Wind rustled through his hair. Several moments passed. Then a small crackle of purple electricity danced out of Angel’s hand and across the surface of the cube. The lights in the room abruptly swapped from yellow to a deep, warning red.

“Well that isn’t dramatic at all,” Angel said, pulling his hand away before the energy could get any deeper into the core. “Are you just going to look scary or do something about it?”

There was no response. A grin tugged at the side of Angel’s mouth. “You can’t do anything about it, can you? You’re just as trapped here as I am. There aren’t any defenses down here – or at least, none that are close. You didn’t think I could do anything.”

As good as it felt to gloat, satisfaction wasn’t the reason why Angel hadn’t tried to destroy the core yet. If the Star Fragment was actually strong enough to damage the catacomb, he could bring it all crashing down around himself and seal his fate forever.

“I don’t know if a Great Catacomb can talk,” Angel said aloud, “But the tables have turned here. I’m already dead, so don’t think that I won’t take you with me. This relic isn’t yours to have, so make a decision. Let me out or find out if you can send your defenses here before I fry you.”

The red lights grew brighter. Angel got the feeling that the catacomb wasn’t too happy with his offer. His eyes narrowed and he placed his hand on the hot surface of the core again. Purple light flared, digging into the metal.

Angel’s eyepiece flipped down of its own volition and a screen flashed to life in the glass.

Warning(s): 3

Star Fragment is recovering from unlocking feature [1/3]

Energy source is too large - directing energy to reserves and attunement

Energy reserves are not sufficient to contain this power source. Attempting to absorb it entirely will result in system damage.

He waved the screen away. There was no time to worry about either the warning or how the purple orb had somehow managed to commandeer his gear. The purple light was still digging into the core before him, and that was all that mattered.

“Make up your mind quickly,” Angel called out, hopeful that the core could actually hear him and he wasn’t just speaking into the air. If he was, there would be no escaping this place alive. “I’d hate to cause irreparable damage.”

Static energy crackled across the ceiling. The lights turned a faint green and dimmed. Angel paused, raising an eyebrow.

“You can hear me, can’t you?”

The lights flashed yellow. Angel took that as confirmation. He pulled his hand slightly away from the core’s surface. His arm was practically humming with energy and it warmed against his flesh.

“Look, this is a lose-lose for both of us. If you don’t let me go, I’m going to do as much damage as I possibly can before I starve to death – and trust me, that’s a lot. Even if you survive, is a single relic really worth it?”

Angel held his breath as the core mulled over his words. After what felt like minutes, the green lights grew ever so slightly brighter. “My group is bad news for you. I’m the only Seeker – not that you know what that is – so the others are bumbling fools that break everything they touch. If I’m this bad, imagine how horrible they are.”

Red flash. Angel took that one as fear, but it might have also been the core letting him know he was about to get fried.

“If we leave, you can find more artifacts and relics in the future,” Angel said, crossing his arms. “But if you try to keep me or any of them here, you may never collect magic again. Can you comprehend that? Nonexistence, I mean. Do you know what life was like before you were aware? It must have been a long time ago. Imagine going back to that.”

The lights flashed yellow again before turning a brilliant green. The ground started to rumble slightly. Fragments of stone and pebbles rained down around him. Angel raised an arm to protect his head and pressed himself against the side of the core.

The shaking continued for several minutes before finally grinding to a halt. Angel stood back up and brushed the dirt and rock out of his hair with a grimace. A wide grin stretched across his face as he spotted a new hole in the ceiling far above him.

Rung by rung, pieces of metal were moving to form a ladder that slowly descended towards him. It stopped directly before his face. Angel examined it for a moment.

“You’re not going to betray me, are you? That would be pretty rude.”

Yellow light flashed. Angel cocked an eyebrow. “This would be a lot easier if I could actually understand what you were saying. If you trick me, I swear on the Buried gods that I’ll get back down here and fry your core if it’s the last thing I do.”

The core didn’t respond to that. Angel sighed and reached into his travel pack. He pulled out the sentry orb and set it on the ground. “Here. At least you can say you got something out of this.”

After another long pause, there was a brief flash of green light. The Seeker repressed a slight grin and reached up, grabbing the first rung of the ladder. It felt sturdy enough, so he began to climb.

Angel had never tried to leave the core of a catacomb via a ladder before, and after what must have been several hours of endless climbing, he decided he never wanted to again. His limbs ached and he wanted to do nothing more than find a bed and flop down into it.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. He pressed onwards, pulling himself upwards one rung at a time. More than once, he wondered if the core was messing with him and had absolutely no intention of letting him go, but he didn’t have any other options. All he could do is hope that his threat and peace offering had been enough.

The answer made itself known just over an hour later, when a faint light appeared at the edge of his vision. Angel’s eyes widened and he redoubled his efforts, climbing as fast as his weary limbs would carry him.

He burst out of the metal tube and into the brilliant desert sun, laughing like a madman as he flopped face first into the hot sand. Angel remained there for several minutes, just basking in the relief.

When he finally rolled over to take better stock of his surroundings, the tube had vanished. No trace of the catacomb remained. He couldn’t see any signs of Cowl or Vanessa either. All Angel could hope was that they’d escaped long before he had and were already on their way to Ashwind.

He took out a strip of jerky and sat down, chewing on it and enjoying the desert light on his face. His newly modified arm glimmered in the sun, and the glow emitting from the tubes was bright enough to be seen even in the harsh light.

After finishing his food, Angel rose to his feet and pulled out the map. He examined it for a few moments. The desert was difficult to navigate for the inexperienced, but even the seemingly identical sloping dunes contained landmarks for those that knew how to look for them.

It was more the patterns of the wind in the sand than anything else. For whatever reason, it always came from the same directions and was generally the same strength as well. It only took Angel a few minutes to situate himself, and he hoped that Cowl had been able to do the same. Even without the map, they weren’t particularly far from the city and they were still barely inside the center of the desert.

There was a very good chance Cowl had been in the area before. Angel glanced around one more time, but all he could see was sand. He sighed and took the board off his back, examining it for a few moments.

It didn’t seem like it was damaged, but he’d never truly examined the artifact out of fear of damaging it. Angel tossed it onto the ground and got on top of it. The board seemed as responsive as ever.

He let out a sigh of relief and leaned forward. The board hummed to life and Angel shot across the desert, disappearing over the dunes and leaving the Great Catacomb behind.

The desert sands offered him no more difficulty throughout the rest of his trip to the small town. His rest was considerably less comfortable without the sentry to keep watch over him, but Angel didn’t regret his decision. At least he was alive to feel the worry.

The greyish black walls of Ashwind rose on the horizon some time later. At first, they seemed to be little more than a shadowy mirage. However, as he grew closer, the city made itself known.

Built from a drab obsidian that couldn’t be found anywhere else, Ashwind was a strange mixture of a fortress and a town, but most cities inside the center of the Barren were. Massive ballista had been mounted on the city’s walls, and a looming lookout tower in the center of the city was armed with a telescope to spot threats miles before they could draw close.

Amusingly enough, there was no gate to enter the city. There was just a hole in the wall large enough to allow a caravan to pass through. The things that posed the city a threat were much too large to fit through a door, so there was little reason building one.

Five heavily armed guards stood at the entrance, each with a standard issue gauntlet on their hand. Angel hopped off his board before he grew too close and walked the rest of the way, raising a hand in greeting.

“Seeker?” A guard with a green badge on his shoulder asked.

“I am,” Angel said. “Looking for my team, actually. A woman and a masked man. Have they come through here recently?”

“I wouldn’t know,” the guard replied. “We haven’t been on duty in a few days, but there are only a few taverns in Ashwind. If they’re here, you’ll find them. Do you bring any news?”

“Nothing interesting, I’m afraid,” Angel said. “The magistrates are quarreling again.”

“I asked for news, not something we all already knew,” the green badge wearing guard said with a rough laugh. “I’d be more surprised if they weren’t fighting. I presume you already know the city rules?”

“Don’t break anything and don’t be an idiot?” Angel guessed.

“Close enough. We don’t have a prison,” the guard said, holding eye contact with Angel for a moment. “Understand?”

“Completely,” Angel replied.