“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.”

The werewolf nodded and let Blake lead the way who followed the small map on his arm. Only Blake’s footsteps could be heard as they passed through the frozen corridors. Ceglar was constantly just far enough to be out of the orb’s light, expecting something to happen.

As they progressed further Blake noticed that the werewolf was slipping into his battle stance every time they approached a crossing. He was on edge.

Blake stopped and motioned him to come.

“What is it?” he whispered.

“I don’t know,” responded Ceglar. “Something doesn’t feel right… Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.” Even while speaking he didn’t look at Blake but kept glancing towards various directions.

It was rare for Ceglar to show this much worry so he didn’t press the matter and continued walking.

Their surroundings were slowly changing. The corridor kept getting wider and various bumps and hills appeared. Blake could only guess what structures they could have been, the ice was too thick to see through.

He carefully inspected the etched map on his hand once more now that he was in the wider space and turned, heading to another hall. He kept close to a wall and glided his hand alongside it as he went forward.

Blake walked for a while when he felt a bump in the ice. He turned towards the wall and discovered that a big part of the ice wall wasn’t aligned with the rest, as if it was pushed in.

Blake stopped and motioned Ceglar to take a look at the spot.

“Here it is,” said Blake. “ Underneath that should be a door.”

Ceglar knocked softly on the ice, checking the ice width.

“I can’t go through this with my claws,” said Ceglar displeasedly. “It’s a few times thicker than the symbol’s ice layer. Can you handle this one?”

Blake nodded and made the lava orb grow slightly bigger in his hand with an increasingly red shine. He hovered the orb above the edges of the bump before pressing it down on the ice and moving it along the edge. Sizzling sounds of evaporating water filled the hall and the resulting water vapor made it more complicated for Blake to follow the trajectory he wanted. Sweat started to form on his face as he was doing it and his breathing also wasn’t as calm as before. Finally he traced the whole edge and took a step back.

“This is harder than it should be,” said Blake with evident irritation. “I cut through about a third of the ice layer.”

Ceglar was watching his undertaking in silence and just motioned him to continue. Blake sighed yet listened and turned back to the wall only to see the whole thing collapse, letting a heat wave wash over Blake.

He immediately covered his face and jumped away. Ceglar took a few steps back too, waiting to see what happens. Bright light came from the collapsed spot, illuminating the previously pitch black hall and making countless smaller lights dance around as it reflected off the ice.

Blake had to squint from all the sudden light and readied his shortsword while simultaneously doing a few careful movements with the orb too. It grew to the size of a melon and the calm pulsating was replaced by violent torrents which raged within. The light and heat which emanated from the room were too much for him to handle so he relied on Ceglar’s eyes and motioned him to tell him what he saw.

The werewolf was standing a few meters before the opening, ready to pounce. He seemed disturbed by something but he still gave Blake the signal to come closer.

Blake nodded, guessing what it could be and approached the spot again. The wave of heat irritated him again but he just swiped the borders of the collapsed ice and used the water on it to keep his face cool.

As he did so a fearful but resolute voice came from the collapsed spot.

“Who are you!?”asked the voice. ”State your name and race!”

Blake squinted at the light again but he couldn’t manage to see anything besides it. The voice seemed very nervous so he decided to play along.

“Blake,” he said.”Human. The one behind me is Ceglar, a werewolf.”

A humanoid shadow now appeared at the collapsed spot. Blake could barely see his features but he was covered by various shades of red and yellow, making it probable that he was a native, putting Blake at ease.

The voice continued after a surprised pause.

“A curious combination,” said the voice, clearly relieved. “I have questions but they can wait.” He seemed to turn and talk to someone behind himself.

Blake just wanted to speak up but the voice beat him to it.

“There are some things behind me, carry them out and bring us to the nearest safe point.”

Blake cocked his head at the Pyron silhouette which waited expectantly at the collapsed wall. He wasn’t especially pleased to be treated like a servant. After sucking his lips in for a moment, Blake ignored his outrage for the time being.

“Excuse me?” asked Blake, seemingly calmly but a dangerous undertone was mixed in. “You might want to try again…”

The pyron seemed to be caught by surprise and turned back to speak with someone. Meanwhile Ceglar walked to Blake, towering over him with his big body and spoke up, not being sure how to act.

“Umm… want me to explain quickly just where things are at?” asked Ceglar. “I know you like to talk it out but against this type… A little pow from the side and a kong from above and done, c’mon.”

Blake shook his head irritatedly and at the same moment the pyron appeared again.

“There are things behind my back, packed to go,” said the pyron. “Carry them out and escort us to the exit, you will get fifty gold pieces. Some info..”

“Enough,” said Blake, interrupting the Pyron in the middle of his sentence. The pyron stopped, seemingly stupefied and waited for Blake who massaged his temples with a contorted face that had displeasure written all over it. He was tempted to take Ceglar up on his offer but decided to try again, this time spelling everything out.

“I’m not sure what you think is happening or who you think we are but this won’t go. At all,” said Blake. “You demanded an introduction, but responded with orders when I gave you one. If you don’t find your manners very soon I’ll lose mine and so will my friend.” Hearing the last words Ceglar revealed his teeth in all their horror and started to let out a rumbling growl to accentuate Blake’s claim. The latter thought that he was overdoing it a bit but just continued to stare down the pyron who looked bewildered and struggled to find words.

“N- Don’t do that! Uh… Um, please! I-It’s just… You know..” said the pyron, stumbling over its own words.

Blake cut the babble and tried get the conversation back on track. Ceglar also stopped growling, trying his best not to laugh at the panic he partially caused.

“Start with your name,” said Blake with a calm voice.” Who are you and what happened here?”

The figure nodded and started talking, trying to regain his composure.

“Zan-adar,” said the pyron. “I… We don’t really know.”

Blake just wanted to push the matter but Zan-adar continued.

“Something happened and caused a sickness outbreak, or maybe a contagious curse? Whatever it is it caused an epidemy,” he said and continued with a pained tone. ” Long story short, it converted our people to mindless animals and had a surprise culmination one day which made the city fall.”

Blake listened to the story and nodded sympathetically, thinking about it. Many strange occurrences happened in the last year so he wasn’t too sceptical of the story.

“The converted people… were they deformed and had a white-yellow shine to them?” asked Blake cautiously.

Zan-adar flinched at the description and nodded.

“You already had the pleasure, I see…” he said, not hiding his bitterness. “So they still roam around. I hoped that it would die down on it’s own after enough time passed but no luck it seems.”

“How did you survive then?” Blake asked, putting the story together in his mind. “When did this happen even?”

The pyron turned again towards the light source and exchanged a few words.

“We were lucky,” he said. “ I am a travelling merchant and I was getting materials for the research of the sickness. On the culmination day I was just making the delivery and was with the scientists in the lab behind me. We used everything we could to set up wards when we heard that the upper levels were overrun and bunkered up in here. Luckily we merchants are a paranoid sort so I had a lot of wards ready.”

Blake nodded but looked at the pyron with suspicion. Motionless next to him stood Ceglar, not revealing what he thought.

“And that was enough to keep you safe from both the monsters and the sickness?” asked Blake skeptically. “The one you don’t know the cure for?”

The pyron hurriedly went to explain.

“It was just the small group we had to keep safe,”said Zan-adar. “Remember that this was the lab for experiments and finding the cure for the sickness. The defenses are state of the art Pyron crafting and inscribing! We isolated this room completely and put ourselves into a stasis to fuel the wards. That’s also why I can’t really tell you how long we have been here.” He stopped, contemplating about something and added, “It should have been at least a few months though, that’s the best guess I can give.”

Blake nodded, accepting the answer for now.

“Let’s get you out of the city then,” said Blake, deciding that he didn’t want to remain in the same place for too long. “There are still deformed Pyron here but we cleared the path behind us so we should be able to go back without big problems. I’d like to hear everything in detail once we get to the surface.”

The Pyron nodded but still didn’t come any closer.

“I’m glad you are willing to help us but there is a problem, we need to keep the wards on. Meeting one of the creatures could doom us, the air itself could also still be cursed if that was the root,” said Zan-adar fearfully. “I’m sorry, but that’s a risk I’d rather avoid.”

Blake rubbed his temples with frustration. Today was supposed to be a diplomatic mission yet it turned out to be so bothersome.

“And what would you suggest?” asked Blake, keeping his tone neutral.

The Pyron didn’t seem to notice Blake’s tension and responded after pondering for a few moments.

“If your friend doesn’t mind, he could carry two of the scientists which are still in stasis on his back,” he said. “Their temperature is low enough not to burn him and they can continue fueling the wards. And the wards… well the rest of us can take them or make some basic new ones, we just need to get to the surface.”

Blake didn’t have a better idea as he didn’t really understand how wards functioned so he just looked at Ceglar, motioning him to say something.

“I’ll do it,” said Ceglar and added with a tone that left no room for negotiation. “We’ll talk about just what you owe us when we reach the surface.”

Zan-adar hurriedly accepted and his face grew brighter.

*********

Note that both the chapter length and the release scedule aren't consistent (though the length is consistently between 2k and 4k so there's that).

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