The tower was burning brightly now, the fire having rapidly spread to the upper levels, a bright column of orange fire, stark against the darkness behind it. Some of the flames were burning with strange colours, something erupting into a multi-coloured blast of light. Semari clapped, getting odd looks from the townsfolk as they murmured amongst themselves and started organising buckets.

Another part of the tower exploded, the top floor starting to lean to the side. Kethys had her hood pulled up, her red eyes visible in the shadows beneath, trying to stay out of sight. She stumbled, and Semari heard a sudden chiming sound.

The shadows seemed deeper now, the darkness more intense. The torches and lanterns the townsfolk were carrying dimmed, as though obscured by mist. Kethys swore in her native tongue, the sound ugly and discordant, before ducking into an alleyway. Around them, there was vague panic, as multi-coloured explosions erupted from the tower.

Semari moved close to Hadric, making sure to press herself against him. He looked at her and glanced from side-to-side, a slight flush coming to his face. Neitha fake-coughed behind them.

‘You’re blocking the way.’

Semari resisted the urge to punch Neitha – she was always such a drag! And getting in the way of Hadric. She twisted her shoulders and knocked against him, twisting him off-balance and then moving closer, making sure that he couldn’t properly stand up. It was important to make sure that it was obvious who was in charge!

Neitha made a disgusted sound, as Semari glared at her, making sure Neitha didn’t get any closer to Hadric. The dark mist rippled, as Kethys made a pained sound. When she turned to look at them, the red sparks of her eyes misting over with darkness, before she shook her head, dislodging a spray of her fine, white hair. ‘You can flirt later!’ Her voice was quiet and strained, her arms still holding the wrapped-up bell stiffly, moving far more slowly than usual. ‘This damn thing’s trying to get inside my head!’

There was a soft chiming sound, making Semari’s brain go fuzzy. She wanted to fall asleep now, a soft presence blooming in her mind, lulling her into drowsiness…

Her hand jerked up, forearm tingling as Hadric’s arm impacted against it, blocking an attempted slap. Semari slapped herself in the chest, pushing away the lingering sensation and allure, before turning to Neitha and pulling an arm back to punch. Neitha took a step back and looked at her suspiciously.

‘Thanks Hadric. That thing’s, like, proper creepy!’

She pulled herself up, still feeling slightly bleary, trying to ignore the ringing sound. It was strange – there didn’t seem to be any physical component, nothing she could hear with her ears, but just a soft chiming that she could feel inside of herself. She punched her chest again, anchoring herself, then loud-whispering to Hadric.

‘If Neitha starts acting funny, it’s ‘cos she’s getting gribbled, so you go high and I’ll go low.’

Neitha sniffed. ‘I think you’re more likely to get possessed then I am. It’s well known that those of little intellect are more prone to be targeted by such things. I’m sure that a little brainrot dust would help.’ She started fishing around in her satchel before Kethys spoke, her voice still strained.

‘Not the time! Let’s keep moving. Before anyone starts asking questions.’

They kept moving through the cramped and winding alleyways, the sky above them occasionally bursting with light as something from the wizard’s tower exploded in a blast of colours, pushing the darkness back with bursts of green or pink or blue, or sometimes all at once. Semari could see the townsfolk gathering together, organising themselves, most of them doing what they could to arm themselves as well as getting fire-fighting equipment. Kethys was noticeably slower than usual, moving like she was drunk, having to pause and hesitate before taking turnings, heading into the densest area of the shambles.

The buildings here were old, build into rocky cliff-sides, many of them little more than wooden shacks serving as fronts for cave-dwellings. The inhabitants didn’t seem as concerned about the lights blasting above them in the sky, simply retreating further into their dwellings, doors getting barred shut. Not that the narrow alleyways permitted much light to enter, everything leaning together, with just a narrow strip of night-sky visible above them. The locals here saw them coming and just melted away into the shadows, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves.

They turned around a corner, and a dark figure suddenly loomed at them, large and bulky, two swords held at the ready, staring at them. Semari drew her own weapon, hearing Hadric do likewise, before seeing that it was stiff and immobile – a statue set in the centre of the crossroads they found themselves on, a face with ruined eyes staring at them. Even Kethys paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to steady herself.

The crossroads were the most open space around, multiple tracks and paths converging here. Semari could hear distant shouts and clamour, the ringing of alarm bells, as a bright white explosion shattered the night, suddenly casting everything into stark visibility, showing the old, graffiti-covered walls and the garbage piled up in the corners. Kethys shuddered, not fast enough to close her eyes and probably stunned from the burst of light.

Another soft chime sounded, echoing around the space despite not being entirely physical. A few of the shapes slumped against the wall shifted, revealing themselves to be people, beggars and vagrants all dossing in place. When one of them looked up at Semari, she saw that their eyes burned black, a dark and oily sheen, their face blank and vacant.

She moved towards Hadric, just in case things got violent, Neitha moving in close as well, weapons at the ready.

‘Kethys? You OK? Where do we go now?

‘Fucking bastard lights! Can’t see anything other than blurs now.’ She was shaking her head, trying to clear her vision. ‘There should be a metal plate near the statue. Find that.’

Now that the burst of light had faded, Semari was struggling to see anything herself, the darkness pervasive and thick, but she could still feel, moving with heavy footsteps until she felt something other than packed-down dirt and stone.

‘Got it!’

The shadows were moving – how much of that was her eyes playing tricks on her, and how much was the local starting to rouse themselves, she wasn’t sure, but it didn’t seem a good idea to hang around.

‘Got it!’ She dropped to the ground, brushing dirt and grit off it. ‘We need it open, right?’

Still managing to move with grace, despite her blindness, Kethys moved closer. ‘Yes.’ The cloth in her hand was glowing with a pale, silvery sheen, making Kethys stand out. With the light from that, Semari could see a bit better. One of the vagrants shambled close, grabbing at Neitha. Hadric slapped their hands away with the flat of his sword, before slamming the pommel between their eyes, and they thudded to the floor.

‘Stop saving her, give me a hand!’ The metal felt like a solid sheet, with some low bumps but nothing Semari could get a grip on. ‘She’s disposable!’ She found a circular curve etched into the sheet, then part of a ring, and pulled that upwards.

The thing was heavy! She strained at it, before realising that she was still standing on top of the metal, and trying to lift herself as well. When she moved so that she wasn’t standing on top of the thing, then it was easier, but it still made her arms burn from the effort, until Neitha joined her, grabbing Semari’s wrists and pulling. There was another grunt of pain from nearby, Hadric smacking at another vagrant.

‘That’s open now, Kethys.’

‘Good.’

One of them lunged forward and managed to grab Kethys. With her arms holding the cloth-wrapped bell, she couldn’t draw a weapon without dropping it, but twisted her shoulders to keep their grip loose, then dropped to the ground, managing to wriggle free. Semari jumped forward, slamming a knife into their shoulder, feeling it penetrate into the skin. Despite the wound, they didn’t make a sound, simply staring back at Semari – it was a young man, face already ravaged by some disease, his face blank, eyes dark and empty voids. Semari squared up her stance, took a deep breath and then lunged forward in a punch, striking him right between the legs. Despite whatever was enchanting him, he paused, mouth opening in a gawp, then slowly collapsing to the ground and curling up into the foetal position, tears streaming from his abyssal-black eyes.

Semari grabbed at Kethys’ cloak. ‘This way.’

She heard Neitha’s voice echo out from beneath them, having already started moving downwards. ‘There’s a ladder.’

Hadric started to climb down as well. Another figure grabbed at Semari, but she punched them in the head hard enough to make them stagger backwards, pulling Kethys with her – Kethys’ eyes were tightly shut.

The metal of the ladder was cold against her hands, covered with rust, but it felt stable enough. Kethys was beneath her, climbing with just one hand, and Semari pulled the plate back down. When she looked down, she couldn’t see anything beneath her, although she could hear the others moving, hands and feet tapping against the metal as they moved. Without knowing how far down the thing went, it was too risky to just jump – she leaned backwards, keeping one arm wrapped around the ladder, and could feel the stone wall behind her, too smooth to grip onto.

There was nothing for it except to take things the slow and boring way, moving hands and feet in a regular rhythm.

‘Bloody light! At least it’s better down here, I might be able to bloody see again. And get rid of this damn thing.’

The chiming was louder now, in the confined space, as Semari tried not to kick Kethys in the head. A pattern was tapped against stone, as Neitha reached the bottom and signalled that she was off the ladder. That at least gave some indication of depth, and that it wasn’t too much further.

When she touched ground, she looked around – the only light was coming from Kethys, her eyes red dots, able to see in the dark, along with a soft silver light from the cloth. Semari could feel a heat washing out from it, and that some of the embroidered runes were burnt out, now black marks charred into the fabric.

‘Don’t think the person I got this from was quite prepared for this. I’m not sure how much longer it will hold.’

In the low light, Semari could see that they were all in a stone passageway. Niches in the walls held statues, once-white stone marked with thick ash and grime, heroic faces now covered with dirt.

Footsteps echoed, the location impossible to tell, a torchlight reflecting around. All of them pressed themselves against the walls, trying to hide in the niches. The sound slowly receded, light fading as well.

Hadric held up a hand for silence, only lowering it once the sound had completely gone. ‘Where now?’

‘Dammit, I was hoping there wouldn’t be anyone down here.’ One of the runes suddenly flared with light, the smell of burning fabric overpowering the background wet must. ‘And this thing won’t last much longer!’ She started feeling the wall, trying to find the thieves marks, Neitha and Hadric following suit, until Neitha clicked her fingers.

‘Here. It says to take the second left.’

They set off into the tunnels. As they advanced, Semari could hear warped echoes, other people moving around without making any attempt to hide their sounds. The darkness around Kethys intensified, making it harder to even see the passages they moved past, anything more than a few paces away utterly unseen. They moved along, staying close to the wall rather than risk missing the turning, which was itself only a narrow crack in the rough stone wall.

Semari had to turn sideways-on in order to fit through, smiling at the sight of Hadric trying to squeeze his bulkier arms and body through the small space.

‘Damn Iristari, what are they doing here? This is nowhere near Per Tolith! Starting to show up everywhere.’ Kethys was muttering under her breath, her voice distracted and unfocused. Semari concentrated on trying to get through the cramped confines without scraping herself, the stone walls rough and covered with spiked protrusions.

She could see Kethys’ hood shift and ripple, the material moving as though in a strange wind, lumps and spikes pushing against it. As they turned around a twisting corner, Semari having to bend her body awkwardly to move herself around the cramped space, Kethys paused, her breathing heavy and laboured. There was a brief bout of incomprehensible profanity, Semari trying to remember the words, even if she had no idea of what they actually meant. Then more words, but these flitted out of Semari’s mind as soon as she heard them, like bubbles in a stream. She shook her head, trying to ignore the odd feeling.

‘Kathys? You feeling OK?’

There was a scraping bark of response, more words Semari couldn’t follow. Kethys turned to look at her – Semari could see blood trickling down her cheeks, the red of her eyes now deep bits of black, tear of blood bright against her purple skin. Her jaw was tense, and it was clearly straining her to speak.

‘Damn… thing’s more powerful than I thought! Be glad to… get shot of it. And get paid!’ She managed a weary smile, another tear of blood starting to move down her face.

There were the sounds of a commotion from somewhere up ahead, out of sight, Kethys moving faster, at least as much as she could in the narrow confines. The inability to move fast was frustrating – the small gap didn’t even extend upwards enough for her to be able to climb up and maybe get over or around Kethys. She heard a yell of confusion and the sound of a sword striking against armour, as Kethys tried to pull herself forward faster.

Neitha grunted in pain, as Kethys managed to pull herself out of the crack, Semari following close behind. Hadric was facing off against an armoured fighter, holding a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, the firelight shining off clean and polished armour, his tabard bearing the symbol of a solar disc. He swung for Hadric, who just barely parried, Semari darting past Kethys and drawing her own weapon.

She thrust, the blade hitting squarely but not penetrating the armour, skittering off the metal.

‘Dark-spawned wretches!’ They thrust back with the torch, shoving it at Semari. She threw herself backwards, feeling the heat from it as it swung past her face making her eyes prickle and sting. Their face was covered by a full helm, giving them a faceless mien, bereft of humanity. Semari stabbed them again, their chainmail easily absorbing the strike. Semari could see that Neitha was wounded, her clothing dark with blood, her face pale, but she rummaged in her satchel as Semari dodged another blow, the backswing pushing Hadric back.

Kethys was moving slowly, managing to get her weapon out and launching a slow and clumsy strike. Her sword still managed to bite into the metal armour though, distracting them. Semari took the chance to strike herself, putting the palm of her other hand against the pommel of her sword to lend it more power. As they tried to position themselves, she ducked to the side, and then struck upwards, aiming for a less-protected armpit. With both hands, she had more strength and was able to force her way through the rings of metal, feeling the blade bite into soft flesh. She pushed it in as far as she could, then let go and slapped her hand against their helmet, twisting it in place.

They staggered to the side, in pain and hopefully blinded. She gave them a shove, jumping backwards as the torch swung past her face again, then Kethys struck, shoving her sword through their neck. They made a hacking and spluttering cough, sinking down to the ground. Their blood flowed up Kethys’ sword, defying gravity as it moved up her arm, then jumped through the air, towards the fabric bundle. Where it touched the fabric, there was a burning hiss, the blood turning to steam, material blackening further.

A droplet of blood fell from Kethys’ face, it’s movement changing mid-drop so that it curved inwards as well, and her body went stiff, a look of intense focus on her face. Semari tried clicking her fingers in front of Kethys’ eyes, unsure if she could even see. There was a slow and delayed response, Kethys taking laboured breath.

‘Not… much… further. I hope!’ Another embroidered symbol flared with sudden light and heat, the material fraying now, light shining from within.

Neitha was holding a hand against her side, pulling out a thick wad of bandages and wrapping them around herself, then taking a sip from a bright yellow bottle. ‘The marks say this way!’

‘Good. Let’s go.’

Semari dropped to one knee, slicing at the neck of the body, then quickly slitting their wrists as well, just in case the thing animated itself.

‘Want me to take that?’

Kethys shook her head. ‘I can barely contain it, it would destroy you! Just keep moving. And if I start behaving oddly, kill me fast.’

They pushed further onwards, into the narrow and twisting tunnels.