Kalistra turned around and looked at me. Again, that evil minx was putting me on the spot. Damn her!

I studied the enigmatic girl back. What motivated a servant of Chaos? Particularly the nothingness of the Void? Alsaj was a black box to me. On one hand, she DID save my life once and therefore, I felt an enormous obligation to repay her. On the other hand, after the way Tewind repaid his own debt to Sene by forfeiting his life, I was wary of going down that path myself. That said, I had too little information to go on. I needed to remedy this at once. "Alsaj, I'm leaning toward 'yes.' But I need just a bit more information regarding what you want me to do. After all, I am also a servant of Bane and I can't help you if this is contrary to his divine interests." Yeah, the old conflict-of-interest excuse will work to get off me the hook!

The beautiful girl laughed; her laughter sounded like chimes. "Your Lord Bane is a lesser god. I serve a greater god whose 'interests' take precedence. But I will allow you to confer with your god and confirm this, man-of-Bane."

"Thank you, Sister," I bowed deeply from my waist. I closed my eyes and recalled the brand of Bane on my left forearm. Bane, if you dispute what Sister Alsaj had said, please give me a sign. I waited patiently for a tingling sensation or an image to be implanted into my mind. However, Lord Bane did not respond to my silent inquiry. I waited a minute to confirm but I received nothing from him. Seeing that the demigod had apparently agreed to allow me to work with the monk, I finally opened my eyes. "Lord Bane is not opposed to assisting you," I announced.

Alsaj nodded and started walking along the dirt road. The monk walked at a slow but steady pace. Not once did she turn to check on us or check her surroundings. It was as if Alsaj was fixated on her destination and any obstacle in her path will simply be turned to dust.

I walked behind her while Kalistra took up the rear position in our group. Honestly, I was in awe of Sister Alsaj. She was as deadly as Kalistra. And somehow I got sandwiched between two girls who could easily instant kill me. It was a sobering thought even if I was confident that neither girl was inclined to hurt me. Much. Furthermore, I was glad that Alsaj did not ask to join my party because I wasn't sure my master would permit it. I was curious to see her personal stats but apparently, the monk preferred to keep such information to herself.

Out of curiosity, I tried to use my Detect Spirit skill to read Alsaj's aura. However, dice started rattling inside my mind and then stopped. Suddenly, I had a headache. When I read the ensuing pop-up, it read, "Intelligence saving throw FAILED. -5 Health." WHAT! Why did it require a saving throw to read Alsaj's aura? Why did I FAIL the check? Why did the failure inflict damage to me? I was so stunned that I stopped walking for a moment until Kalistra nudged my back. I started moving my legs again and cast a minor heal on myself; by now, my mana bar was full and I could afford to cast one heal.

As I continued walking behind the short monk, questions continued to crash into my mind. What was it about Alsaj's aura or innate nature that required a saving throw in order for me to see more clearly? Did this implicitly suggest that Alsaj wasn't who she appeared to be? And if so, was it SAFE for me to be around her? Alternatively, was the Intelligence check triggered by something else? After all, there could be other explanations as to why a check was required, such as a humongous gap in our character levels, or a magic spell in effect to deter my ability. This incident was another page in the mystery book known as Alsaj. To take my mind off these questions, I decided to start a conversation with her. "Sister, were you waiting for us?" I asked.

"Yes," the monk replied in a small voice.

"How did you know we were coming this way? I understand that you were coming from Tregome, too, but we could have turned east and headed for Heuwdon instead," I pointed out.

Sister Alsaj stopped walking and turned around to face me. "I had a premonition that you would come this way," she smiled.

My brows rose at this. "Really? Did your goddess sent you a vision as well?"

"Yes, man-of-Bane. I was soaring in the air like a bird. I flew from Tregome and headed eastward until I reached the guidepost and then turned north to reach these farmlands," she revealed.

"Where did you end up?" I pressed the monk. She had yet to disclose the destination for her quest. I was concerned that the quest will be so time-consuming that I won't make it to Bristol in time for the tournament. Maybe I should have declined to help her and ask for a rain check instead.

"You'll find out," Alsaj giggled and then turned back to face the road.

We walked for a good quarter hour or so without challenge by any farmer. Nor did we see any inns to welcome weary travelers, to my chagrin. The fields and houses along the road eventually gave way to a meadow full of grass. Just a stone throw away, there was a wide, wooden fence which enclosed a large section of the pasture. Inside the fence were a handful of horses. At the center of the enclosure was a stable next to a stone building. We saw several horsemen watching us cautiously as they stood near the horses.

Sister Alsaj did not even acknowledge their presence as she continued walking. However, she started veering west, where the bushes and scrubs became much thicker. She led our party off the road and navigated through thickets that snagged our clothes when we passed by; our progress inevitably slowed due to the terrain. However, the monk continued in a northwesterly direction, toward a small mountain that loomed above the greenery.

When we were close enough, I saw a large opening at the base of the mountain. "Did anyone bring a lantern?" I asked jokingly.

"I can see quite well in the dark," Kalistra noted with amusement as her eyes glowed.

"I have a light," Alsaj said, without looking back at us. When we reached the opening, she hopped over a few rocks in her path and entered the mountain.

I looked down on the ground and carefully stepped over some large rocks with jagged edges that blocked the opening. The razor-sharp edges almost reached my knees. Once my body was on the other side of the dangerous obstacle, I issued a warning to my master. "Be careful of these rocks; they look extremely sharp." If I didn't know better, I would assume someone purposely put the rocks in front of the opening to keep small critters out.

Kalistra's whiskers twitched at my warning. Without slowing down her pace, she easily jumped over the unnatural barrier. Holding out her left paw, the cat girl said, "After you, Lawrence."

Standing near the opening, the monk withdrew a wrapping of cloth from her pouch. She carefully unwound the black cloth, revealing a glass-like orb the size of a ping pong ball. Inside the orb was another piece of rock that looked burnt. Alsaj closed her eyes and concentrated, muttering to herself. A moment later, the rock started burning and the light was disbursed through the orb to illuminate the area: we were inside a narrow tunnel. Holding the orb in her left palm, the monk started walking further into the tunnel.

"What is that?" I asked Kalistra.

The cat girl's eyes were clouded for a moment and her tail moved swayed back and forth. "It's a Fire Orb," she identified the artifact. "The piece of rock inside comes from the Plane of Fire. It is highly combustible. The rock is placed inside a high-pressure glass container and sealed tight. If the orb cracks, it will explode," my instructor lectured. "Despite the danger, it is highly sought after by adventurers and dungeoneers because the orb is a convenient source of illumination and takes up less space compared to a lantern or torches."

"It could also be used as a bomb," I pointed out and received a grin in response. "How did Alsaj turn it on?" I asked.

"By pouring a tremendous amount of mana into the rock to ignite it, and then feeding mana continuously to keep it burning. This is a fail-safe feature to extinguish the light," she explained. Kalistra's respect for the monk increased exponentially because it took a huge reservoir of mana to keep the fire rock burning; consequently, only mages and priests will use the orb because members of the other professions usually lack the mana to keep the light on.

Since the only source of illumination was already moving further and further into the tunnel, I hurried my steps to go after Alsaj. I followed her and a few minutes later I discovered that she had stopped moving.

The diminutive monk stood in the middle of a large cavern. When she saw that I had arrived, Sister Alsaj held a finger vertically to her lips and then raised her finger above her head.

I immediately understood her request for silence. When I followed her finger and looked up, I saw many sets of red eyes looking at me from the ceiling! The flickering light revealed what was above our heads: man-sized bats! To my relief, none of the giant bats seem inclined to attack us; they simply stared at us while hanging upside down from the ceiling. I took a quick count and realized there was at least two dozen of them.

The top of the ceiling was too high for the light from the fire orb to reach. Was there another tunnel for the bats to fly out of this cavern, or was the opening we used the only exit? Suddenly, I noticed Alsaj down on one knee; she was peering down. When I joined her, I saw that we were on a ledge!

The sister picked up a small rock and tossed it. It took a long, long time to hit the ground. When it did, something far below us began to vibrate. The cavern started to shake, forcing all three of us to hug the floor as the bats above us shrieked and flew for the exit.

The minor quake dislodged rocks from the ceiling and we were peppered with them. Dice started rattling inside my head for a few seconds and then stopped. "Saving throw SUCCESSFUL. +50XP." When I read the notification, I felt relieved because I was fearful that the ceiling will collapse and crush us to death. Alternatively, the ledge we were on could break off and drop. A fall from this height will surely kill us. However, I was not concerned about the giant bats because they were too busy flying out of the cavern to bother us.

The vibration lasted ten seconds or so and ceased as abruptly as it began. Thankfully, the balcony proved sturdy and held in place.

When we were finally convinced that the minor quake was over, we slowly rose to our feet.

"Sorry, I didn't know that was going to happen," Alsaj apologized sheepishly.

Kalistra noticed something new and pointed to our left. "Were there stairs before?" she asked.

The sister and I turned in unison. There was a staircase that jutted out of the stone wall! The stairs were roughly three feet wide and lacked railings. We could climb down the steps safely in single file, but walking side by side would be risky.

"I didn't get a chance to fully explore this place," Alsaj replied as she patted the dust off her robes. She held out the fire orb again so that we could explore our surroundings more fully. A quick examination confirmed that the descending staircase was the only exit aside from the tunnel we used before. "Let's go down the steps," the monk said and took the first steps down.

With the feeble illumination from the tiny orb in her hand, I peered down to see how far the steps descended. The wall was curved and the staircase curved along with it, spiraling downward into unknown depths.

"Hurry up and go!" Kalistra poked my shoulder. However, she did not use her claw-poke.

I took a deep breath, placed my left hand on the wall, and started walking down the stairs.