“I am tired.” Yel sighed. “I am tired of those damned spiders.” He pouted as he cleaned his short swords with the lower with the tip of his long grey cloak. “Anything else would be fine but no! It had to be spiders.” The young man shouted, his back resting on the wall cave. “A horde of fire breathing wyverns. I can fight ‘em all day long! A pack of vicious bloody great hounds? Be my guest!” He showed his now somewhat clean blade. “But it’s always those 8-legged bastards. I refuse to believe that something that has more than 4 legs is the work of mother nature. There has to be some sort of a devil involved in their creation.”

“Nature can be creepy.” Lia got off the rock she had been sitting on for a while with a torch in her hand. Her legs felt numb, and vision darkened for a moment as she stood on her feet. “And Brelard told us there would be spiders. A lot of them. Subjugation is the exact reason why we are here.”

“This is all but nature.” Yel argued. “What kind of natural thing appears out of thin air and turns into smoke as you kill it?”

Beasts of the Nevran Desert were not born into flesh and blood. They were born from the residual mana left from the ancient ages, wandering desert; with nowhere to return to ever since the continent was laid waste. Once enough mana was gathered and stuck in a place like these caves, they would spawn and mages like Yel and Lia would be sent to weed them out.

“At least they vanish as soon as you cut one of the legs or give ‘em a good stab.” The good side of them not having an actual body was that they would lose their integrity as soon as something external intervened. Otherwise, fighting two-meter-high spiders for almost a week would be an impossible task even for Lia and her group. “You could have had to fight seven-legged arachnids as well. And six. And five. You get to point I think.”

“I could fight two-legged ones.” Yel continued. “Have you ever tried to lift one of them? They weigh like a fuck ton. I bet they wouldn’t be able to move a centimeter”

“Why would you ever want to lift one?”

“To hit one of them with the other of course, duh!”

“No wonder you feel tired.” Lia laughed.

“I’m tired too.” Inni joined. “And I didn’t even try anything like that.”

Those two weren’t the only ones who were tired. Lia too was exhausted. They all had been fighting non-stop for a week except for a few hours of sleep each day. They needed a real rest if they wanted to return sound and safe from the expedition and to return safe, she wanted deeply.

“Also.” Inni continued. “Have you ever seen a wyvern in flesh? I doubt one of them would fit here.” Inni continued as she tried to pick up whatever the hell was stuck on her curly red hair while looking at Yel.

“Nevertheless,” A smirk appeared on Yel’s face. “I think you would prefer wyvern’s eyes on your hair instead of a spider’s. At least you’d be done cleaning your hair by now.” He laughed and Inni retched holding her mouth with a hand, almost letting out her lunch.

“If I could choose anything, I would choose to be at home right now.” Inni sniffed her clothes. “I could definitely use a bath.”

The room they were in was different than the tunnels that they had passed before. It had become a lot wider, once a two-man wide tunnel had left its place to straighter walls almost five meters apart. The ground had gotten flatter and even, giving the vague impression of a floor. It was hard to pick out under the dim light of Inni’s magefire, but she could see the stone bricks. Some old stories called dark times in the Old Continent, stories where the noble blood of Vaella was deemed cursed and mages hunted as heretics. Though many didn’t believe in them for centuries, underground settlements found all around the central Nevra, including their expedition area made it hard to disregard the stories completely.

An unpleasant silhouette approached them accompanied by a torch spell. If it hadn’t been for the sounds of vomiting that came from the man echoing through the whole cave system for the last twenty minutes, a dozen or so beams of cold blue light swirled around the middle-aged man like fireflies could make him look serene.

“I thought I left you here as watchmen, not talk men.” He wiped the puke on the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

“We were watching.” Lia cut the awkward silence that loomed over the dark room after the man returned. “There is nothing beyond here for almost a kilometer. We just wanted to rest before we returned in case something cut us off on our way to the surface.”

“On our way back to surface!” With one hand resting on the wall struggling to stand up, he continued. “Why the hell would we want to go there? Didn’t you just say that there was nothing for a kilometer?”

“That was the limit of Yel’s scanning spell. His winds don’t reach any further. We don’t know what’s behind his range and we all are tired.”

“So, you’re telling me that I’m not as tired as you? Or that you deserve a rest more than I? Are you accusing your superior officer of slacking off?”

“No, sir. It’s just been almost a week and we have depleted all the resources including the potions we had packed. The rations left are only enough for a few more days. I understand the artifact is important but if we don’t go back…”

“Bla, bla, bla. I didn’t ask for an excuse for your cowardice, your highness. You are privileged enough not to present any. But fortunately for us, I am the superior officer here. And I don’t suggest we go; I order we march further.”

“But…”

“Just relax, Lia.” “Empty caves mean a bigger single creature that preys over the smaller ones. We’ll just kill a big, tired spider and get our reward.”

“I don’t really think that is what we will face. Your expectations are rather optimistic. In an expedition, it is a must to be pessimistic and prepare for the worst.” To Lia that was the basis of every act she did in her life, not just the expeditions. You could never be caught off-guard if you never let it down in the first place.

“Then be pessimistic and return, by yourself. Not as an apprentice of course. As a scared little girl. And they say Blood makes the man. I guess it doesn’t help women.”

Lia stood there silently, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword, fighting the urge to beat the man to death with the pommel of her sword.

“Then march we shall.” Yel got up on his feet seeing that Lia stopped throwing valid arguments at her master and using all her strength to restrain herself.

The other two soon followed them, Inni right behind and Lia at the back, guarding the rear. She would give him a little more time. Eventually, he would get to his senses and agree to return or take another vomiting break and pass out from hunger. Either way, it would be time to go back.

As they crept and ventured deeper and deeper into the crevices of Ava Acredna, tunnels became wider and steeper. The drops of water dripped from the stalactites fell in unsynchronous melody and their lonely cries echoed off the moist walls.

Soon, they started to see spiders again. This time, however; neither walked on the walls or the ceiling; they didn’t stare at them ominously in the dark as their many eyes reflected the light of the torch spells. They were all dead, burnt to death but untouched. They were not the only thing burnt, even the walls were pitch black; charred with smoke and soot. Something that lied deeper in the tunnels killed the spiders, not because he needed food, but only because it wished.

“Do you still think you are still right?” Lia asked from the front where she took lead after Priva went to behind seeing the dead spiders. “Sir.” She continued after a brief pause with a hint of discontent.

“Yes.” His voice shook. “We must go deeper.”

“Wait…” Yel cut them off. “I can’t sense anything from here. Something is blocking my wind.”

“You still think the same?” Lia asked again.

“Yes.” Priva replied.

“All right.” Lia opened the path for him. “You can lead us then.”

“I think I’m better off with guarding the rear while you gain some precious experience.”

“You know if any of us gets hurt we don’t have any medical supplies, right?” Lia stared at the old man with a face as cold as a corpse. Her pale skin was veiled by dirt and blood, but the cold blue eyes were as clean as ever. Priva felt threatened. Not because of her status. Empreror had no power here. What made his leg shimmer was the anger that brew in those eyes.

“You won’t need it!” Priva yelled as he swung his arms around. “Just follow the damn orders!”

“You are right. We won’t need.”

“Yes, you won’t.” Priva sighed in relief and it took a few seconds before Priva realized that Lia didn’t agree with him. “Wait, what?”

“Because we are going back. We have no runecraft left, we all are out of mana, and we don’t have any medical supplies. I thought you would realize what situation we are in and order us back as soon as you saw another spider.”

“How dare you disobey my orders! This is exactly why it’s a damn mess to work with you damned royals. Just go and kill it.”

“Do it yourself.”

“I will expel you from the academy.” He marched a few steppes.

“Then I’d be alive and expelled.”

“You insolent little…” Priva urged to shout with brows furrowed and chin moved slightly forward. Lia could see the veins popping off on his temples. One paper cut and he’s dead she laughed inside.

“Fallen the friends, fallen the foes.

Painted the soil in ripe rose.”

The master was intent on keeping his tantrum, however, a humming voice and a white hand laying on his shoulder silenced him. Suddenly, all the color left Priva’s face as fear took hold of his heart.

“Go run, go fight, vain is the both.

We die, we die, how cruel is the old.”

A tear dropped from the white eye of the beast and slide over her pale and rotten face. She was right behind Priva, with her hands on his shoulders, pinning him down but the man’s body wasn’t enough to hide her. Beneath the slender and lifeless body, down her waist started a dark carcass. Arachnid arms stretched out of the hulking body, and many eyes on her temples watched her prey.

Just what we needed. A thought brushed Lia’s mind. An Arachne.

Claw-like nails on the long white fingers slowly crept into Priva’s skin and his expensive robes slowly got dyed in crimson as he squirmed in pain. He wanted to move, to run but his legs no longer listened to him. His hands tremored as he reached for his blades.

Yel clapped his hands once, raising them and the air obeyed his command. A gale slithered forward nimbly passing Lia and Inni, taking a swift turn around Priva like a snake and hitting the Arachne, pushing her a few dozen arachnid steps back.

“Dead are the skies, the seas, the soil.”

“Nigh is your death, why wail, why toil?”

She cried, she screamed. She laughed in pain as she squeezed her fingers and Priva accompanied him. She then pulled her claws out of the man in a swing of her hands.

Priva ran as soon as the Arachne released him. However, he didn’t notice the two young women standing behind him and bumped into Lia and Inni, trampling over the latter and throwing the first aside.

Upon seeing their fall, Yel called for another wind to push the Arachne rushing towards them. Gale swiftly crept around Lia and Inni again and hit the beast from the side, hitting it to the wall. This, however; only slowed the beast down for a second. Luckily Lia had found time to hastily construct a mana shield and a white glistening dome appeared around them.

The spider’s spear-like leg crushed it in one thrust and just as it was to attack again, Yel called for another gale, but this time he didn’t have to be lithe just to avoid hitting his teammates. He was right in front of the beast. So, he pushed her with all his might, halting the march and throwing the monster a few meters back.

“Cold is the flesh and cold is the land.

Claims the crimson realm of men.”

The Arachne continued humming as she tried to gain her balance. She shouldn’t have been able to sing. No beast in Nevra spoke. They were mindless residues. Ghosts of the old. Something was wrong. Lia could feel it.

Now up and ready, Inni drew the string of her bow and a fiery arrow appeared. It grew bigger and bigger, resembling something of a spear than an arrow, and only then did she release it.

Arrow hit the Arachne and a shrill screech filled the cavern. Holding their ears, all four collapsed to the ground as the burning Arachne rushed towards them. Its eight legs beat the ground and in each step walls and the ground of the great cave that they were standing on shook. It cracked and quaked.

Not enough damage. Lia thought. Get back.

Lia gathered all the mana she had left and turned it all into a spear of lightning. She aimed at the colossal body of the beast and threw it with all her might.

The beast fell back, and the caves shook in the wake of Lia’s attack. Arachnid squealed in pain and rushed to the new shield that Yel raised with whatever legs it had left and a gaping hole in her arachnid body. It beat the dome of shining light with her spear-like legs.

Seeing the beast still move, everyone was shocked, this one was different. It was an Avran. Not just a beast spawned from the power left from the ancient days, but a beast with flesh and body. If they wanted to leave this place alive, they had to kill her thoroughly.

“On my mark.” Inni looked at Yel as she drew her arrowless bow once again and transformed her mana into the fire.

“Now!” She shouted and she released the arrow as Yel dismantled his shield. Arrow hit the beast once again and it let out another shrieking yell as she fell back. The ground however couldn’t stand the weight of the falling beast this time and partly collapsed, halfway swallowing the beast within it.

Clinging on the edge of the hole, the beast flailed two of her legs in to pull himself, but Lia pushed forward and sliced them in a quick sweep with the dark blade of her sword. It cut through the flaming legs like butter.

Lia watched the burning beast fall almost 20 meters before reaching the ground. As its colossal body crashed to the ground, the loud thud echoed in the large opening.

Just as Yel was about to jump down and finish the deed, Lia stopped him.

Arachnes can’t use fire. Lia thought in her heavy breathes. “There’s more.” How the hell did the spiders got charred to death?

Soon, the sound of flesh and bone swiping the ground answered Lia’s doubts as a big silhouette swallowed the burning Arachne. Another Avran, a long serpentine beast crawled beneath their very feet, watching them with four green shining eyes.

Its rotten body twisted and writhed in pain; its wings stretched yearning to reach the sky that was blocked by the ceiling of the cave system. An ancient nightmare haunting the present.

They had poked a dragon’s nest. An undead dragon.

***

Lia looked at the bald headmaster as she stood silent. Normally, being scolded by him would make her feel down but now she didn’t feel the same. The messy desk was as chaotic as ever with papers and scrolls all over, the man still scratched his long fluffy white beard occasionally taking a sip from his oaken pipe. She should have been anxious under the judgemental looks but a serene aura filling the room washed all her worries away.

“An undead dragon? A real dragon, not just a lesser one.” Brelard scratched his white beard. “I think you know how hard it is to believe that.”

“If I hadn’t seen it myself, I would think I’m lying as well.”

“Most would. Do you know why? If it had even a fracture of a real dragon's might, I would be signing some documents saying that you were lost in a mission, not talking to you.”

“I agree. The dragon simply ignored us. I don’t know why. It was almost like we were too insignificant for it to be bothered with. Instead, it collapsed the ceiling and the entire upper cave system with it.”

“Ahh…” Brelard sighed. “Great. Do you have any idea where it went? Perhaps north?”

Lia cleared her throat. “Sir, I think it went south.” “Towards the empire.”

Brelard facepalmed, sighing even harder. “And this running dragon is involved in your situation how?” The man took a sip from his pipe with one eyebrow raised. “No one still got hurt in your story. I’ve got reports telling me otherwise.”

“The incident happened right after that, sir.”

“By incident, you mean going to the expedition with four mages and returning with three and a half?” He skimmed through a few papers. “I just want to be on the same page with you.” He smiled.

“Yes.” Lia continued. “After the dragon went, Priva came to his senses and started yelling and screaming at us telling how much of incompetent third-rate mages we were and how we cost him a fortune. Apparently, he had some inside knowledge on that there was a dead arachnid Avran and made a deal with someone to retrieve the remains for a huge sum but since the second Avran ate the Arachne his deal was blown off.”

“And..? You got angry and challenged him?”

“Actually, he was the one who challenged me.”

“That idiot.” Brelard looked for a certain scroll between the piles of papers and books on his desk. “That’s quite contrary to his written report.”

“Of course, it is.” Lia rolled her eyes. “You think he would report losing an arm to an apprentice in a Kavna he challenged?”

“Well,” Brelard scratched his beard. “That explains a lot.” He continued. “Still, you had the option of refusing. After all, it was coming from a higher rank mage and legally you had the option of not accepting. And again, you were in the Nevran Desert. You can never turn your back against a fellow human amidst the crimson dunes. You both have violated the rules.”

“Yes sir.” Lia accepted being guilty. She wasn’t wrong, she genuinely believed she was right, and she thought Brelard thought the same. Otherwise, he would be roaring and shouting at Lia instead of calmly talking to Lia.

“I’m not supposed to tell you this, but we will expel Priva from the Academy. We had a ton of complaints, but half the board was favoring him to stay for some political play.”

“Great?” Lia was surprised. She was expecting more of a punishment than a prize. “What about us apprentices?” There had to be more of this.

“Your friends have nothing to worry about. You on the other hand are going to be busy for a while.”

“Really?” Lia asked happily. She was expecting expulsion. Being penalized meant she was still an apprentice.

“Don’t be that happy yet. I was going to send you with the subjugation team for that lesser dragon and let you all clean the mess you guys have started but unfortunately, someone in higher places have something for you.”

“That was a dragon. Not a lesser one.” Lia was sure. She had read all the books she could find in Imperial Library. There was no way a lesser dragon was that big. She was so sure that it took her a few seconds to put the one and one together. The serene aura she felt in the room and someone in higher places? It had to be her!

“Wait, what!” Lia raised her voice as she realized. “Excuse me but what?!” She raised her voice again. “Her highness, the Great Saint asked for me, personally?”

“It was a lesser one. And yes.” He pulled out a letter. “She told me to give this to you. Go find whatever she wants and bring it back to her.”