They continued deeper down the tight tunnel, joined only by the echo of their footfalls and the faint patter of dripping water. The pathway sloped downward, often so sharply that Damien nearly lost his footing.

After several minutes, a faint light appeared at the far side of the path. Damien exchanged a nod with Sylph and readied Ether in his palms as they approached it.

A huge room stretched out beyond the tunnel. Dim glowing moss covered the walls, giving just enough illumination to make the rubble covering the floor visible. Great gauge marks had been carved across the floor and some of the stone piles were nearly a building tall.

An enormous pit in the room’s center seemed to absorb all the light that touched it, forming a pitch black portal into the depths below them. A chill ran down Damien’s spine, but they stepped into the room carefully, scanning for any signs of life.

A tepid breeze slithered out from the hole, washing over Damien. He froze, Henry tensing within his mind.

“Who are you?” a voice whispered. It was dry, as if using vocal cords that had been abandoned for centuries.

Damien glanced at Sylph. She shook her head and he nodded. They slid up to the edge of the room, as far away from the hole as possible, and started to creep toward a jagged hole in the wall opposite to them.

Another breeze slipped free of the tunnel, stronger this time. It buffeted Damien’s hair back, and the following inhalation nearly pulled him off his feet. He grabbed onto a dent in the wall to keep his balance.

Henry? Do you have any idea what this is? Because I’m pretty sure it almost knocked me over just by breathing. I’m not optimistic about my chances against this.

“No clue what it is with my senses muted and without being able to see it,” Henry said. “But you’re right about one thing. You’re dead if you fight this. Even if I took over, your body still can’t handle nearly enough of my power to fight this.”

“Who are you?” the voice repeated, a note of anger reaching its tone. “I speak your language, do I not? My patience is limited, human children.”

“Just some passersby,” Sylph said, making the decision to answer for both of them. “We mean you no harm, especially since you’re intelligent. We’re just trying to get out of the Crypt.”

“Something is wrong with it,” Damien added. “We were lead to believe that the monsters would be fair fights, but we are vastly outclassed.”

“There is nothing wrong with the Crypt,” the voice intoned. “All functions by design. My query was to why the Great One would care about the presence of two mere ants. What secret do you hold that draws his attention?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damien said. “We don’t have anything of interest.”

“Impossible. You survived the weakest of the floor guardians. He may have been playing around, but mere whelps should not have had the strength to avoid even a single strike. Have you offended the Great One, but possess a powerful master of your own? Or does he wish to sharpen you like a well-honed sword?”

“If we knew, I’d gladly tell you,” Sylph said, exchanging a baffled glance with Damien. “Unfortunately, I’ve got just as much of a clue as you do. I don’t even know who this Great One is. Ovurg mentioned him as well. Perhaps you could tell us so we could identify him?”

There was a short silence before the voice responded again.

“Are you a test?” the voice mused. “To see if I will follow my promise to the Great One? If I strike you down, will I be rewarded? Or vanquished myself, the rung of a ladder in your rise to power? The Great One seeks something from me, and I know not what it is.”

“Uh… no?” Damien guessed. “To the reward, that is. I know I can’t kill you, but I’ll do my best to give you indigestion. Are you sure you’ve got the right people? Maybe this Great One was talking about a different group.”

“It was you,” the voice said, leaving no room for argument. “Why must you torture me so, Great One? To strike or not to strike. Both paths could lead in my demise…”

“Maybe you can just let us go and pretend we slipped your notice,” Sylph offered.

“The Great One wasn’t a guy with green blood and a bunch of bandages, was it?” Damien asked. “Because that’s the Corruption. I can promise that if you made any deals with him, you’ll probably end up getting killed. The Corruption consumes everything. I’ve seen it.”

The voice let out a hiss. “I know not of this Corruption, but I sense one such as you describe. The being is not the Great One, though.”

“Second is here?” Damien asked, shooting a glance at Sylph. “And it wasn’t him? Wait, if he’s here, shouldn’t you be sending your strongest guardians at him? Second can tear this Crypt apart! Forget us and the Great One – that’s who you need to be worried about!”

“You show fear for the Crypt’s wellbeing,” the voice murmured. “A test from the Great One, then?”

‘Is it insane?’ Damien mouthed at Sylph. She shrugged in response, then slowly started edging towards the exit again. He followed after her while the voice had an internal debate with itself.

The muttering slammed to a stop and the voice let out a startled hiss.

“What do you know of this… Corruption?”

“We’re trying to stop it,” Damien replied. “There’s an artifact on the fourth floor that we’re pretty sure it’s here for. If we can get it, we’ll take it away and the strongest members of the Corruption should leave you alone.”

“You can defeat it?” the voice pressed.

“In a way,” Sylph said slowly.

“Then I was correct. The Great One sought to trick me into dying for your own gain,” the voice mused, giggling to itself. “No no. I am much too smart for that. I was wise to keep the greater guardians from seeking you out. You would have killed them to, servants of the Great One.”

“Riiight,” Damien said. “So, can we go?”

“You will take this artifact you seek,” the voice said. “The guardians you face will be appropriately scaled to the power you demonstrate. I will not break the laws of the Crypt, but I will not sacrifice our greatest warriors to you. In return, you will not speak ill of me to the Great One.”

“Deal,” Damien said. “Nice to meet you. We’re going.”

He and Sylph broke into a dash before the strange voice could change its mind. Its strange musings faded once they dashed out the room and into yet another tunnel. They kept running for several minutes, darting through several forks and tunnels before finally slowing to a jog.

“I think I’m even more confused than I was before we found that thing,” Sylph whispered.

“I’m pretty sure it was insane,” Damien agreed. “But it recognized Second. He’s here somewhere, and he isn’t this Great One.”

“How many powerful people have you offended?” Sylph asked. “It sounded like this Great One wanted us to face the most powerful monsters in the Crypt, and the only reason we didn’t is because the thing in the hole is paranoid.”

“Unless Whisp has decided she no longer wants the artifact, no,” Damien replied. “I can’t think of anyone else that would dislike me.”

“Brilliant,” Sylph muttered. “Well, it sounds like we’ll be fighting normal opponents. We need to move quickly, get that artifact, and get out of here before Second catches up with us.”

They set back off through the tunnels. Their trek brought them to yet another room. It was much the same as the one that the hole had been in, except the walls were undamaged and there was no well in the center.

Instead, a crocodilian man the height of a small building stood in the center of a small pool, leaning on a massive battle axe. The creature’s scaly lips peeled back in a savage grin as the two entered the room.

It took a step back, hoisting the weapon into the air. Damien launched two gravity spheres at the monster, half expecting it to completely ignore his magic.

The monster raised its axe protectively, shielding itself with the flat of the blade. One of the spells struck it and the other shot past its guard, catching the creature in the upper arm. Both detonated with sharp cracks.

The axe shattered and a hissing scream tore from the lizardman’s mouth as dozens of sharp cracks split the air. It staggered, one arm hanging limp at its side, and turned its baleful eyes toward Damien.

A black dagger spun through the air and caught the creature in the throat, snapping its head back. It took one step, then crashed to the ground and didn’t move again.

“Bit of an overcorrection, no?” Sylph asked.

“I’m not complaining,” Damien replied as they ran past the monster’s body and into the exit at the far side of the room. “I’ll put in all the good words I can with this Great One if we can get out of here before Second reaches us.”

A tremor ran through the floor. Damien froze, but it faded a moment later.

“That’s not ominous,” he muttered.

“Let’s go,” Sylph said. “We’re wasting time.”

He nodded and they broke back into a run. The two pressed deeper into the Crypt, taking several other monsters on as they descended. While the monsters grew stronger, none were even close to the strength of the first ones they’d run into.

The tremors kept the two company, recurring at an ever shrinking interval until they were happening almost every few minutes.

Damien and Sylph stepped out of a tunnel, their magic at the ready, into a small, spherical room. A staircase descended into the ground, spiraling into a pool of dark fog beneath them. No monsters appeared to hinder their journey.

After exchanging a glance, the two headed in. As soon as their heads passed the fog, Damien felt a crackle of Ether wash over him. He glanced up to find that the fog had vanished, replaced with plain stone. They had appeared in a plain stone room with a single exit and no trace of the stairwell or any other entrance.

“It’s been a bit since the last earthquake,” Damien whispered as they peeked outside. “What do you think it was?”

“Maybe we got lucky and it was someone beating the shit out of Second,” Sylph replied, taking off down the hall at a steady jog.

They reached a fork in the road a few minutes later. While each pathway looked identical, there was a jagged chalk line drawn across the top of one of them.

“That’s not suspicious,” Damien said.

“Someone wants us to go through that one,” Sylph mused. “Could it be the voice?”

“I can’t imagine Second would help us, and nobody else should know we’re here – unless it’s that Great One person that may or may not want to kill us.”

“Good odds,” Sylph said, starting into the marked tunnel. “And the Great One can’t be any worse than Second.”

The marks continued for nearly an hour, leading them through the maze. Damien wasn’t entirely convinced that they weren’t just going in circles, but he didn’t voice his concerns. Directions weren’t his strong suit, and Sylph seemed confident enough.