veins of crimson and purple streaking across the granite wall. But he barely paid his surroundings attention. His feet nearly slipped on a puddle of blood, pooling from the eviscerated body of Torma.

His heart froze. Another hiss dragged his gaze to the center of the chamber where he beheld a mass of twisting tentacles lifting Galos’s struggling form toward a maw of pure teeth and unrestrained hunger. Only then did Nox notice Ireela kneeling and sobbing at the base of a pillar, drenched in more blood.

Their eyes met. “Master!” she screamed.

Nox dashed forward, and with a roar, he leapt at the monster, Erebos carving an arc in the air. Galos’s eyes widened, and he shouted, “Burst!”

Shards of ice struck the monster, sending it reeling. Its tentacles loosened, and Galos dropped down on frost-covered floor just as Nox’s Animarta dug into thick hide. The blade bounced off, but Nox swung again and it bit through the monster’s flesh, drawing green blood.

The creature screamed. Nox stepped back from the whipping tentacles. The monster’s bulk spanned twenty feet at least, its appendages just as long. Its maw—nothing more than a dark hole filled with rings of sharp teeth—was wide enough to devour a horse in one swallow.

It was a monster unlike anything he had seen, but it was no Remnant. That gave him some comfort. It wasn’t unstoppable. He and Galos could defeat this thing.

He saw the Ice Wielder summoned his lance and charged. Nox sprinted toward the monster’s back, weaving past the writhing tentacles. There were no eyes on its body; it navigated either through sound or smell.

Nox knew it was the latter when the creature’s tentacles all shot toward Galos. Despite his bulk, Galos twisted gracefully past them, his face a mask of pure resolve. One tentacle brushed against his leg. He hopped to avoid it, then vaulted over another using his lance. As he landed, Galos gripped his Animarta in both hands and drove it forward, piercing the mouth.

The monster shrieked. Its tentacles thrashed and whipped about, forcing Galos to retreat. But it was all the distraction Nox needed. He slipped past them and swung with all his might.

There was barely any resistance this time. The back, it seemed, was less armored than the front. Erebos dragged a long gash across its black hide, spilling more of the green blood. A droplet landed on Nox’s shoulder, and he watched as the fabric melted in a matter of seconds.

Nox tore his sleeve away with a hiss just as his skin started to burn. Acid. Killing the monster would be their death as well if they weren’t careful. But there was a way to deal with that.

A groan emanated from the monster’s maw. Slowly it dragged its bulk away, using its thicker appendages to slid across the ground, leaving slimy trails. It was heading toward a dark hole carved through the wall.

Was it the one who excavated the cave system? Nox wasn’t sure, and there was no time. He looked at Galos. “We have to immobile it before it can escape!”

Galos nodded breathlessly. Bruises covered his arms and head, the result of absorbing much of the attacks, but his expression was resolute. He slammed the tip of his lance to the ground.

“Frostbite!”

“Cocytus,” Nox intoned at the same time, impaling Erebos beneath him.

The temperature dropped immediately as their spells merged. Joint casting was often ill-advised on account of the Wielders’ magic canceling each other, but only if they were fully rested. Nox wasn’t, as was Galos, and it worked to their benefit. The ground bloomed with ice, mist rolling from the tips of their Animartas. Like a rising wave from the sea, jagged pillars of ice rushed toward the monsters, morphing into vines of blue frost that wrapped around the creature’s tentacles.

It started thrashing once more in panic, violent at first, breaking some of the vines. But soon its tentacles were tinged with blue and white, like fish scales that crept along its hide faster and faster. It uttered a long excruciating scream not unlike the wail of pig, and Nox covered his ears lest they bled, Galos and Ireela mirroring him.

Then the screaming ceased. Nox stared at the ice statue, frozen in the monster’s death throes. He waited for several heartbeats, waiting for that crack that would spread until the monster was free once more, but it never came.

His shoulders sagged in relief.

You handled it better than I expected.

But I still couldn’t save Torma. Nox glanced at the remains for a second before averting his gaze. There wasn’t even anything recognizable left to bring back.

There were still two others he could bring back to safety though.

Nox jogged to Ireela’s side. He had not even came within ten feet of her when she sprung to her feet and flung herself at his arms, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Master!” she sobbed, her shoulders shaking. Nox stroke her back soothingly, paying no mind to the blood that soaked his uniform.

“Everything’s all right,” he murmured. “You’re safe now.”

She sniffled, and his heart ached at the sound. No one should have to suffer an event like this. Especially not a girl like Ireela. It would forever be seared into her mind.

A sound drew Nox’s attention and he raised Erebos, but it was only Galos hobbling toward them, grim-faced and worried. “We need to leave. There could be more of these things in here.”

Nox nodded and detached himself from his Squire. She didn’t seem hurt other than minor bruises. “Did you manage to find an exit?”

“Yes. We were searching for you when that thing jumped us.” Galos’s usually calm face twisted into a scowl. “By the time I knew what was happening, Torma was already screaming.”

Nox didn’t need to know what happened next. He cupped Ireela’s cheeks, holding her gaze. “Listen. We’ll get you out of here. But I need you to focus. Do you understand?” She nodded. “When we tell you to run, you run. Do you understand?”

Ireela stiffened, her eyes wide. Her lower lip trembled. “B-But—“

“Do you understand?” Nox repeated firmly. Uncertainty flickered in Ireela’s eyes, but she nodded. He kissed her forehead. “I’ll keep you safe,” he said softly.

She looked at him with misty eyes. “Promise?”

Staring at his Squire long and hard, seeing the fear in her expression, Nox was reminded of his sister and of Ria, and the promise he couldn’t fulfill.

“Yes. On my life as your Master.”