The passageway inside was curved and winding with the edges rounded off, a contrast to the rigid and straight lines of the building outside. The air was still and flat, a strangely tepid temperature as they advanced forward, their way lit by a pale green phosphorescence that seemed to be getting emitted from within the stone.

Sharlan reached into a pocket and pulled out a small crystal, flicking it with her fingers until it started to glow with a steady blue light. Hakara moved close to a wall and pushed her hand against it. It was stone but with a slight inner warmth to it, and was smooth and dry to the touch. After removing her hand, a greenish glow stayed there for a moment, before the colour faded. It must be some ambient affect, utilising the background magic to provide lighting, and probably to keep the air clean and breathable as well.

‘You ever heard about this place?’ Sharlan reached out and trailed a finger along the wall, leaving behind a wobbly line of fading green. ‘They keep talking about all the other ancient bits of the school, surprised they’ve never mentioned this.’

They came to a junction, three identical-looking passages splitting out. ‘No, but I’m not planning on doing magical architecture until next year. It’s interesting, but I only need it as a pre-requisite for the advanced enchantment of material course after that. Does it matter which way we go?’

‘I think it must be a fake dungeon setup. There’s no clues or anything, so pick at random, I guess? This is a bit of a rubbish design, it’s a bit boring if they don’t let us know what might be ahead. All three of them probably lead to the same place anyway, just with enough fog to try and hide it. They should have put more effort in, at least have some glowing runes or something, make it look a bit scarier. Although at least it’s free this year, I guess that’s something.’

The tunnel curved, in a way that Hakara was sure should put them outside the boundaries of the physical building, unless the floor was far steeper than it seemed. From somewhere in the distance, she heard a dry slithering, like scales over stone. She looked done at the floor – it was slightly worn but in a strangely regular way. It looked like it had been work in a strange rippling pattern by something other than irregular footfalls, as though something had been, oh-so-slowly, wearing away at the stone.

Sharlan hung the light-crystal from her wrist before summoning up magical protection, an aura of red-tinged light just barely visible. ‘There’s probably going to be some lame traps or something. There was no warning outside, so it can’t be anything too bad, or that anyone without magic can’t deal with.’

A draught ruffled Hakara’s hair and brought with it a dry scent, like some of the exotic spices she used sometimes as spell components. She patted her bag for comfort, checking the contents again as she moved forward. A tinkling sound came from behind her, and she looked down, to see a blue curve of crystal on the floor, rocking as though it had fallen out of her back pocket. But it must have been made to appear on the floor, as the only thing that had been near her back pocket was… She blushed again, remembering Opet.

She bent over to pick it up – it was a curve of crystal, slightly frosted, impossibly-fine etchings contained within the material, her eyes watering as soon as she saw them. One end was capped with brass, the other ripped and broken, as though it had been torn from some larger part. Where had that come from? She looked behind herself – green mist filled the air, thick enough to block their vision, clearly pushing them forward into whatever was awaiting them at the end.

The crystal thing was heavier than it looked, the edges jagged enough that she was careful not to touch them, leery of cutting herself. She tapped it with a finger, and a chiming sound rang out, far louder than her gentle touch should have provoked. It echoed around the small passageway, surprisingly pleasant to hear, but anything ahead would definitely know they were coming.

Sharlan jumped at the sound, then drew close. ‘Hey, did you find a clue or something?’ She plucked it from Hakara’s hands. ‘Neat, enchanted glass, right? Must have found some old off-cutting with the Unreadable Tongue on, make it look spooky.’ She squinted at it then looked away, eyes watering. ‘Creepy stuff. Maybe we have to find enough pieces to put the whole thing together? Let’s get going. You don’t want to be late for your date, after all.’

Hakara could feel her blush rising up again, hot enough that it seemed her cheeks should be lighting the room. But Sharlan was, mercifully, already moving away, without noticing or commenting.

The tunnels were smooth-walled cylinders, curving and twisting around, in a way that seemed unnecessarily complicated, and also that would put them quite some way into the surrounding buildings, if Hakara’s increasingly vague sense of place was any judge. They couldn’t be on the material plane still – the doorway must be an anchor point, with the tunnels connected but on another plane of reality.

From somewhere ahead and out of sight came the sudden clatter of metal-on-metal, a sharp-toned clash, followed by another, and then silence. Sharlan and Hakara both jumped and started walking more closely together. Sharlan kept her thumbs together, fingers spread wide as she prepared to cast an attack spell – if this was a prank, someone was likely to get a faceful of fire!

Up ahead, there was a zone of darkness, blackness sharply cutting through the green haze. Hakara touched the wall and continued forward, glad of the warmth of Sharlan’s hand as they walked through the inky blackness. The shard of crystal continued to shed light despite the darkness around, although not enough to illuminate any of the surrounding area.

It went on for quite some time, the only sounds their breathing, before they emerged out the other side. Here, the green stone walls were cracked and marred, riven with countless scratches and cracks, as though attacked by some force capable of slicing stone. More phosphorescence was visible here, blobs of light oozing from the smashed rock. Anything capable of smashing through that must be incredibly strong! The marks here looked like smash-marks rather the results of magic, like something had simply battered and smashed away at the stone.

‘Wonder what did that?’ Hakara carefully touched it. ‘It’s real, not an illusion.’

‘It was probably done ages ago. Possibly literally – you know what these places are like, they’re always ancient. Could be from the time of the Ancient Dark, that kind of thing. Not like these places get repaired, or normally need it.’

Hakara glanced down – there was grit and rubble on the floor. Even if it hadn’t been repaired, the place would have cleaned, wouldn’t it? It was the same greenish rock as the walls, so it hadn’t been tramped in from outside. Before she could raise this, Sharlan grabbed on her arm and dragged her onwards, through more of the winding, sinuous passages. Whenever they came to a junction, they picked a turning at random, there seeming to be nothing to distinguish the choices, other than a vague sense of “forward”.

The tunnels started to twist and wind more, although didn’t narrow at all, still remaining wide enough for three to walk abreast.

‘This is pretty dull. I’d be expecting at least some illusions or something. Does that thing you found do anything?’

Hakara lifted up the shard of crystal, wincing as the symbols refused to come into focus, blurring and fading from her vision, starting to give her a headache. She raised it to her eye while carefully avoiding the sharp edges, wishing she had her thick leather gloves with her, to better protect her hands.

When she looked through it, the green haze was gone. In its place were… statues? She could see them overlaying the hallway – strange, warped things, mostly humanoid, covered with horns, spikes and otherwise strangely shaped, not quite entirely human. None were moving – were they even alive? They seemed to be uncoloured, cast in a dull grey. She stood there, frozen in place, until Sharlan waved a hand in front of her face.

‘Hey, you found something? What is it?’

She put her face against Hakara’s, looking through the crystal as well. ‘Oooo, spooky! Must be Aurastine, he’s always banging on about demons. Wants to try and call them up, do some research into all the ancient times, the Black Triad and that stuff. The Dean keeps telling him no – it all seems pretty creepy stuff. Hey, look at that one! A Lithmara, I think it’s called?’ She pointed at one, a mass of scaled wings surrounding a lump of flesh, with a draconic head barely visible amongst the spiked and curled protrusions. ‘Wow, that must have taken a while to craft! What is it, some kind of illusion?’

She pushed Hakara forward, as Hakara then waved her hand through the space the thing occupied. It moved through without interruption, not even a tingle of cold. Sharlan made a disappointed noise. ‘I was hoping for some kind of interaction. I mean, they’re a bit spooky looking, but not as bad as some of the stuffed things down in the cellars. Those are creepy! There’s one that’s just a big eyeball surrounded by smaller eyes on stalks? Damn thing looks like its smiling. I guess it means we’re going the right way, at least.’

Hakara kept looking through the shard, stepping around the monstrous shapes. Was the spell bound to the lens? That would certainly be easier than creating a lot of illusions, binding them in place and then making them so they could only be seen in certain circumstances. If that were the case, then they should see repeating patterns within the figures, unless whoever had crafted the lens had taken the time to randomise that effect as well. Ancient history and demonology weren’t her strongest subjects, but she vaguely recognised a few of the shapes – a Hrundarl was crouched in a dead-end, holding a giant axe and somehow looking forlorn. A trio of serpentine Achanari were coiled together in a heap, hooded heads close together, making them look oddly collegiate, as though having an intense conversation about some obscure or arcane matter.

The scent of spices, dry and sweet, was getting stronger – was someone burning incense? It must be quite potent to extend throughout the entire complex. She held the lens with one hand and squinted through it, before casting a spell, conjuring up a ray of frost. It shot through the air, lowering the temperature for a moment, and then faded. The illusionary statues were unaffected, and she let out a breath of relief. If they were more than illusions, then they were sufficiently distanced by planar boundaries to be unaffected by her spell, which also meant they couldn’t do anything back to them. Hopefully!

A flicker of movement caught her eye as Sharlan flicked her fingers and sent a dart of flame ahead of them, lighting up the place more than the omni-present green glow did. A figure moved – humanoid, and un-ornamented by spikes, horns or wings, but wearing something dark, blending in with the surroundings. Sharlan sent another burst of flame chasing towards it, but was too slow, as they vanished from view.

‘Well, there’s only one way to go. If this just turns out to be a mock-fight at the end, I’m going to be very disappointed. This has been a pretty poor show, really.’

From ahead of them came a harsh grinding sound, the crunching of stone against stone, something moving. They moved faster now, in case something was on a timer, and swiftly came to a blocked and sealed passageway – a circular stone disc barred their way. It was covered with a raised, swirling pattern, loops and coils that seemed to writhe in the low light. There was stone grit on the ground in front, so it had clearly been opened recently.

Hakara passed the lens over to Sharlan, then reached into her bag and pulled out a vial of powdered gemstones, flicking the powder in the air. It hung there for a moment, before being drawn towards the door. It clung to the stone, starting to shine, showing the lines of magic that powered it. It was ancient work, the power diffused and vague, far different to the crisp and clear lines she was used to working with. But the workings… Yes, it must predate the formalisation of the Shifari technique! She followed the line of power with her fingers, until she found a throbbing knotwork where all the lines met together.

She placed her palm against it then started to summon up cold. It quickly chilled the stone, a shining rime of ice appearing, wincing at the biting pain against her palm. But the lines started to react, sluggishly reacting and trying to circumvent the assault. She pulled her hand back, leaving traces of skin and blood behind on the stone where it had been frozen.

‘Sharlan, hit that point with fire.’

A dart of fire flashed out. When it hit the frozen patch, the stone cracked, the lines of magic flickering around. The circle slowly started to move, grinding as it rotated until it was open.

‘This thing must be ancient! That technique won’t work on anything made since the fall of the Elven Empire. The temperature difference makes…’

‘I was in the same lectures as you, Hakara, I remember at least that much!’

The disc continued to roll out of the way, the air warmer now. As they stepped through, before it vanished entirely from sight, Hakara could see that the reverse of the disc was covered with protective spells, a barrier of green light almost an inch thick, countless spells interwoven into a solid shell.

On the other side, the passageways were narrower, Hakara and Sharlan barely able to walk abreast. The walls and floor here were more heavily worn down, marked with striated waves, as though something had rubbed and wriggled against them. The passageway was more rounded, closer to a true cylinder.

Another clang of metal came from ahead, startling them both. Hakara raised the lens to her eye again and looked through. There were more of the statue-illusions in here, although they were stood at bent and contorted angles, having to squat and lean to fit themselves into the narrow space. These looked as though they were in states of fear or panic, some with their arms raised to defend themselves, or with demonic faces contorted into snarls.

‘Well, there’s no going back. Although I think I preferred last year’s, that was a lot more interactive. This is just kinda boring, and a little creepy.’

Hakara couldn’t disagree – there should be some of the other students around to act as guides at least, or to offer help if something went wrong. But there was no choice for it no but to press on, into the emerald-tinged darkness.