Jack opened his eyes to a blurry view. There were spots of redness, thunders and… darkness returned.

A while passed in nothingness, brief images from the past flashing, before Jack woke again. This time he saw a clear view.

The Pathfinder dragged him on a rope while Hunter dashed all around, firing at waves of deadmen, slicing them with Jack’s old dagger.

They stopped at an altar and Jack fell on its cold stone.

Hunter took out his glowing potion, opened and turned it towards Jack--

“Ah, you woke so quickly.” He stopped. “I’ve had to save your unconscious ass so many times it’s getting tedious.” He waved and poured the liquid.

At first Jack shrilled from the stinging on his entire body, fell into numbness and then into darkness.

Through the haze, a voice spoke followed by an intense slap on Jack’s cheek.

He awoke, fumbling and gasping for air.

Hunter and the Pathfinder had winded up a tall hill, pulling Jack by a rope. The place they’d stopped and unleashed him at was a balcony-like opening with a grand view of the Underworld.

Jack got up on his feet and wiped all the dirt away. His wounds were... filled with a shiny metal.

That's weird, but I won't question it...

Also, lucky to have gotten that breastplate -- being dragged all this way my back would’ve turned to mush.

“You can walk now, can’t you?” Hunter asked.

Jack nodded.

“Great.” Hunter handed the urn, waved at the deadman and returned to his normal pace.

Not telling me anything else? Like why the hell did you let the Pathfinder carry me, what was that altar or how long was I out for? No?

Alright…

Jack struggled for a moment, getting used to the new armor and the silver--or gold--that was in his legs. He didn’t have to struggle for long as the hike stopped soon.

A dozen feet up, the fog cleared completely, opening the view to a deteriorated rotunda, like a beacon shining off light from the crystals high above.

“Stop,” Hunter said and the Pathfinder froze. “Good. Your fun little detour at the Travelling Arena got us in a rush, yet ignoring that place ahead would be a foolish decision nonetheless.”

“What’s in there? What’s so scary that I don’t need to convince to stop and check it out?”

“One can never be sure what countless years have changed. Though the thing inside will either help us like nothing else or bring a very quick, yet very painful death.”

What else can you expect from the Hall of Ceremony?

“And what was that place normally?”

“There, the sorcerers created the weapons they hid in the Travelling Arena. We’ll either find ingredients or the side effects of their work.”

Interesting, Jack thought following Hunter up some crumbling stairs,

In front of the entrance, Hunter lit a match and went in. Jack stood reluctantly for a moment. A bad gut feeling was pushing him away, doing all it could to stop him going following the old man.

Powers that be, I got weapons that the most powerful leaders of the continent couldn’t dream of, he convinced himself.

A grunt, a growl and a faint scream sounded in the rotunda. Jack had to go in no matter what. So, he dropped the urn and darted in, clenching his fists, readying to grab the dagger.

The tiny match gave light to Hunter’s face which showed an intense struggle. Still, Jack didn't approach iimmediately, careful of the thing that would bring a very quick and very painful death.

Hunter’s match slipped out of his hand and went out, leaving them in total darkness.

“Damn you like a bascalle!” Hunter shouted and screamed, his words echoing off the cold walls. “I helped your ass Jack, now you better help mine!”

A mere line of fire appeared on the ground where the match had fallen. It spread and glowed brighter until a torch on the wall lit up. A dozen more followed it.

Oh powers that be… Maybe it would’ve been better without this light...

Deads stood beside each torch, circling the room, while a pair wrestled with Hunter. Jack unsheathed his dagger, grinned at its brutal beauty and lunged to help the old man.

The blade sliced through a dead’s chest, evaporating it, then stabbed another, turning the dead into dust as well.

Powers that be, it’s surely doing its trick!

He turned to the last dead attacking Hunter. This one was different.

The dagger cut the dead’s arm, but only a few small crimson pieces floated down. Jack stabbed more, doing nothing, but getting the dead’s attention on himself.

The creature turned around, revealing it had four legs--two small ones sticking out of its knees--and three heads paired with a dozen extra eyes.

Jack shouted at the surprise, then did it again, this time dodging a vicious punch.

Hunter used the moment to catch a breath and counterattack. He jabbed at the deadman, sluggishly dodging its heavy attacks, while Jack targeted its head, stabbing out the eyes.

They worked as a team, a true team, having eachothers’ backs and perfect chemistry. As Hunter dodged, Jack jumped, as the old man attacked, he covered him, pulling the dead’s focus on to himself.

The creature lost its vision, its limbs and--soon--its driving power. The thing collapsed and faded into crimson dust.

In a flash, Hunter turned and pointed at the circle of deads surrounding them.

The creatures stood still like statues, yet their cold eyes stared. After a moment, they took hoods off their heads, revealing a… wrongness on their skin? Glowing triangles, molden together bones and seven-finger arms stuck out of their limbs and heads.

Even though he woke up no more than ten minutes ago, Jack was fired up and any fear he should’ve had was overpowered by the confidence. He raised his dagger then stopped.

I forgot to douse my blade in Holy Water, he thought. If this new dagger destroys them easily, then what can it do with this liquid’s help?

By the time the potion fell back into Jack’s satchel, Hunter already had most of the deadmen attacking him. Though it was hard fighting and dodging the attacks of five creatures at once, he managed to take one down without taking a single blow.

Jack rushed in, evaporated a pair of deadmen instantly, kicked a deadwoman and stabbed its heart then turned and finished off a pair that surrounded Hunter.

Hunter ran from the mass of enemies and used his bottle directly, splashing the liquid everywhere.

The weirdness of the reaction between dead skin and Holy Water commenced -- colorful blood sprayed everywhere, slime appeared out of nowhere and explosions shocked the rotunda.

In a few moments, only empty cloaks and mounds of red dust remained around them .

Jack raised his hand in front of himself. “Damn, we’re so good at killing these things, this diversion wasn’t even a diversion. One minute in, one minute out.” He grinned.

“Sure, sure… No longer the kid who couldn’t beat the Gatekeeper.”

Jack made sure no more foes were around and sheathed his weapon. “I assume we got the bad thing that tried to kill us--”

“We were lucky -- if that thing was here, you’d be nothing more than that chestplate.” Hunter pointed at the floor. “We got the thing that’ll help us.”

A line of fire curved around the room like a snake and went up the walls to the torches. It also circled a large cube in the center.

“Step carefully.” Hunter walked towards it, making sure not to step on the flames

That’s the thing that’ll help us?

Having gotten a look from every angle, Hunter put his hands on the cube and moved them around on each of its surfaces.

He stood up, creased his brow and got another good look. He crouched down and put his hands on it again.

Something clicked.

“Knew I felt a button.”

The top of the black cube shifted and opened a complex system of brown lines. In the center of it all was a candle.

“Oh, so that’s what’s inside!” Hunter said.

Jack tilted his head. “Looks familiar.”

“I’ve no idea how it is for you.” Hunter put a smoke in his mouth, lit it and dropped the match on the complex system. The brown lines caught flame and the black cube rumbled.

The candle in the middle burned a blue flame.

Hunter carefully took the candle.

“This is amazing,” he said. “Have you heard of Gereleo’s light?”

“Heard of it, seen it, but have no idea what it is.”

“It’s a sorcery experiment from the olden days that yielded an infinitely glowing candle,” Hunter explained. “The sorcerers used the flame to craft weapons at the cost of dementing numerous of these deadmen.”

“Incredible.”

“Indeed. It even has a purpose for us -- to--” Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “Where is my urn?!”

“I… I left it by the entrance.”

Hunter opened his mouth, but Jack was already running. He dashed out the entrance and turned to grab the thing.

Only it wasn’t there.