"What the hell happened here…."

Valyn Vitrex, Fifth Seat of the Black Scripture, muttered to himself as he gazed at the countless bodies strewn all over the city streets of what was once the Capital of the Dragon Kingdom.

The dried residue of a blackish substance streaked down the faces of the relatively fresh corpses-the only evidence of any harm done to the otherwise unmarred bodies. Many of them seemed to have died while gazing up at the sky, confusion and dismay frozen on their faces in their final moments.

How many lives were taken in the Capital alone? How many hundreds of thousands of men, women and children died here..whisked away to a premature reunion with Surshana?

His expression darkened even further as he considered the full scope of the situation. Based on the sightings of Valyn and the other two Seats that had been sent to investigate the mysterious red pillar, this same fate had befallen the entirety of the Dragon Kingdom. Even the invading and occupying forces of the beastmen were found dead; the numbers of their deceased rivalling that of the humans.

Valyn gradually found his way to the heart of the city. As he stared at what remained of the site where the Queen's Palace once stood, he knew then that he had found what he was looking for.

A wide crater lay before him. It was not particularly deep, but was strangely devoid of any debris or rubble, as if everything on the surface of the bedrock had been completely disintegrated. Strangely enough, it did not look to have been formed by any sort of impact, but rather, pried open through some expanding force. Judging by the uncannily uniform gradient of the slope, some sort of power had erupted from the palace floor, drilling slightly downwards while expanding steadily to cover the entire breadth of the palace complex.

This must be it. The seat of the Red Spire.

Valyn began casting [Silent Image] to project a glowing beacon onto the sky, signalling for the other seats to come and join him. As he concluded his spell, his eyes caught sight of a glinting object in the middle of the crater.

He tried squinting to get a better look, but the item proved too far into the crater for him to properly catch a glimpse of. Failing that, he activated an Illusionist ability:

[Lens of True Sight]

The strip of air in front of his eyes began to shimmer as the light bent and twisted to form a thin panel composed of countless tiny reflective squares.

Valyn focused his gaze through the shimmering panel to look again at the object, his vision adjusting accordingly to bring it into focus. His eyes widened as he beheld a treasure beyond the likes of which he'd ever seen.

It was an artifact that radiated a duality of beauty and horror-gauntlets that looked like they were created from materials drawn from another plane of existence. He could tell from a glance that the value and power of those gauntlets were worth far more than most of the equipment used by the Black Scripture.

He unconsciously took a step forward towards it before stopping himself. A nagging voice at the back of his mind told him that the site was not yet secure, that he should wait for his comrades to arrive before taking any further action.

But as his eyes drifted back upon the exquisite angelic arm, his judgment began to cloud under its irresistible allure.

[Fly]

Valyn's body rose into the air, his blue robes fluttering behind him in the evening breeze. He glided towards the center of the crater, his nagging apprehensions easing little by little as he found no sign of activity or opposition to his movements. The crater truly seemed to be as barren as it looked, and by the time he reached the deepest, centermost point where the gauntlets lay, his mind was more or less at ease.

He landed carefully onto the ground, the soles of his boots settling gently upon the smooth layer of rock beneath. He deactivated his [Lens of True Sight] before stooping to pick up his prize, his mind racing with excitement.

He wondered just what kind of power the gloves would grant to the wielder. Perhaps an entirely new realm of possibilities would now be open to the Theocracy….

However, just as his fingers were on the verge of clasping onto the item, all the hairs on his body stood on end, and an impending sense of danger engulfed him. His head whipped around, and from the corner of his eyes, he could see a fiery blur of black and red streaking towards him.

He immediately activated his signature defensive spell: [Prismatic Ward]

Countless translucent squares interlocked to form a shimmering barrier, blocking the path of the speeding projectile. A spear of dark flame crashed into Valyn's [Prismatic Ward], and the Fifth Seat of the Black Scripture gaped in horror as his wall of light rapidly caught on fire.

While [Prismatic Ward] was useless against physical attacks or spells of certain elements, it was able to distort and nullify any incoming fire, lightning or holy type magic.

And yet, this strange flame ignored that iron-clad property of his trusted spell. Soon, it had consumed the entirety of the [Prismatic Ward]. Valyn narrowed his eyes in apprehension as his defensive spell was eaten away in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, it had still managed to greatly slow the momentum of the flaming projectile, allowing Valyn to swiftly evade it.

All thoughts regarding the artifact he had discovered temporarily left his mind as he gazed in the direction of his surprise assailant.

Staring down at him from the edge of the crater was a slender figure garbed in an ivory-colored robe. A long silver beard trailed all the way to its waist, but the face from which it sprouted was that of a mummified corpse. The embalmed skin was stretched horrifically thin over its bony features, and in the place of its eyes were two empty sockets flickering with a pair of eerie blue flames.

Its skeletal lips began to move, and a wizened rasp echoed through the evening breeze.

"That does not belong to you."

Valyn's expression transformed into an ugly mask. He moved away from the gauntlets, closing the distance between him and his attacker as he moved. "Damned Lich." he hissed, his voice thick with hatred. "Are you the one responsible for all that has happened here? How many lives have you taken for the sake of your reprehensible transformation?"

While his words rang with a threatening bluster, Valyn's heart pounded as he assessed the strength of his opponent. He was one of the weakest of the Black Scripture in terms of direct combat, having been chosen primarily for his ability to support the others through his specialized illusion magic.

While he could not tell exactly how powerful the Lich was, Valyn was almost certain that he would not be able to defeat it alone. Each word he spoke served only to buy time for his comrades' arrival.

Unfortunately, the Lich seemed to see right through Valyn's intentions. It wasted no time before casting another spell.

[Hellfire Bolt]

Yet another spear of hellish black flame shot towards him. This time, however, Valyn was ready.

[Mirror Image]

Three illusory duplicates of himself shimmered into existence in a line between him and the fiery attack. The [Hellfire Bolt] crashed into the first duplicate, immediately consuming it in a heap of raging flames.

Under normal circumstances, Valyn used his [Mirror Image] spell as a means of misdirecting attacks and expanding his presence on the field. As the duplicates automatically replicated his actions, and he himself could constantly shift between each duplicate at will, it served as his bread and butter spell against aggressive melee attackers or ranged snipers.

Based on how the last [Hellfire Bolt] had interacted upon contact with his [Prismatic Ward], he concluded then that it was no ordinary fire spell. The dark flame consumed anything it touched, but that also meant that an Illusionist such as himself could stall or even stop the spell's advance by conjuring a physical projection in its path.

His tactic seemed to work. Upon complete incineration of his duplicate, the flames disappeared.

If I can keep this up, perhaps I can stall until-

[Explosion]

The lich raised a bony finger to point towards him, and an earth-shattering blast of heat and energy erupted at the point where Valyn stood. A great explosion enveloped the Fifth Seat of the Black Scripture, instantly erasing the mirror images and sending him crashing backwards onto the ground, his robes seared black and his flesh singed with countless burns.

Valyn was too shocked to even register the pain. Not even the Second Seat of the Black Scripture, the Arcane Eye, had spells comparable to the destructive power demonstrated by the previous explosion. If not for the resistances granted to him by the powerful treasures of the Six Great Gods, he would surely have been erased alongside his duplicates.

What tier of magic is this? I've never seen these incantations recorded under the fourth and fifth tiers. Could it be...

A chill ran down his spine. Any doubts that the monster before him was the culprit behind all these deaths instantly vanished. It only made sense that a monster of such caliber would be borne from this great calamity.

It was not without precedent; he had heard of liches and vampires in the past that ascended through the obliteration of entire kingdoms. Perhaps this marked the coming of yet another of the "Great Tremors'' recorded every one hundred years.

Valyn's eyes widened as the lich raised his finger yet again. However, instead of attacking Valyn a third time, it tilted its head to the side, as if trying to sense something.

The lich's flickering eyes glowed, and it immediately cast another spell:

[Teleportation]

The lich disappeared from the spot just as a silver flash shot through the air with unbelievable speed, exploding in a bright flash of white upon the ground on which the undead previously stood. As the light subsided, a platinum arrow could be seen embedded on that very spot.

The lich re-materialised within the crater, not too far from where Valyn was standing. Its attention shifted away from the Illusionist, fixating instead in the direction of the sudden sniper.

But before the undead could spot the archer, a dark shape descended from the skies towards it, accompanied by the metallic flash of scarlet red. The lich barely had time to move out of the way as a man plunged down with a blood-hued trident, the weapon's sharp pronged tips nicking several hairs off the lich's beard.

"Damn, Valyn. You look terrible. I presume this lich is the culprit behind all these deaths?" remarked the man as he tilted his head to acknowledge the injured Valyn to his side.

Valyn's eyes brightened at the sight of the Sixth Seat of the Black Scripture, the "Blood Fury'' Borus Rominus. The man was a good head taller than him, his muscular physique bulging through the aqua-blue scalemail that covered his torso. His emerald eyes glimmered with a fierce intensity as they remained locked upon the lich before them.

Unlike Valyn, the "Blood Fury" was one of the most proficient front line fighters of the Black Scripture. Combined with the long ranged attacks of the Ninth Seat, "Dawnstrike," and Valyn's own magical support, victory now seemed much more achievable against the mysterious lich.

"That's what I've been suspecting," the Illusionist replied, "but I've yet to obtain a verbal-"

"Two million-

To Valyn's surprise, the Lich's voice suddenly cut into his words to answer their very inquiry.

"-you could say that I had a hand in around….two million of the souls expended here." it mused in the same impassive rasp.

"Hoh, so you do not deny it?" responded Borus in a booming voice. "The red pillar in the sky was your doing; some sort of necromantic ritual to complete your ascension to lichdom?"

The lich did not confirm the Sixth Seat's accusation, content to simply stroke its long, silver beard in cryptic silence. If Valyn and Borus did not know any better, they would have thought that the "lich" before them was just another eccentric old man.

"Two million, nothing more and nothing less. I will not take credit for the incredible sacrifice that has been wrought here."

Borus narrowed his eyes in contempt and raised his trident against the lich. "Two million is the number of dead in this region, fiend. You will-."

"Shallow." the lich interrupted again. There was something dark in its tone this time, an underlying malice that sliced through the evening air like an icy blade. "So shallow."

"What…?" Valyn murmured in reply, his brow furrowing at the lich's sudden words. 'What do you mean, "shallow?"'

"Your understanding of this world, of your Gods and the truth behind your misguided faith. Your knowledge of magic, the depths of which you would never glimpse even in your wildest dreams. Your imagination and your ambition. Your power and your conviction. All of these things: Shallow."

The unassuming rasp it previously spoke with slowly unravelled, replaced by a cold and ruthless voice that resonated with an invisible power.

"You have come here tonight to investigate the work of powers you could never comprehend, and now you accuse me of a deed; the scope of which you barely even understand. You react to that artifact behind you with only mindless greed, not knowing the sacrifice it entails-the potential for its greater purpose."

"Now you reap the consequences."

[Eye of the Warlock]

A glowing dark blue orb coalesced into existence above the Lich's head. It glowed and distorted before forming the likeness of a giant, floating Eye of abyssal energy. Valyn shuddered and turned away to avoid direct contact with its mysterious, malevolent gaze.

There was something deeply unsettling about the Lich's strange magical appendage. He shifted his gaze towards Borus, who did not seem to have reacted.

Perhaps it is something only a magic caster can sense?

The Eye swiveled suddenly towards the right, its pupil having taken on a golden glow. The Lich pointed in that same direction without looking.

[Fireball]

The sphere of flame rocketed out from his fingertip, traversing the air for several seconds before exploding in mid air as it collided with the same burst of white light from before. Yet another platinum arrow clanged to the ground.

Seizing upon the sudden distraction, Borus immediately exploded into action, his scalemail rippling under the incredible force of his movements as he propelled his huge frame towards the Lich. His trident swung out in a crimson blur, the razor sharp tips aimed straight at the Lich's head.

The Lich quickly used [Fly], zipping into the air to avoid the sweeping arc of the trident. However, the Sixth Seat did not halt his assault, smoothly transitioning into a half-crouch and using the superhuman strength in his powerful legs to halt and redirect his momentum.

[Greater Ability Boost]

With raw power surging throughout his body, Borus launched himself into the air, pulling his weapon arm back to prime the trident for a massive strike.

Valyn immediately followed up on his comrade's assault with his own spell:

[Duplication]

Three illusory clones of the Sixth Seat emerged in the air, all of them leaping straight towards the Lich with their tridents at the ready.

A glimmer of triumph sparkled in Valyn's eyes as he observed the fearsome sight from below. Each "duplicate" possessed ten percent of the original's strength, and the Sixth Seat was known for his incredible offensive power. Considering that that [Explosion] spell was likely too risky to use in close quarters, and repeated casts of [Teleportation] would only burn its mana faster, Valyn could see that the Lich now had dangerously little room to maneuver.

Or so he thought.

[Circle of Death]

A ring of shadow pulsated from the Lich's body, radiating outward in a black circle that immediately engulfed all four of the attacking figures. The three illusory clones crumbled to dust upon contact with the circle, leaving only the real Borus in the air. Valyn's eyes widened as he saw blood dripping from the warrior's mouth, his tanned skin visibly pale from the effects of the Lich's spell.

However, the Sixth Seat of the Black Scripture would not be so easily stopped. His momentum did not waver despite the damage to his body, and a moment later, he approached the altitude of the Lich and activated his martial art:

[Blood of the Enemy]

A loud, painful cracking noise reverberated throughout Borus's body. Blood suddenly began spurting out from all over Borus's muscular frame before streaming towards the trident and transforming into a coating of vermilion light. The trident morphed into a bolt of coursing scarlet energy, and Borus's scleras turned the same color as the light, a frightening visage that gave a taste of the inhuman power he now held in his grasp.

Borus was confident that the Lich had no time to cast anything else-all it would take to finish the battle was this singular, all-consuming strike. [Blood of the Enemy] was the Sixth Seat's greatest trump card, and as Borus felt his muscles tensing and releasing to deliver the attack, he was certain that it would be enough to eradicate this mysterious threat.

But at that moment, the strange eye above the Lich's head activated once again.

Another ring of shadow, identical to the [Circle of Death] previously cast by the Lich itself, dispersed from the Eye to hit Borus in the midst of his attack. The Eye disappeared from sight immediately after, but the damage was done.

The Sixth Seat froze in mid air, the activation of his trump card interrupted by the sudden, unexpected release of the deadly spell. The light enveloping his trident fizzled out, and Borus coughed out a mouthful of blood before plummeting back towards the ground as the consciousness left his body.

Valyn gritted his teeth, ignoring the burning pain all over his body as he activated [Fly] and soared to catch his comrade's lifeless figure. His heart sank as he saw the Lich point its finger towards them as if to cast yet another spell.

[Chain Dragon L-

Suddenly, the Lich cancelled his incantation. The undead being's magic fizzled out as it quickly flew to the side in what seemed like an evasive maneuver...but this time, it was not quite fast enough to avoid the path of the silent arrow.

A dazzling explosion of golden light knocked the lich out of the air, sending it crashing down into the crater below. Seeing his chance to escape, Valyn quickly cast [Lessen Weight] on Borus's body and flew swiftly towards the source of the arrow.

He evoked his [Lens of True Sight] once more as he exited the destroyed palace grounds, quickly spotting the Ninth Seat crouched with her bow in hand upon the roof of a building. Valyn hurriedly flew down to her position.

"The Scroll! We need to use it now!" he demanded, his voice cracking with a dire urgency.

"What? It's a treasure of the Six Great Gods, to be used only for emergencies-"

"THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"

The two of them turned their head back in the direction of the crater as their eyes caught a sudden flash of movement in the distance. A skeletal silhouette rose once more into the air.

The Ninth Seat slung her bow over her back and reached for her belt, quickly producing a furled scroll crafted from some glimmering, scaly material. Valyn urgently took the scroll from her with his right hand while his left clasped onto the unconscious Borus's wrist. The Ninth Seat clutched onto his arm as he activated the item:

[Scroll of Greater Teleportation]

The three of them vanished from the roof of the building, and the Dragon Capital returned once more to a city of the dead.

For several seconds, Fluder Paradyne stared at the spot where the three members of the Black Scripture disappeared. The ice-blue lights in his eyes dimmed, and he finally glided slowly back down towards the center of the crater.

He landed and gingerly picked up Avarice and Generosity, musing to himself as he considered the events of the past hour.

The last of the tasks delegated to him by the Royal Treasurer, Pandora's Actor, had been completed. The three "escaped" Theocracy agents would interpret the red beam as a ritual of ascension for a mysterious lich, and carry this information back to their superiors in the Theocracy.

Hopefully, this would erase any suspicions the Supreme Chancellor would have regarding the ritual's connection to His Majesty's return, and buy time for His Majesty to manifest himself undisturbed.

The fires in his eyes burned with hope and anticipation as he stared up at the dark, moonless sky. How he wished he could simply reach out through the invisible chasm between him and wherever his Master lay, to confirm once and for all as to whether or not the great Ainz Ooal Gown walked this world once again.

But he could not.

The idea of using the [Message] spell to prod for His Majesty's response after the ritual had been considered, but after extensive discussion with the Royal Treasurer, the idea was abandoned.

Unlike the beings that hailed from the Great Tomb of Nazarick, who could communicate through [Message] spells and scrolls to one another on a constant and natural basis, Fluder's [Message] was wrought with many deficiencies. It lacked security, was easy to exploit and had quite a limited range.

According to Lord Pandora's Actor, there was no way of knowing how long it would take for His Majesty to return, or to even confirm whether or not the ritual had worked as intended. Their tampering with the wild magic ritual was unprecedented, and the results of their efforts were still largely veiled in the unknown.

If his [Message] was somehow intercepted or manipulated in the event that His Majesty returned in a weakened state, the consequences could prove catastrophic.

He heaved a solemn sigh, his long beard swaying in the evening breeze.

There were so many things he wished to share with his long lost Master. All that he'd learned and seen, the epiphanies and revelations that had come to him as his knowledge grew and his horizons expanded….

As Fluder stood within the heart of the dark, forsaken Capital, he could not help but imagine himself within the "abyss of magic" that had once been his obsession. Long ago, delving into those unfathomable depths served as his singular purpose, but after all these years, he had since realised the error of such a perspective. The answers lay not beneath some bottomless void, but rather, in a place far above him.

The darkness of the "abyss of magic" was simply an infinite shadow cast by a supremacy that reigned above all. To traverse the abyss, one had to simply gaze up and behold the twin crimson stars that would be their guide-the watchful eyes of the God of Magic.

Only then could a magic caster truly ascend to the next phase of wisdom; only then could one embark upon the path of undying servitude.

[Detect Magic]

Upon casting the spell, Evileye squinted to examine the unassuming door of the half-timber townhouse before them. Her gaze drifted throughout the building for several more seconds before she finally spoke.

"Interesting…. a [Fireball] spell has been rigged onto the door mechanism. If it's forced open, the unlucky intruder will be met with quite a fiery consequence. Trying to scale the walls and enter through the windows will also activate a nasty [Lightning]. Someone's spent quite a bit of gold on this place, and maintenance alone will require a dedicated third-tier caster."

Nemu reacted with a look of surprise on her face, but the vampire's words only confirmed what she had already detected through her passive ability. As Zinrus and Lakyus's attention honed into Evileye's observations, Nemu's auburn eyes darted back and forth to quickly take in every inch of her surroundings.

The address of the "emergency contact" in the Creed Box had taken them to a quiet corner in the nearby city of E-Vasil. Here, two rows of seemingly uninhabited homes formed an intersection in which a single, larger house stood at the spot indicated by the provided address.

Standing besides Nemu, Lakyus frowned as she heard Evileye's description of the house's magical defenses.

"[Fireball] and [Lightning]? Those are powerful deterrences against your average bandit or mercenary, but what would that even accomplish against someone like Tira?"

"Well, they're not there to actually hurt a powerful intruder." Evileye replied with a shrug. "The activation of such a spell would simply serve as a distraction to the enemy and allow anyone inside to gauge the strength of the intruder. It'll also buy a bit of time for the inhabitants to escape. Remember, the Resistance never faces off against the Deathless head on. Their tactic has always been to hit and run."

Lakyus nodded at the response, but an unconvinced expression remained on her features. A silence fell as the four of them stared hesitantly at the plain-looking door.

"So what now? Should we just...knock?" finally asked Zinrus. "There doesn't seem to be any extra instructions inscribed at the bottom of the box."

"No need for that. They already know we're here." calmly replied Evileye. She raised her voice to a shout: "This is Evileye and Lakyus from Blue Rose! The boy here is Zeerus Eitrigg's son! The girl's a tag along!"

Several moments passed, and then the sound of heavy footsteps rumbled from behind the door. The fizzling of a spell could be heard before the door clicked and opened just wide enough for a familiar bald head to peak out.

"Professor Tyris?!" exclaimed Zinrus in surprise.

Tyris did not immediately respond, his usually jovial expression replaced by a grim countenance as his eyes scanned the four individuals who had appeared at his doorstep. His eyes lingered first upon the white box clutched within Zinrus''s hands, and then at the massive blue tinted sword Lakyus held at her side.

"By the Gods…..come in."

He widened the door for them to enter. Evileye strode straight into the house without another word, followed soon after by Zinrus, whose pale face now shone with an eager curiosity. Lakyus entered third with a wary grimace, and Nemu was the last to make her way inside before Tyris shut the door behind them.

A buzz of energy rippled across the door frame as the spell trigger primed itself once more.

As Tyris silently guided the four visitors deeper into the house, Nemu carefully memorised the interior layout of the Professor's house.

It looked as mundane as its unassuming exterior would suggest. There did not seem to be any further traps embedded inside the residence-at least, none that she could detect.

She did notice one particular detail: the edges of the walls and floorboards were lined with copper, and strips of copper could be seen fastened to the windows and doors in place of where one would usually employ brass or steel.

Upon reaching the living room, Tyris finally turned to speak:

"I assume this means old Zeerus is dead? They came for him, didn't they?"

Zinrus nodded grimly at the question.

Tyris made no further remark upon seeing his worries confirmed, but a deep sadness flickered across his face. He shifted his gaze towards Lakyus and Evileye, before arching a confused eyebrow in Nemu's direction.

"What the hell happened?"

Unsurprisingly, it was Evileye who stepped forward to deliver the explanation. Nemu suppressed a smirk of amusement as she observed the slight shrink in Tyris's stature before the petite vampire's oppressive aura.

The identity of the "emergency contact" did not surprise her. Serril Tyris was one of the many suspected Resistance members that Nemu had been keeping tabs on while under the guise of "Eloise Varnam." The classroom scolding she had provoked the other day had been an attempt to prod and test the Professor, and the man had exposed himself in an embarrassingly blatant fashion.

Her initial plan was to gradually unravel the pool of suspected Resistance members, and pry open the number of vulnerabilities over time. Monitoring them also served as an indirect means of surveilling the operations of the Witch, since Nemu did not have a spy network of her own beyond Tira's assistance.

The unexpected appearance of Evileye and the subsequent association of Lakyus greatly accelerated those plans. Originally, she had used charm magic to ease her way into the life of the Eitriggs; in hopes of using them as a doorway into the Resistance itself. Now, she could leverage both the renown of the Blue Roses and the Eitrigg boy as a ticket into the Resistance's operations.

Nemu watched in silence as Evileye finished briefing the perturbed Tyris. The Professor had kept silent the entire time, either unable or unwilling to get a word in through Evileye's sharp tone.

"...to think I'd actually have the opportunity to meet and work with the legendary Blue Roses. It is an honor."

"You don't blame us?" Lakyus asked with a frown. "For leaving the Old Re-Estize Kingdom?"

Tyris blinked in surprise. "Forgive these ignorant words of mine, Lady Aindra, for I was not there personally. However, based on my interpretation as a historian, it would have been foolish to remain within the doomed Kingdom. A single Adamantite group would have made no difference against the unstoppable hordes of the Sorcerer King. The Blue Roses lived to fight another day, and the Sorcerer King was vanquished in the end. There is nothing to blame, my lady."

Lakyus glanced away upon hearing this, a conflicted look on her face as she contemplated the Professor's words.

He turned to look at Nemu, the former skepticism in his gaze now replaced with a warm acknowledgment.

"It surprises me even more that you've been roped into this as well, Eloise. Based on Miss Evileye's descriptions of your resolve, it seems I might have been a bit harsh that time in class. In any case, I'm glad that you and Zinrus are safe."

"I can't believe you're a part of all this, Professor." Nemu replied, putting on a look of surprise. "Have you been working as a Resistance member all this time?"

Tyris shook his head, unaware of the veiled probing behind the girl's words. "I'm more of a semi-active member these days. I'm responsible for recruitment through my connections with the temples and the adventurer's guild, and I occasionally host meetings between members."

"If that's the case, will you be able to help us with what we need?" asked Evileye.

"I won't be able to smuggle you into the Sovereign Duke's residence myself," replied Tyris, "But I can contact the ones who can; I'm sure they will be willing to help. Can you not disclose who exactly it is you expect to find there?"

"Not until it is absolutely verified." responded Lakyus in a firm voice.

Tyris nodded, not pressing the matter. "As for Zinrus and Eloise's induction into the organisation, I can officialize that process myself and initiate their training."

"Training? Here?" Zinrus asked in surprise, glancing around at the modest-size abode. It was not quite small enough to be called cramped, but there did not seem to be any facilities that looked appropriate for any sort of "training."

"You'll understand soon enough." Tyris assured him. "But the investigation of the Sovereign Duke's connection with the Deathless takes precedence. I must first arrange everything necessary for that operation."

He stood up from the armchair and walked to the cobblestone fireplace at the back of the living room. Tyris put a hand on a section of the mantle and pressed down, causing the fireplace shelf and hearth to grind and rotate until the firebox disappeared, revealing the hidden opening beneath. A large semi-circular entrance like a well opened up where the hearth previously sat, the rungs of a metal ladder sticking out through the top of the hole.

Tyris beckoned for the rest of them to follow as he began to descend down the ladder.

"Come. You have explained much of what has transpired on your end, and now it is my turn. I pray that your assistance will be enough to turn the tide against the rising darkness. Let us hope it is not too late."