"By all that is right!" Mason shouted as he flinched, feeling the sudden final lurch of impact as the Helgat, a divine artifact that had withstood a millennium of history, shattered. He and his brother Mercer both reacted, putting their hands over their heads instinctively.

Everyone else, however, looked up at Li as he calmly grabbed the chrysalis with his tether of roots, manifesting once more the Sanzuwu wings to keep everyone afloat and not hurtling down into the abyss below. He watched as the shards of adamant that once formed the Helgat fell down into a yawning void of darkness, their blue glimmer rapidly fading. 

Li narrowed his eyes as he peered down. "More darkness, huh?"

"It should not be so," said Asala as she put a finger to her lips. She noticed Mason and Mercer still cowering and spoke out. "Collect thine wits. Thou art about to witness lost history discovered oncemore. Grant it the respect it deserves." 

Hearing Asala's words snapped Mercer out of his stupor and he shook his brother to normalcy. Li could not really blame them for how they reacted. For all this time, they had witnessed power that seemed feasible to them. Power that they knew was incredible but within the boundaries of reason they had built up through their whole lives.

But for the first time, they truly saw before them raw, overwhelming strength that shattered all their previous conceptions about the invincibility of divine might and blessing and myth and legend. 

"What do you mean?" asked Li to Asala. The glowing red light from his fiery wings lit up a significant amount of space below, but even that was not enough to appreciably see anything except for darkness.

"There should be light. The dwarven city of Stedheim lies below the Helgat, and though the dwarves be people of the earth, by no means are they of the dark. Whence last recorded, Stedheim was a city of lights and laughter, of warmth from the heat of its three great forges."

"I sense absolutely no life below," said Li as his green tinted eyes peered down, their life sensitive gaze finding but muted nothingness. Not even the choking undead mist was here. 

Tia, too, nodded, agreeing with Li. "Nothing. Scary nothing." 

"A crying shame," said Old Thane. "By the time I'd made me way down south, the triforge dwarves had already fallen. I had heard many tales from their relatives in Montagne of the great city of Stedheim, how within its three great pillars there was equal parts hard work and merry drinking.

But alas, the tides of war and time and fate favor but precious few."

"At the very least, having come this far, knowing that this black mass lies below, I will give the dwarves peace of memory. Ensure that they are remembered properly." Li fluttered his wings, and he began his descent down below. 

===========

As the light from Li's blazing wings lit up the centuries sealed civilization of Stedheim, he first encountered more of the black mass. It pulsated in a massive network of interconnected tendrils lined with strange dark veins that seemed to stretch out infinitely, and yet, this time around, the mass was not hostile.

It seemed instead rather dormant, even making way for Li as he approached, as if afraid of the light and heat he emitted, shrinking away with surprising quickness. But after some amount of descent, through the cobweb of tendrils, Stedheim became visible.

"Impressive," remarked Li. 

"Impressive?" Asala shook her head with a wistful smile. "Impressive is insufficient to describe the scale of Stedheim."

Mason and Mercer stood at the edges of the chrysalis, peering out with childlike wonder, and Tia joined them with the same level of energy. Vilga and Sheela were a little more composed, but even then, the twinkle of wonder and curiosity flashed in their eyes.

Stedheim was, in essence, three enormous pillars of stone that supported the vast underground cavern that once housed the entirety of the dwarven civilization. Each pillar was spaced far from each other, visible only when Li shot out bursts of flame to light up the scene for everyone else. They were far enough from each other that Li could make out that they lied underneath each of the three peaks of the Triforge Mountains.

And upon flying closer to a pillar, it became evident of the sheer enormity of its scale. Each pillar must have had, in total volume, space similar to Riviera itself, one of the four cardinal cities of Soleil. When Li reached the pillars, the black mass that covered them in a thick coating of tar like ooze shuddered and withdrew, revealing countless openings carved into the stone that looked like doors and windows, leading into living and working spaces.

Sort of like the mega apartments back in Li's own world, though instead of reaching high into the sky, these spires reached down below, deep into the depths of the earth. 

"Wish you could see this, old man," said Li. 

Old Thane laughed. "No worries, lad. I've told you already – my blindness is a part of myself that I have long accepted. There is no need to wish for this or that. And, though it may be hard to believe, I can 'see' quite well."

He nodded down to Zagan, who twitched his ear in recognition. 

Li understood. He knew that Old Thane essentially used his various senses to construct a mental image of the world around him, and because of his superhuman senses, he could do so at an efficiency and clarity that far outstripped what any normal blind man could.

And from Zagan, he could sense a fair amount of magical energy tethering into Old Thane, massively enhancing his stats such that it must have seemed like aside from seeing color, he could construct the world around him nearly to the detail of a non-blind man. 

"Such scale," muttered Mason. "And these pillars are not roughly made either. Their surfaces are so intricately carved, smoothed, each and every living space marked with runes of ownership for what must have been countless dwarves."

Asala rapidly scribbled on her tablet, replacing them in quick pace as she energetically recorded everything she saw. "Each of these pillars lie below one of the peaks of the Triforge and are equal in magnificence to any great human city. The pillars lie at three points of a World Vein, for the dwarves were masters of reading the flow of magic through the earth and harnessed it with an efficiency not known to any mortal race.

Two hundred years in the past, and thou wouldst have seen the mesmerizing, awing glow of a World Vein as it powered each of the pillars, sending lines of shining orange reminiscent of melted rock all throughout. Fitting for a people dedicated to the forge.

The light would have provided warmth and light and power, and with those, there would have been the merry bustle of countless dwarves living in harmony." 

"And all of that gone," said Mercer somberly. 

"All gone," repeated Tia with a frown. "I hoped something here. Dragon outside protecting here. Thought there was still life. Something to protect." 

Considering the sheer size of the pillars, there must have at one point been over half a million dwarves living here, and yet now, there was not a single living, breathing soul remaining. Strangely, the black ooze as it withdrew to reveal the pillars, showed no damage to the pillars themselves.

"There may yet still be something," said Li. "We keep going down."

Asala explained. "At the base of each pillar lies a forge of unparalleled greatness, and all three link together to create the Triforge itself, the only forge known that properly channels the immense might of a World Vein. It is there that the vast majority of mystical artifacts of legend that thou hear of in tales and legend were forged."

"Perhaps this black mass feeds off of energy," said Li. "A World Vein would do wonders for it."

"Perhaps," said Asala. "And yet, the absence of magic in it does wonder me against such thought."

"I see," said Li. 

"World…vein?" asked Mason. 

"Asala can explain later," said Li. He began to pick up pace, actively flying downwards. "After I get to the literal and figurative bottom of this situation."

==============

As Li traveled further down, the spires changed, the living spaces carved in them becoming larger and more ornate. Asala explained that these were noble spaces for the dwarves valued closer connection to the depths, often living longer and healthier lives the closer they were to the World Vein, and so the spaces close to the base were like prime real estate meant for the upper class.

But even here, there was no life. 

Instead, the black mass's presence became that much thicker, but it was still not hostile, retreating when Li approached and shrinking back in place after he left. 

At the very base, right by the Triforge of legend, Asala also explained there would also stand a royal palace that could put even the duchess's palace in Eclat to shame. 

It did not take long for Li to reach the bottom of the pillars to where the triforge and royal palace were. Or rather, where they were supposed to be.

Instead, he found the source of the ooze.