***Three years later***

An icy breeze blew as Blake passed through an impeccably white hall. It resembled a frozen ancient temple with the stylised milky ice pillars and the occasional sculpture and ornament on the walls.

Blake continued walking, turning left and right with a neutral face, searching for something. His gaze often stuck to the frozen constructions, not because of the beauty but because something was off. The ice didn’t look right… The arches seemed to share the same design yet they all differed in minor ways. The sculptures, depicting various beings and scenes also looked off to Blake.

He made a quick circle around himself with an inquisitive look as he was walking down the hall. What could have caused all this? And here of all places?

Most ice constructions were close to perfect but that was exactly what Blake found alarming. Some parts were so good that he could not imagine that the same sculptor who made a part of a sculpture so well would be so sloppy on another. The arches showed it even more clearly. It seemed as if the sculptures gained another part of frost over time.

Blake grabbed his brown cloak and threw it to the ground while also unsheathing the short sword which was hidden beneath it. He looked around himself again for a few seconds before shrugging.

Suddenly a slow whistle came from his lips, a tune which bounced off the icy walls and floor which soon made it a chorus, filling the halls with an eerie sound.

He held the sword in a relaxed manner, with a loose grip and still strolling with no tension in his expression. He just continued whistling and inspecting his surroundings.

Dull smashing and scratching noises joined Blake’s tune. The sounds grew continuously louder, however Blake just continued whistling and carelessly walking towards the source of the sounds. There was no reason to run, he was already well accustomed what was going to happen. A basic plan but a plan nevertheless. The only new thing was that some mild interest crept into Blake’s eyes.

The noises kept getting louder and soon two silhouettes appeared in a corridor which lead downwards. Blake cocked his head and squinted, trying to see better through the icy shine.

The creatures were humanoids as far as he could tell. Their bodies were weirdly asymetrical and had a sickly white-yellow glow to them. Neither the position nor the length of their limbs seemed to be right. Everything about them looked just slightly dislocated which was even more clear from the way they shook left and right as they ran and sometimes even seemed to be close to stumbling.

A look of disgust spread on Blake’s face, but it changed again to curiosity as he saw one of the beings stopping and hurling a huge chunk of ice towards him which was ripped from a nearby wall. Maybe these creatures would prove to be a bigger challenge than the previous ones.

Blake quickly sidestepped, dodging the ice chunk and taking cover behind a nearby pillar with no particular tension. A shadow momentarily appeared besides him and in the next moment it already got to the monsters.

A huge werewolf, double Blake’s size appeared and sent one of the beings crashing into a wall while sinking its frightening teeth into the other. It got the being right between the shoulder and the neck after which it rose on its legs just to fiercely slam down into the floor, making cracks appear around the now motionless monster.

It parted with the being with one final stomp to the face, making sure it was done and then leaped on the second monster which was starting to rise again. It was staggered by the previous impact so the werewolf had an easy time biting into its neck and ending it.

The werewolf turned to Blake, still in its battle stance and showing off its impressively horrifying set of teeth. The only thing that stood out was the loincloth it was wearing.

Blake nodded nonchalantly to the beast, well accustomed to his companion’s appearance and abilities.

“Good job Ceglar,” said Blake.

A rumbling noise was heard as the werewolf chuckled and an intimidating smile spread on his dark brown face.

“Of course,” said Ceglar as he sniffed the air. “ I hope there are more of those here, the last few went down far too quickly.”

Blake kept the corridor from which the monsters came in his sight. It was leading downwards and wasn’t nearly as well lit as the hall they were in. His planned diplomatic mission turned into something quite different.

“That would be a fairly safe guess. They don’t seem really intelligent luckily,” muttered Blake. “Do you know what they are?”

Ceglar trailed with his claws along his jawline as he took a moment to think.

“I don’t think I hunted them before... My memory isn’t something I’d bet on though,” said Ceglar with a hint of frustration in his voice. “It should still be true,” he continued while staring at the icy floor. “If your information is worth anything at all then something big happened here.”

“Do you want me to also start sneaking then and stop being bait?” Blake suggested to the brooding werewolf. “I am quite sure my information is accurate.” His voice was firm, Rose never failed or made a mistake while gathering information, he had no reason to doubt her now on something like this.

Ceglar’s big head shook and another bloodthirsty smile appeared on it.

“Nah, it’s much more fun like this,” he said with a shimmer in his eyes. “ Those creatures didn’t see me coming at all, we’d just waste time if we proceeded with more caution. Also…” he pointed at his nose” if anything other than those non-threats appears I’ll know in advance.”

A frown appeared on Blake’s face and he cocked his head in displeasure. Experience taught him that Ceglar had a tendency of getting them into bad situations when he had that grin.

“Make sure to give me a shout if you sense something else,”said Blake. “You do remember the sand wyrm incident?”

Ceglar’s deep chuckle resounded again.

“Oh come on, we had a blast! It’s easily in my top ten hunts of the year,” said Ceglar with a wide grin.

Blake rolled his eyes.

“I meant…”

“I know what you meant,” interrupted Ceglar. “You are no fun. Sooner or later I’ll manage to get you to be more honest.”

Blake shook his head with a wry smile and started walking towards the corridor leading below. Fun wouldn’t be the first word he’d use to describe the accident but it also wouldn’t be the last, however he didn’t say it, not wanting to encourage Ceglar.

“Sure, sure,”said Blake. “Let’s just continue going. If the city really is deserted then we need to change our plans to information gathering.”

Ceglar nodded and started following Blake soundlessly after giving him a head start.

***

Blake stood in a pitch black space, nothing could be seen beyond the wall next to him and a bit of the floor which was illuminated by the small lava orb he held in his hand. His other hand glided over the frozen floor as he inspected it carefully.

“The ice is more uneven here,” he said ”give it another go.”

Ceglar emerged from the shadows with a bored expression.

“I hope you are right,” said Ceglar. “I’m a hunter, not a carver.”

“Now that’s just wasted potential,” replied Blake nonchalantly.

Ceglar gave him a glare and kneeled over the spot which Blake pointed out. He traced over the surface, feeling the uneven spot and lightly scratched a circle into the ice.

“This is about right..?” he muttered.

He started to go over the circle again but this time his claw dug deep beneath the ice. The sound of cracking resounded and a moment later Ceglar pulled the ice circle out and left a hole in the floor. He flipped the ice piece and carried it to Blake who readily started examining it under the light of the lava orb.

“This is it, I can see carvings,” said Blake as he inspected the symbols.”I’m surprised how cleanly you got it out, I thought you’d force it and I’d have to kneel over the actual thing.”

Ceglar’s face turned grim and a low growl escaped for a second.

“I am aware now that there is a time and a place for everything…” he said with a bitter tone. ” I’m no brute.”

Blake rolled his eyes.

“You are being overly sensitive again,” he said as he threw the lava orb to Ceglar. “Hold this while I send the carvings over to Rose.”

Ceglar caught the orb with surprise and opened his mouth to protest but he hesitated for a moment and started chuckling instead, something unimaginable had it been the Ceglar from a year ago.

He played with the lava orb and threw it from his right hand into his left and vice-versa. Ceglar squinted at it as if trying to see into its centre. “Why is it again that this thing doesn’t burn me? It feels lukewarm at best.”

Blake was rolling up his right sleeve when he looked up for a moment and shrugged.

“Well it’s the weakest orb I can make,” he said.” It’s just right for a light when needed. Even I can keep it up for a long time. Now stop playing around and hold the light in one place, the shadows are making it harder for me.”

Ceglar stopped tossing the orb, seeing that Blake reached into his pouch and took out a slim metal object with the length of a pencil. It was of a red-orange color and had a few symbols carved into its sides. On one end it had a miniature blade, only a few millimeters long while the other end had some kind of cushion on it.

Blake dipped the cushion end in a vial with translucent liquid, then changed ends and brought it to his lower arm.

“Wait,” said Ceglar. “ Won’t all the symbols be flipped if you copy the ones from the ice chunk?”

Blake already had the metal bar pressed against his skin and a red line appeared. He quickly turned the bar and brushed the cushion over it, making the cut disappear.

“I know they will be flipped. I’ll just tell her to use a mirror,” said Blake. “I’ll go ahead now, don’t talk if it’s not important, I’m trying to make it as accurate as possible. If another one of those walking target dummies comes by just throw the orb next to me and deal with it quickly.”

“You also got bored of them, eh?” asked Ceglar. “Sure, I got your back.”

Blake turned again towards the symbols on the ice chunk and brought the metal bar to his skin. He stared at them for a moment and then slid the miniature blade over his skin, emulating the symbols as well as he could. At first it went slowly, but after the first few his pace picked up and soon his lower arm was full of symbols and a small note about a mirror beneath it.

Despite the chilly air, sweat started dropping from his face as he etched the symbols into his skin. Blake tried to keep a straight expression but it turned tense as he progressed with his work. There was no big bleeding from the cuts due to the small enchantments, but the pain was definitely still there.

He breathed out in relief when he was done and pressed strongly against his wrist and afterwards on a spot that was just below the elbow. Dark-red runes appeared which went around his arm and he glided with his right palm from the lower row of runes to the upper one, making sure to go over the whole etched message. A light then passed through the runes and travelled to the cuts, making it seem like fire was coming from Blake’s wounds. This time no pain could be seen on Blake’s face and he just took the vial of healing potion out and tended to the etchings.

Seconds later the cuts closed and the runes also started fading. Ceglar shook his head lightly as he watched the process.

“Are you sure this is the best you can come up with?” asked Ceglar. “The parchment thing wasn’t that bad.”

Blake shook his head. The etched messages may have been a painful solution but they spent the least amount of energy and they couldn’t be stolen easily.

“It’s decent in decent situations, but when it matters it’s clunky and overall worse,” said Blake.”The Persall brotherhood gave us a stellar example, the extraction afterwards was hell.”

Ceglar shrugged and threw the orb back to Blake.

“So… How long will she need?” asked Ceglar.

Blake responded as he was drying his face.

“Depends…” he said. ”If it’s a relatively uninteresting level she’ll respond within a minute. If something is here she’ll first check her lore.”

Ceglar nodded and looked around himself, scanning through the darkness. As reckless as he sounded he seemed to act more cautious than Blake, then again Blake’s eyesight couldn’t help much in the dark while it was a small inconvenience for Ceglar with his excellent senses.

“Any guess what might have done it?” asked Ceglar. “I can’t think of something else than an ice beast invasion or whatever those guys are. But that doesn’t sit right with me.”

“With me neither, the pyron would have erased them in an instant,” said Blake. “But fact is that they are the only ones here. Also…” he knocked on an icy wall and continued. “This is in no way what Rose told me about. We can descend one or two more levels, but any more would be unwise with just the two of us.”

“Agreed,” said Ceglar. “We won’t be able to make a run for it if Keggy notices a Newcomer while we are too deep.”

“Glad we agreed to avoid dea…” said Blake but Ceglar suddenly raised a huge arm, motioning him to be quiet.

The werewolf started sniffing the air and carefully listened. Meanwhile Blake just stood still, waiting to get an response.

“I think I caught a wiff of smoke…” said Ceglar with an uncertain voice.

Blake’s brow rose.

“You aren’t sure?” asked Blake. “How so?”

Ceglar scratched his head, rustling the brown and grey fur.

“It’s strange… It was there for a second and then gone. Faint, but there,” he said and sniffed again. “I haven’t noticed any air shifts. Interesting…”

“Maybe there are pyron in the distance and they opened the gates for a moment?” suggested Blake.

“No,” Ceglar shook his head and looked restlessly into the darkness. “Everything on the level is eerily silent, I would have heard if something that big disrupted it. Something isn’t right.”

Blake looked around them with a tense expression and rested his hand on the hilt of his shortsword, just in case. A mere moment later he bit down on his lip and switched the lava orb from his left hand to the right, in time to see the etching stop glowing which now appeared again.

He glanced to his arm and nodded in thought seeing the brief message.

“Stay alert. Looks like we’ll remain on the level,” said Blake. “There’s a lab here. We’ll sweep what we can and go back.”