Their boots echoed faintly against the narrow stone path, every step swallowed by the sheer weight of silence pressing around them. The entrance tunnel was tighter than expected, a single-file crawl that felt more like the throat of a beast than a corridor made by hand. Cold seeped in from every direction. Gray's torch crackled, its flame a small comfort in the encroaching dark. Ahead of him, Lira walked with her blade tilted ever so slightly, the edge faintly glowing with Vyre. Behind him, Adel moved quietly, her eyes scanning the walls, ceiling, and every cranny as though expecting the stone itself to attack.
The air changed as they moved forward. What was once the heavy musk of stone shifted into something else entirely, dust, rust, and something faintly rotten. After what felt like hours but had only been minutes, the tunnel suddenly widened. They stepped into a vast hollow space.
Gray lowered his torch, eyes slowly adjusting to the flickering glow that spread across the cavern. Their path had led into a massive, abandoned mineshaft. Tall wooden beams framed the space like broken ribs, many of them cracked, some collapsed entirely. Old tracks stretched out in twisted metal veins beneath their feet, half-buried in gravel. The walls were clawed and marked, as if something had lived here after the miners had long gone. Above them, dense webs clung to the ceiling, and nestled within them were thick, pulsing cocoons, far too many to count.
Adel exhaled sharply and muttered, "What the hell happened here?"
Lira's eyes narrowed as she examined the ceiling. "Looks like this place was a mine, and had became a nest."
No one replied. The torchlight flickered against the jagged walls, casting their shadows in long, crooked shapes. Gray felt the air grow heavier with each breath, the scent of decay clinging to his tongue.
They pressed on without pause. No one suggested resting. No one needed to. The weight of their mission hung above them, heavier than exhaustion. Every few minutes, they would pass another skeletal frame of a tunnel cart or shattered lanterns. Here and there, broken tools still rested against the wall, abandoned in a rush.
Then came the first sign of movement.
A faint scuttling behind the wall.
They all stopped. Lira raised her weapon and took point again. Her blade shimmered with a dull orange glow as small flickers of fire danced along its length. Her flames responded to her focus. The torch cast flickering light just far enough to catch movement along the far wall, something slick and fast darted between the debris.
"Those damn monsters..." Gray muttered. He readied his blade, drawing on the Vyre in his body. Muscles tightened, senses sharpened. No affinity. Just pure precision, pure strength.
The first creature lunged from the shadows. It was almost exactly like the ones they had fought during the trial. Pale body, bulbous eyes, too many legs that made a horrific clicking sound as they struck the stone. Lira was the first to move, her weapon glowing hot as it sliced through the creature's body with ease. The flame burst out through the wound and set its insides alight. It screamed once, then collapsed into twitching embers.
'I guess she didn't lie, they really are weak to flames.' Gray sighed in relief.
Another dropped from above.
Adel reacted instantly. Mist appeared from nowhere, wrapping around her body, veiling her like a shadow.
From within it, she launched herself at the monster, it crawled silently. Unaware of Adel's presence. Her two daggers struck the creature head-on. It shrieked before falling limp on the floor.
Just then, more of them emerged.
The cocoons on the ceiling burst. Revealing a cluster of spiders crawling along the rafters. The cocoon ignited under a follow-up sword swing from Lira.
"Dont hesitate to drink the rite!" Her words echoed in the cave.
"Lira!" Gray shouted as he twisted around to slash at one approaching from the side. His blade struck its leg, and Vyre surged through his arm, the attack shattered the beasts body's. They collapsed halfway toward him, legs snapping like twigs.
"They are coming in waves!" Adel warned, retreating a few steps, her mist swirling defensively.
Lira's blade danced with surgical precision. The flame-imbued edge hissed with each strike, slicing through bodies and limbs. The monsters were weak to fire. That much had become clear during the trial and now once more. Their bodies blackened and split as heat met their unnatural flesh.
"Adel! Cloak us!" Lira ordered, her voice cutting through the noise.
Adel broke out of her chaotic thoughts and nodded.
She raised her hand, as if commanding the mist to listen to her.
A purple, thin fog appeared at their feet, and continued to rise until it reached their ankles. The whole cave was drowning in the mist. Even the monsters reacted slightly. They desperately crawled to higher ground.
She twisted her arm sideways, and the mist twirled. Wrapping itself around their body's, until their whole figure was shrouded.
A loud chime was heard by Lira and Gray.
A notification appeared in front of their eyes.
[You have been shrouded by mist]
[Your presence has become harder to detect.]
[Duration:???]
Gray looked curiously at the message.
'Why does it not display the duration? Is it because it runs out when Adel's Vyre does? So only Adel can see it?' Grat pondered silently.
"Try not to attract attention, or else the mist will scatter." Adel whispered quietly.
Lira nodded signalling for them to follow her.
They snuck by the small fiends.
It was Adel if they had gone blind.
They advanced through the mineshaft, no longer running, but sneaking.
The further they went, the more cobwebs coated the walls. The cocoons became more frequent, denser, thicker. Some twitched faintly.
Gray tried not to look at those.
They followed the rails into another cavern chamber. This one had once been a miner's rest area. Broken furniture lay scattered about. Smashed barrels and crates, even a long-rotted bunk bed embedded into the corner wall. It looked like it had not seen human life in decades.
"These spiders must have been nesting here for a long time," Adel said. "The wood's degraded. Look at the decay."
Gray nodded, catching his breath even as they kept moving. His torch had burned down halfway. Adel's had already sputtered out, and now she used her mist affinity to keep herself and the others cloaked.
For light, she let a faint glow pulse within the mist, like a ghost hovering beside them.
"We need to be ready for something bigger," she added.
"Why do you say that?" Lira asked.
Adel gestured at the thick webs coating the corners of the chamber. "Monsters this size don't spin cocoons like that. Not unless they're feeding something."
That shut everyone up.
They passed another corridor, this one partially collapsed. Rocks spilled into the tunnel like a warning, but even through the cracks they could see more webbing beyond it. Gray glanced at a lump caught inside one too large to be a spider, too still to be alive.
There was nothing visible, but the others felt it too. That sick sensation, like something just outside their vision was waiting. Hunger. Malice.
"Let's keep moving," Gray said, trying to steady his breath. "The longer we stay still, the worse it gets."
They followed one of the side tunnels that branched off the main chamber. It was narrower, but sturdier. The walls had been carved with more care, and there were signs of reinforced support beams built into the walls. Cobwebs here were more spaced out, but still ever-present.
Their boots scraped the stone in near-perfect silence. No one dared speak. The further they went, the quieter the air became. Even their breathing sounded too loud.
Suddenly, Lira raised her hand. "Stop."
Adel froze. Mist swirled tighter around her in response. Gray's fingers tightened around his blade, muscles ready to explode into motion.
Lira stepped forward slightly, her eyes locked ahead. Her voice came low. "Something's there."
Gray followed her gaze and his breath hitched.
His eyes widened.
And then—
Silence.