Chapter 3:

The castle above nowhere

“Yon, what have you done? Your explosions are what made them do this! How are we going to reach the artifact now?” The Mirages berated the leader of the group.

“They aren’t wrong. What will we do now?” Valerria asked Yon.

The leader did not respond. Instead, he continued to stare at the castle in the sky.

“We have to get out of here before they catch us!” Shinko yelled.

She reached for the cover only to find it closed, and the previous opening she had used to sneak through sealed off.

“They are onto us!” Shinko said, panicked.

Valerria walked up to Yon and squeezed his shoulders hard.

“Yon, we need you to come up with a plan. Now.”

“All the soldiers who went out to check out the initial explosions are already rushing back through the city, alerted by the secondary explosions and the destruction of the security system...” Yon said with a half-dead tone.

“There is nothing we can do...” He continued.

“Use your watch! Create a portal to get us out of here!” Yelled Tor.

Yon shook his head.

“It won’t work. The watch can only maintain two gateways at any one time, and opening a new one would close the oldest. The gateway I’d create now would connect back to the back alley where our meeting place was, and with the city in such high lockdown, we would have no way of escaping from there.”

“So…we’re dead, then.” Said Tor.

Collar smirked at Tor’s remark. The tall man sauntered up to Tor and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, we got this far already, right? Why stop here? A little floating castle can’t stop us.”

“Oh, Collar, you actually want to go ahead with this?” Asked Tor, surprised.

“Why not? We’ve got the entire army running towards us as we speak. There’s no way for us to sneak past such a large force. If we want to get out, we need to go even deeper in.”

“You’re suggesting that we trap ourselves inside of the castle.” Said Valerria.

“No. Every castle contains portals and teleportation devices meant to be used to evacuate the lord and his family in case of emergencies. That’s what we will be using to escape.”

The group looked unsure of what to say. The first to speak up was Tor.

“Ah hell, we’re already trapped. We might as well go for broke. I’m with you, Collar.”

“I guess I can go too then!” Said Shinko.

The remaining members stayed silent. Tor motioned for them to join while Collar remained silent.

The silence was broken up by Yon, who spoke for the rest of the group.

“Very well, we will follow you to the castle.”

“Excellent.” Collar said and then motioned to the group to follow him. The group ran through the empty streets until they arrived before one of the chains holding up the floating castle.

They slowly approached the giant chain as it faded in and out of reality. The surrounding air smelled an intoxicant aroma of iron, a byproduct of the heavy magic used in its design.

“And how are we making it out of this one, oh great leader?” Asked Valerria,

Collar motioned to Yon.

“Use your watch to create a portal on a nearby wall.”

“I know what you are thinking, but I can’t create a portal to the castle. I can only make portals between locations that my watch has touched.” Said Yon.

“I know, just do it.”

Yon reluctantly pulled out his watch and placed it on the closest wall to the chain. The wall began glowing blue, and a portal formed on it.

“Now what?”

“Now?”

Collar walked up to Skass.

“Now is where you come in. You see those chains? They are only ethereal because of the magic carved into them.”

Skass’s eyes widened with the realization.

“I can touch them.”

“You can.”

“I see your plan now.” Said Yon.

Yon passed his watch over to Skass. The agile lizard man walked up to the chain. Each link of the chain was three times as wide and four times as long as the lizard man himself.

Skass hesitantly felt around the base of the chain, the only part of the chain that was permanently solid for everyone. After making sure that the chain’s iron did not hide any nasty surprise for him, the lizardman began his climb.

Skass climbed up to the first link, before which he momentarily stopped. He watched the link phase in and out of reality before his very eyes. Collar’s words had logic to them, but what if he was wrong? Skass slowly reached out his hand for the chain.

Contact! Just like Collar predicted, Skass was able to hold and firmly grasp the chain even as it was invisible to the naked eye.

With renewed confidence, Skass proceeded to climb the ethereal chains at blinding speed. The group followed his ascent until he was so far up he could not be seen anymore.

“Will he make it?” Asked Tor.

“What do you mean? Is there a chain link that he can’t touch?” Asked Shinko.

“No, he means that there could be soldiers waiting for him.” Collar said. “Yes, they’re very well could be. We have to hope that he can avoid detection. His scales will blend in with the sky and the walls, so he has a few advantages there.”

“I hope it’s enough. It’s our only way out of this mess.”

The group continued to wait anxiously. A short while later, the blue aura of the portal Yon cast on the wall gave way to a room’s image.

“He did it.” Whispered Shinko.

With their entrance assured, the group passed through the portal. The room Skass waited for them in was small and cramped, filled with barrels. An overwhelmingly strong smell of alcohol filled the air around them.

“Someone’s got a taste for the powerful spirit I see.” Tor mentioned while holding his nose.

“The walls of the castle were heavily patrolled by soldiers. This room was the best I could get, be grateful you didn’t step into an ambush instead.” Said Skass annoyed.

“Oh no no, don’t get me wrong, spirit’s great.” Tor said, eliciting a laugh out of Shinko.

With the entire group in the room, they pushed through the barrels until they arrived before the door leading further into the castle.

“You have a map to the treasure room, right?” Collar asked Yon.

“You still want to go for the treasure? In our predicament?”

“I am not leaving without it.” Collar stated plainly.

Tor laughed.

“At least we know what to get Collar for his birthday now!” Tor joked.

“The map, now.” Said Collar with not an ounce of humor in his voice.

“Right…”

Tor took the map from Yon’s bag and passed it to Collar. The map showed a moving, living representation of the castle’s structure. Its floors, rooms, every object that was moved, every door opened or closed. Everything but the inhabitants of the castle appeared on that map.

“How did you get your hands on something like this?” Asked Collar while scanning the map.

“I have certain connections.” Answered Yon.

“Hm.” Collar absentmindedly hummed while looking over the map.

As his eyes glazed over the paper, he couldn’t help but notice the strange layout of the castle. Most of the rooms and halls you’d expect from it were missing, leaving mostly only small storage rooms. It was as if they were in a building designed to store the castle’s supplies and not the castle itself.

“Found our destination?” Asked Tor.

“This map can’t be correct.” Said Collar.

Yon raised his eyebrows at Collar’s remark.

“What are you insinuating?” Asked Yon.

“Just look at it yourself. It’s not showing the treasury room anywhere.” Collar said and tossed the map to Yon.

The former leader snorted at Collar’s remark before looking at the map himself.

Yon’s expression instantly changed.

“Hm. This is indeed strange. It did not have this few floors on it last time I looked upon it.”

“What?”

“The castle. It had ten more floors beneath the ones shown on here.” Yon said while handing Collar back the map.

With the information given to him by Yon, Collar looked over the map once more. This time he managed to notice a couple of staircases that seemingly led directly into open space beneath the castle.

“According to this, everything below the highest floors is missing.”

“That’s impossible. I got a really good look at the castle as I climbed the chain. Nothing looked out of the ordinary with it.” Said Skass.

“I don’t doubt your eyes, Skass. But I do not doubt the map either. There is something wrong with this castle, and we need to figure out what it is.”

Collar walked to the door leading to the rest of the castle. He placed his ear against the creak of the door.

Nothing.

Not the sound of guards marching up and down the hall, not the sound of servants and nobles rushing for safety, nothing. Just silence.

Collar removed his ear from the door and then beckoned Shinko. She acknowledged his wordless command with a nod and shrank to the size of an ant, and then ran beneath the door. After a few seconds of waiting, the door opened, revealing a full-sized Shinko.

“There’s nobody here.” She said.

The group walked out into the hallway. Just like Shinko said, the halls were empty.

Anxiously, the group walked through the abandoned halls of the castle. A rainbow of color danced around them from vibrant glass murals adorning the walls as empty suits of armor guarded them throughout the corridors.

Shinko’s eyes ran over the tapestries and murals with reckless abandon, while Valerria only softly whistled as she took in the scenery. For their part, Tor and Skass also looked around a fair bit. Opposed to them, Yon and Collar did not spare a single glance in this direction. Their attention focused solely on the map.

With the main group moving slowly through the halls, Mirage created several more bodies, wearing the guise of guards and had them patrol all the corridors ahead.

“Where are you taking us?” Asked Yon.

Collar handed him the map.

“Whatever magic they used to separate the castle, it must have been quite massive. That kind of magical energy would require a comparable vessel to contain it in order to maintain its effect. The castle seems to indicate only one room large enough to contain such an object.”

Collar pointed towards a vast room that laid several corridors ahead of them, the lord’s study.

“And you think we can find and disable this vessel there? How do you know that it was contained within an object? The mages could have just cast the spell without any vessel.”

“If that were the case, the chains wouldn’t still be floating around and keeping their ethereal property. Whatever spell it is, it’s being maintained constantly, and trust me, mages will eventually need to sit down and rest. It would only make sense to store it in a physical vessel.”

“You sure seem to know a lot.” Said Valerria.

“...I guess I’ve seen a lot of things in my line of work.”

“You mean being a slave? How could you have possibly learned any of these things?” Valerria asked mockingly.

Collar gritted his teeth.

“Don’t strife over useless things, Valerria. The only thing that concerns me is if he’s correct.” Said Yon.

“Fine.” Said Valerria, though her gaze towards Collar remained just as harsh.

The group continued cautiously towards their destination. They passed through several corridors unperturbed by any guard patrols, thanks to the scouting done by the mirage bodies.

“A thought occurs.” Said Valerria, from the back of the group.

“If this is the only way to sink the castle, wouldn’t most, if not all of the soldiers be in that room, to defend the mechanism?”

Collar stopped in his tracks.

“Exactly. We can’t be just barging into that. We don’t know how many enemies are waiting for us.”

“What are we going to do about it?” Asked Tor.

“Don’t worry your head about it. I have this covered. All of you go hide in a room. If you linger in the corridors, you might get seen. We’ll meet there once everything is freed up.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll make a distraction. I believe you’re familiar with those already.” Valerria said with a smirk.

Skass’s eyes went wide.

“No! No! Not again!” He yelled.

Valerria laughed and split off from the group.

“She just ran off!” Yelled Skass.

“What should we do, Collar?” Asked Tor.

“Let her do her thing.” Said Yon.

The group turned to Yon.

“There’s no point in trying to stop her. Just do what she says.” Repeated Yon.

Though anxious, the group followed Yon’s advice.

Collar and the rest sneaked through the hallways until they started to hear soft chatter. It was the voices of soldiers. They were close now. As per Valerria’s instructions, they hid in one of the nearby rooms and waited for her to finish her task.

And she did.

A deafening noise marked the beginning of a violent shock wave that tore through the castle. The room the group hid in shook, sending everyone flying into walls together with all the objects lying around the room.

And then it tilted.

“And there it is!” Yelled Skass.

“Did she blow off one of the chains?” Yelled Collar.

“Not a bad idea. This will definitely force the guards away from the room.” Remarked Yon.

“Now wait a minute! Aren’t those holding the castle up? Or down? Won’t it crash into the ground?!? Or fly off into space?!?” Asked a panicking Tor.

“It won’t if we make it to the room in time.” Said Yon.

“Let’s go then!” Tor yelled and reached for the door, only for Skass to slap away with his hand with his tail.

“You moron! Did you forget what we needed this distraction for in the first place?”

Collar motioned to Tor to stand down. Tor could barely breathe through all his adrenaline, but even he could tell that he was wrong. He needed to stay put and wait it out, even as the room came down around him.

Just as expected, the sounds of panicked yells filled the castle as the soldiers all barged out of their room and towards the source of the explosion. The number of soldiers inside must have been truly massive, for the yelling didn’t stop for several minutes.

Collar and Skass remained standing upright while the rest desperately held on to whatever they could grab on to as the room tilted harder and harder. Objects on the ground slid off of it and hit the wall as the room leaned even more.

After what felt like an eternity, the hallway in front of them finally became silent. The group waited a few more seconds to make sure that the coast was clear, but at this point, they were so anxious to leave that a few seconds was all they could spare.

“Aargh!” Yelled Tor as he tackled the door open, pushing through the barrels and chairs that had fallen on top of the door.

“Damn it, Tor, do you want to make it any more obvious that we’re here?” Chastised Skass.

“Doubt they heard it. The collapse of the castle is quite loud.” Said Collar.

Now outside of the room, the group hurried to the room pointed to by Yon’s map, uncaring at this point to the idea of finding any soldiers leftover as protection.

As they approached the closed doors of the room, Tor started to pick up speed.

“Oh no, he’s doing it again!” Whined Shinko.

“Tor wait, there could still be soldiers inside!” Collar yelled after him, but it was too little, too late.

Tor charged the doors, tackling them open with ease. Carried by his momentum, the man fell and rolled on the ground. As Tor recovered from his fall, the rest of the group entered the room, gazing at what stood before them.

A huge, multi-floor-sized study room. Rows upon rows of bookshelves laid across both floors of the room, a marble staircase connecting the two floors. Beautiful lamps containing blue fire floated around the room, lighting up the engravings on the walls and the marble bookshelves.

“What is this?” Asked Skass.

Everyone turned their gaze to Collar.

“I asked what’s this. What are we looking at, Collar?” Asked Skass again, this time more forceful.

“The personal library of the local lord. The map already told us that.” Collar answered.

“Right, right, a library, I see.” Skass said with fake happiness in his tone.

Skass punched Collar across the face, drawing blood.

“And where do you see the bloody artifact? Anything at all that would prove that your ramblings weren’t total hogwash? Huh? You killed us, you buffoon!” Yelled Skass.

Collar wiped away the blood and walked further into the room.

“It should be here. They wouldn’t keep their entire garrison in here if it wasn’t.” He said.

“And yet they didn’t keep a single soldier here, just in case someone snuck in. What a real damn important room we have here!”

Tor stepped in between the two.

“I say we split up and look for anything that looks out of the ordinary. We might still find something.” Suggested Tor.

“Not much else we can do for now.” Said Yon.

The mirages split into multiple entities until they numbered sixteen. Those bodies, together with Yon, Shinko, and Tor, all went to look through the bookshelves. Only Skass stayed behind, glaring at Collar all the while the others searched.

“You aren’t saving yourself by staring at me.” Said Collar.

“I know something’s pointless when I see it.” Skass fired back.

Collar closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Do you know what the law enforcement of this city does to criminals of our caliber?” Asked Collar.

Skass kept glaring at Collar.

“Decapitation? Crucifixion? No, that would be too pleasant. Aslagard wouldn’t have reached this level of docility from its population without a much greater punishment. I read up on it, you know?”

Collar walked up to Skass and ran his finger across Skass’s scales. The lizardman jerked back and quickly slapped away Collar’s hand.

“Don’t touch-”

“They will use magic to punish you, so in your case, they will begin by ripping out every single scale on your body until your bloody, mangled body will be just as vulnerable as ours. Then they will freeze your body inch by inch from the inside. Your lungs, your stomach, your intestines, even your heart. Yet, you won’t be granted death. They will keep you alive artificially with magic for as long as possible.”

Skass’s face betrayed a mixture of fear and disgust as his mind imagined this fate.

“You will die of asphyxia every time you try to take a breath. Your heart will wither away as every drop of blood is frozen in your veins. Your brain will struggle fruitlessly to save itself as all your nerves go unresponsive. And above all, you will not die. You will never die.”

“You...you’re just trying to intimidate me!”

Collar smiled.

“Yon, am I lying?”

“No.” Yon said nonchalantly as he continued his search.

“See? Now tell me, is indulging your meaningless anger worth all this suffering?”

Skass struggled to respond as the fear and anger clashed within him. The victor was clear.

“Fine, fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Go and search the second floor. With your affinity for detecting magic, it would be a waste for you to search with the rest of us down here.”

Skass shakily nodded and rushed up the stairs. That done, Collar joined everyone else who was already scouring every corner of the room.

“All that being said, Skass wasn’t entirely wrong. There should be something here to protect the vessel.” Said Yon.

“I know. We need to be ready for anything.”

The group scoured the first floor for anything that could help. They tossed aside books, looked through drawers, checked the walls for a secret passage. All the while, the room was tilting over, toppling shelves over, nearly falling on members of the group on several occasions. Desperation started to set in.

In all the chaos, Yon stepped away, walking back to the entrance of the room from where he could observe it in its entirety.

“Now, where could you have hidden it? You were never the creative type.” Yon muttered under his breath.

His contemplation was interrupted by Valerria, who had just managed to return to the group.

“Hey, what are you all doing?” She asked.

“Looking for the vessel Collar mentioned. It appears that the lord hid it somehow. What about you? What took you so long to come back?”

“It wasn’t because of the soldiers if that’s what you are implying. I just didn’t know where the room was. Realized it on my way to setting the explosives, but coming back to recheck would have meant listening to Skass’s whining. No thank you.”

Yon shrugged.

“Go and help them search.” He said.

“Is that an order?” Valerria said, amused.

“Yes.”

“Well, ok, if you say so.” She said while laughing.

Seeing her approach, Collar chose to leave the group immediately and join Skass on the second floor. As he climbed up the stairs, through the sounds of a crumbling castle, he heard muffled groans.

“Skass? Are you there?”

No answer, only more groans.

The most likely source was a wounded Skass, perhaps injured by a defensive system. Collar climbed hurriedly and, once he arrived at the top, peeked his head out. There was no sign of any traps or Skass. What he saw instead was a massive pile of rubble.

Collar rushed to it and began pulling away rocks. There he found Skass, who had been buried beneath the fallen rubble. He quickly pushed the wreckage away and helped the injured lizard man back to his feet.

“The castle is collapsing on us.” Said Collar.

Skass replied through pained grunts.

“It wasn’t the castle, this time. I triggered a trap. It would have ripped me to shreds were it not for my scales.”

Collar smiled.

“Good.”

“What?”

“The idiots down below are throwing themselves headfirst at everything, but they never triggered any mechanisms like this.”

“I see, so the vessel is hidden up here.”

The two looked in the direction where the trap had been sprung upon Skass.

“Say, you dealt with their traps before, right?” Asked the lizardman.

“I have, with the one in the sewer.”

“That’ll do. Let’s search together.”

Collar and Skass take cautious steps through the second floor. There were far fewer bookcases here, leaving it feeling much emptier than the first floor.

“I feel something. It’s faint, but it’s definitely been lingering in the air for a long time.” Said Skass.

“Perfect.”

Following Skass’s sense for detecting magic, the two traversed the room with great care.

With Skass becoming fixated on following the trail left behind by the magic, it was up to Collar to notice any signs of danger.

“Wait.” Collar said as he barred Skass from taking another step.

“What?”

Collar crouched and took a look at the floor. Beneath it, glowing just barely enough to be seen, he saw a familiar sight, the same wires that he had torn apart in the sewer. There, he pushed his fist through the concrete and ripped out the cables. Immediately, the current shot through the open wounds on his hand, shocking him and making his muscles tense up, sealing his fist shut around the wires.

To his luck, Skass intervened immediately and pulled Collar away from the wires.

“Ah, thanks. I should have told you what I was going to do first.”

“Yeah, you should have.” Skass said while pointing to Collar’s hand. The red exposed flesh had now been burnt and rendered charred.

“That’s alright. That price is worth shutting down all the traps on the floor. All that’s left to do is find the vessel.”

The two continued following Skass’s sense. This eventually lead them to one particular stand-out object. A telescope, standing proudly upon three, small ascending steps in the middle of the room. The telescope immediately felt out of place, as the study had no open space through which one could observe the sky with the telescope.

“Is this it?” Asked Skass. “Is this the vessel?”

“No, it’s far too small, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t what will lead us to it.”

Skass tried to take a step forward only to be blocked by Collar.

“Let me go first. We can’t afford to lose your ability.”

Skass nodded and let Collar take the lead. Collar approached the telescope slowly, inch by inch. When he was only two steps away from the telescope’s pedestal, a line of spikes shot from the ground, grazing and hurting his foot. The spikes kept rising till they hit the ceiling, after which they retreated into the ground.

“Are you alright?!?” Asked Skass.

“Yeah, yeah. It’s fine. I felt the spikes rising, so I was able to pull my foot away in time. Figures that they would have a set of traps not powered by the same mechanism.”

Collar took a look at the trap. The spikes were laid out in a circular fashion around the telescope, covering every possible angle of approach. All he needed to do was avoid put pressure on the trigger mechanism.

Collar limped to one of the bookcases, his foot dripping blood all the way. Once there, he lifted the bookcase over his head and carried it back to the trap, where he placed it over the line of spikes. The spikes responded to the pressure and pierced the wood before retracting.

With the bookcase covering the spike’s pressure point, the two carefully walked over the bookcase to avoid it, finally bringing them to the telescope.

“Do you want me to take a look, or do you still suspect a trap?” Asked Skass.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Answered Collar.

The large man brought his eye to the telescope.

Instantly a tiny wave of magic stabbed him in the eye. Collar stumbled back from the pain, though Skass stopped him from falling unto the line of spikes.

“Damn it, that’s trapped too?”

Blood started to run from Collar’s eye.

“Yes, but the good news is, it’s a magic attack. It won’t work on you.”

“Does it look like my eyes have scales to you?”

“Hmm.” Collar hummed and pulled out the knife tied to Skass’s hip.

“Then you know what to do.”

“You can’t possibly mean of me to-”

“Listen to me. The guards are out there working to fix the damage Valerria did. The damage your explosives did. Do you want them to get you, knowing that you are the one who supplied the terrorist attacks on their city?”

“I-I…”

Skass looked at the knife.

“Damn it!”

He grabbed the knife and brought it to his forearm. Skass’s hand shook as he held the knife. Every time he tried to move it to make a cut, his hand jerked back.

“I can’t do it!”

“Then let me.”

Collar took the knife back. Holding Skass’s arm stretched with his left hand, he brought the knife to Skass’s scales.

“We aren’t going to die here, damn it!” Yelled Skass.

“We won’t.”

Collar started to slowly cut across Skass’s arm right below his scales.

“Argh, why are you doing it so slow?!?”

Collar continued cutting until the knife’s edge was covered in scales. Collar put the knife aside and then ripped part of his shirt and tied it around Skass’s wound.

“Couldn’t risk hurting your scales. A single hole or tear, and you’ll lose your sight.”

Collar handed Skass the scaled-covered knife.

“I can’t touch the telescope lid, so it’s up to you. You need to make sure you cover every inch of the lid with your scales, otherwise you’ll lose your eye.”

Skass approached the telescope and picked up the scales. He did his best to wipe away the blood off the scales and then put them on the lid. He swallowed nervously as he stared at the lid.

Skass put his eye to the telescope. The lid started to glow with magic once again, but this time the attack fizzled out as it struck Skass’s scales, protecting his eye from the assault.

He used the telescope to look all around the room. What he saw made him spit in anger.

“Nothing, there’s nothing!”

“Keep looking. There has to be something it reveals.”

Skass scanned the room again. To his dismay, all there was to behold was just the same bookcases as before. Frustrated, he whipped his sight left and right, but every time the telescope failed to provide him with any new information.

“There has to be a reason they guarded this. Keep looking!” Encouraged Collar.

As Skass turned the telescope around to check another part of the room, a faint glimmer at the bottom of his sight caught his attention. He turned the telescope downwards.

Instead of the floor, he was greeted by the sight of his comrades searching the room below them. Not only was the floor beneath Skass transparent through the lens of the telescope, but it also revealed a white symbol that glowed across the entire first floor. The symbol formed the image of a flower that only opened its petals during winter. Each one of its petals held a large hole in them.

“I think I know what we need to do.” Said Skass.

Skass grabbed one of the maps nearby and placed it upside down on the floor. On the back of the map, he hurriedly drew the structure of the room below them, and then drew the symbol he saw upon it. Collar followed his every pen stroke with great interest.

“A symbol invisible to the naked eye?” Asked Collar.

“Yes. Take this map to the others. I’ll stay here and keep watch to see if your attempts affect anything.”

Collar nodded and did as asked. He went down and motioned to everyone to come to him. He unveiled Skass’s drawings to them.

“And you think this will lead us to the mechanism?”

“It’s the only thing of note we could find.”

Shinko looked at the symbol on the map closely.

“So, are we supposed to just stand on those outer parts? Those petals?” She said while walking up to one of them.

Collar pulled her back.

“That’s the first thing we are going to test, yes, but you can’t do it recklessly like that.”

“But then how are we going to see?”

Collar pointed to one of the mirage bodies.

“You can test for us. Even if one of your bodies dies, you can just regenerate it.”

“I will not.” The sixteen bodies said in unison.

“Why?”

“I was not born to serve you.”

“Just do what he says.” Yon said plainly.

The mirage bodies looked apprehensive but still complied. One of the bodies went to one of the outer areas of the symbol. No change was visible to them, but they could hear the sound of loud thumping coming from up above, a sign from Skass that something was happening.

“Good, let’s continue then.” The rest of the group took their place on the spots marked on the map.

Once all of the spots were occupied, the entire room began to glow white. Small white orbs started to rain all around them. The bookcases, the maps, the chandelier all faded away, revealing a different looking room. What appeared in their place was a giant, glowing orb sat upon a pedestal and two, two-meter tall statues standing on its sides.

Everyone in the room shuddered as the raw magic coursed around them.

“I take it, this is it then.” Said Yon, his tone betraying a slight excitement.

Collar nodded.

“I see it worked.” Said Skass as he joined back with the group.

“Alright, let’s smash it!” Said Tor.

Tor walked over to it only to be blocked by Collar’s arm.

“Again, like I said, let one of the mirage bodies test first. There could still be traps lying around in hiding.”

The mirages shot Collar a dirty look.

“Did Yon stutter when he gave you the order? Do as Collar says, now.” Threatened Valerria.

One of the mirage bodies did as asked and approached the orb. When it was just about to touch the sphere, the body was smashed to a pulp by a fist as large as its torso. A loud inhuman howl filled the room. The ground shook as the two large statues began to move towards the group.

“Everyone, get ready!” Yelled Collar.

“How predictable you are…” Yon muttered to himself as he stepped away from the conflict.

The monsters charged the group, swinging their arms as they got within striking distance. Shinko shrank in time to avoid the strike, while Valerria jumped out of the way. The rest of the group was not so agile, and the massive stone fists connected with them and sent them flying through several bookcases.

Without wasting a moment, Valerria struck back at one of the golems. Her daggers lit up red as a flame shot forth from them. Her slashes and flames only left a few meager cracks as her weapons bounced off of the tough skin of the automaton.

Her attack brought immediate retaliation from the golem. Once again, the agile Valerria slipped past the monster’s arm and stabbed at the creature’s hulking body.

The two continued this exchange for what amounted to a few seconds, but it would soon end. Until now, the second golem who had only observed the two finally intervened, striking at Valerria while she was in the middle of avoiding the other golem’s blow. Her daggers flew out of her hands as the impact sent her flying into a wall.

With the closest target dealt with, the golems split up, one moving in to finish the incapacitated Valerria and the other to kill the group.

*Bam!*

The golems were crushed underneath a bookcase three times their size. On it landed an average-sized Shinko.

“Try that one for si-” The bookcase under her shook as the two golems lifted it.

The girl barely had enough time to jump off before the golems sent the bookcase flying into the ceiling, smashing it into pieces.

The golems turned to face the silver-haired girl. Shinko pulled out a couple of pebbles from her pockets and threw them at the charging golems. The stones returned to their original size, leading to the golems crashing headfirst into boulders of equal proportions to them. The boulders crashed into the golems, but they did little to slow their charge as the automatons simply swatted them aside.

The golems were about to crush Shinko into nothing when she took her foot off a pebble, returning it to its original size and launching her upwards and away from the golems. Shinko did not escape unscathed from this as she slammed headfirst into the ceiling, leaving her reeling and defenseless before the monsters who were waiting to tear her to shreds the moment she fell back down.

With their gaze taken by the girl, the two failed to notice Tor and Collar sneaking behind them. The two charged the golems and nearly knocked them down to the ground. Without weapons on hand to fight with, the two were forced to take the golems barehanded. Collar struck the golem several times with his injured fists, shattering parts of the golem and leaving massive cracks behind. Tor himself attempted to pin his golem’s hands behind its back and keep it from moving.

Their assault only worked at first, as the golems quickly regained their bearings and turned on the two. The golem retaliated against Collars blows with its own. Their fists clashed together, drawing fresh blood from Collar’s wounds as the room filled with the sounds of loud, sundering blows.

Tor was not any better off as the much more massive opponent quickly broke his grapple. Once free, the golem turned to return the favor as it moved in to grab Tor. The two’s hands met and clutched each other, turning their fight into a contest of strength, one that Tor was losing as he was forced to his knees before the might of the golem.

Collar continued to match the golem’s blows with his own, his arms awash in new blood. His fists were numb after only a few hits, while the golem’s knuckles showed only superficial signs of damage underneath the coating of the blood they received. In between the sounds of their fists clashing, he could hear Tor’s pained groans behind him, but he could do little as he was locked down in a losing struggle of his own.

Losing, until the strikes of the golem suddenly waned in power and speed. Shocked for only a second, Collar went on the offensive and struck the weakened golem several times before sweeping its massive legs and sending it crashing into the floor.

Collar turned to save Tor, only to find him now overpowering the golem with ease. Collar moved in quick to assist Tor, and together they pinned the golem to the floor.

The two automatons twitched but did nothing to offer resistance. With their assault finally stopped, the two allowed themselves to catch their breath. Collar tucked his massively bleeding hands into his vest while Tor shook his with a whine.

“Felt like my fingers were going to snap there, they did.”

“You two owe me.” Said Skass as he walked past the two to one of the golems and placed his palm on it.

“Did you drain them of their magic?” Asked Collar.

The golem jittered as if in pain from Skass’s touch.

“Yeah, snuck around while you two were fighting ‘em. They won’t be putting up a fight anymore.”

“Could have helped us sooner, you know.” Tor complained.

“I’m not a brute like you two. When I get hit, I actually feel it.” Skass hissed back.

“Stop dawdling! Destroy them while you have the chance!” Yelled Yon as he walked out of the hole in the wall the group had been punched into.

Tor looked to Collar and Skass.

“I risk shattering my fists if I keep punching like this. I can’t do it.” Said Collar.

“And remember the observation I just made? The one about you being a brute and me not? Do you really think I can damage these things?” Added Skass.

Tor rolled his eyes.

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

He walked up to his bag and pulled a pair of gauntlets from it. After he donned them, the steel gauntlets began to shine as green engravings appeared along their length. A stream of steel spread over Tor’s entire body from the gauntlets, giving form to a set of armor for the latter.

Once the suit was complete, more steel extended out of Tor’s open palm, forming a morning star. Now fully armed and armored, Tor walked over to the first golem and brought his weapon down on its head, shattering it. The other golem saw what happened to its comrade. From where its mouth would be, the golem’s head split in two, releasing a thunderous howl.

The orb behind them began glowing a different color, and whatever it was, the golems were responding to it.

Not wanting to wait to see what would happen, Tor brought his morning star down on the second golem, shattering its head as well.

But it was too late. Blinding rays of magic shot from the orb and upon the destroyed golems, repairing all the damage they took during the fight. Their appearance changed as well, both growing to be three meters tall and causing spikes to grow all over their bodies. Their round heads took on a different shape, their top half exploding, the broken pieces hovering over the lower half of their head.

The castle, which had started to stabilize, began to tilt and shake again.

“Tor, you utter idiot!” Yelled Yon.

“What the hell just happened?!?” Screamed Tor.

“I don’t know. Some defense mechanism must have triggered! You took them out too slow!” Skass yelled back.

Yon ran to hide as the reformed golems attacked, sweeping their massive arms at the trio. Tor barely remained standing after the blow, but Skass and Collar were sent flying. Tor charged the two golems and struck one of them with his morning star. His weapon meekly bounced off the hard material, sending a numbing shock up Tor’s arm.

The golems raised their arms to retaliate, only to have more boulders smash into their backs.

“I’m still here!” Yelled Shinko from atop one of the bookcases.

Another surprise attack followed as two knives struck each golem in the head, piercing them deeply. Valerria walked out of her crater, twirling two more knives in her hands. The blood running down her face did little to hide her intense scowl.

“You will die.”

The distraction gave Skass and Collar some time to recover. Skass barely managed to force himself to stand. His body was shaking all over from the pain of the impact.

“We...We need to kill these things fast. Whatever they can do, the guards will be worse.” Skass said in between groans.

Despite the loud cacophony of sounds, from the battle with the golems to the falling castle, a weak sound still caught Skass’s attention.

The lizard turned his sight to Collar, who was shivering heavily. A thick sheet of ice covered his vest, spreading to the rest of his body. Even the blood from his wounds had all frozen over.

Skass hurried to his side and touched the afflicted areas, causing most ice to melt away, though a thin layer remained.

“I didn’t peg you to be a dragon.” Said Collar jokingly.

“Shut it. My scales are just breaking the magic in the ice apart. If it were naturally formed ice, it wouldn’t do a thing.” Said Skass before taking a look at the layer that was still on Collar’s chest.

“You only got hit once, but I still couldn’t remove it all. We can’t afford to let these things touch us.”

“Going to be interesting to see how we destroy them without touching them.” Said Collar.

The two tried to rejoin the combat, but their legs refused to budge from the spot.

While they recovered from the blows, the group was just beginning the fight with the real golems.

Tor charged the golems, swinging his morning star relentlessly at them. Shinko accompanied his attacks, throwing as many boulders as she could at the golems. In the middle of his assault, Tor sensed something off. He slowed down his attacks, allowing himself to get a good look at the golem he had been striking.

There was no damage.

His weapon was entirely ineffective against the new golems.

“Gah!”

Taking that moment to inspect the golem gave the automaton an opening to strike back. Even though the blow hurt, Tor’s armor held firm, protecting him from most of the damage he would have received. Even if he couldn’t break the golem, at least the golem couldn’t hurt him either. Tor was confident that he could take their assault while the others planned to deal with them.

Confident, until his arm refused to move, that is.

Tor glanced down, where he noticed a thick layer of ice spreading across his armor. Some of it even reached past his shoulders and down to his arms, restricting his movement.

The golem’s next attack came swiftly. His confidence now cracked, Tor let fear get the better of him as he closed his eyes in fear of the hit.

The hit never came.

He opened his eyes. The golem that was attacking him was instead now with its back turned to him. He couldn’t see what it was striking, but he could tell from the sounds of her voice. It was Valerria. She had stabbed two more knives in the back of the golem while it was focused on Tor.

Valerria beckoned the golem to her, and the monster responded. Just like before, Valerria avoided its attacks while striking back at it. In speed, at least the golems had not improved. Just like with Tor, her attacks left no mark on the golem.

Even with one of the golems occupied, fear did not leave Tor’s mind. The ice was spreading even further up Tor’s body, robbing the freedom of his arms. And just like his arms, Tor froze.

Seeing the state of the warrior, the golem left him to attack Shinko instead. The girl had already prepared herself by lacing the ground with shrunk boulders that she returned to their original size as the golem stepped on them. Already ineffective against the original golem, the boulders were torn apart like they were paper in the grasp of the monster.

“Tor! Help me!” Shinko yelled.

The scream snapped Tor back to reality. He rushed to Shinko’s aid. With his arms out of commission, he did the only thing still left available to him, and he slammed his already frozen body into the golem.

He succeeded in getting the automaton’s attention. The golem struck at Tor, and even with his frozen body, he still managed to duck out of the way. Now laying on the ground and without the use of his arms to lift himself back up, Tor could do nothing but watch with trembling eyes as the golem raised its fist, ready to smash his head as he had done to it.

“Leave him alone!” Shinko yelled.

The golem stopped mid-swing and started to shrink slowly. Tor immediately realized what was happening.

“Shinko!” He yelled.

Behind the golem stood Shinko, who had grabbed the golem with both arms, pouring her magic into it, allowing her to alter its size to her will. In just a couple of seconds, the golem would shrink down to the size of an ant, allowing her to crush it beneath her foot. Or so she thought, for it regressed in size much, much slower than what Shinko had expected.

“Damn thing’s resistant to magic, but don’t worry! Once I’m done with it, it’ll be child’s play!” She yelled back.

“Let go of that thing!” Tor continued.

Shinko was confused at his order. Why let go of it? She had it right where she wanted it.

*Crack.*

A piece of Shinko’s finger fell and shattered on the floor. Shinko looked on with horror at her hands. Both were encased in ice, and her arms would soon follow as the frost traveled upwards.

The girl barely had time to scream as the golem, which had now returned to full size, swiped its giant arm at her. Tor dove for the girl, pushing himself in front of her and taking the brunt of the attack in her place. The two were launched through several bookcases before stopping.

Shinko thought of thanking Tor, but when she opened her mouth, all she could do was scream. Her lower arms and hands both had shattered when they impacted the ground. The pain had not yet reached her, held back by the frost around her stumps.

Tor was not looking good himself, the frost spreading across his back where the golem had struck him. The ice on his armor had by now started to crawl up to his neck. It would not even be a minute until the man’s entire body would freeze solid.

The golem walked over to the two, cracking the concrete beneath it with every step. Yet again, it found itself interrupted as Collar smashed one of Shinko’s boulders into the golem’s back. With the golem’s attention drawn to Collar, Skass sneaked past and went to the help of the two.

“Tor, you’re nearly frozen over!” Skass noted as he reached out his hand towards Tor.

Tor was shivering intensely, but he still shirked away from Skass’s touch.

“I-If you can help us, l-look to Shinko first.” He stuttered.

Skass reached over to Shinko. The girl was huddled and trembling in a corner.

“Come on, don’t worry, I can fix whatever it did to you.” Skass said while turning her over to face him.

“...”

Skass had no words to say as he laid his eyes on Shinko’s missing arms. The lizard man hesitantly took hold of her arms. He watched as the ice spreading up to her body gradually disappeared, revealing the horribly damaged state of her arm stumps.

Even removing all of the ice did nothing to alleviate the girl’s shivering.

“That’s the most I can do.”

Though his grip on Shinko was gentle, the rest of Skass’s body shook.

“I’m sorry.” He continued.

Shinko remained silent for a second before finally uttering only two words.

“Kill it.”

Skass nodded.

“Count on it.”

Skass unfroze Tor and handed him his weapon back. Skass’s touch had removed the ice covering it, allowing Tor to wield it again. Skass then tore away at his clothing, leaving only the upper part of his pants intact.

“Let’s go.” Said Skass.

The two rushed to Collar’s help. With the safety net of Skass’s magic nullification, Tor’s courage returned. With the golem distracted by Collar, Tor rushed its legs and struck them as hard as possible, making the golem tumble. Seeing this, Collar rushed to the golem and grabbed its legs, and together with Tor, the two knocked it back down to the ground.

Now in a vulnerable position, the golem could not stop Skass as he jumped on its back, exposing as many of his scales as he could to the golem. Skass’s scales succeeded in dulling the golem’s movements, but nothing beyond that as it rose and shook Skass off.

“How tough is this thing?!?” Complained Tor.

“There has to be a weakness!” Said Skass.

“Skass, your arm!” Collar yelled at the lizardman.

Skass took a glance at his arms. Frost was spreading up one of them.

“What, how?!?”

Skass placed his hand on the affected arm and made the ice disappear. As the ice faded away, Skass saw the cause of the issue. The frozen arm was the one whose scales Collar had cut off for the telescope. Even he was vulnerable to their magic now.

As the three kept dealing with the golem, Valerria jumped to their side, her golem not far behind.

“So, the shaking stopped a while ago. The guards must be rushing back here as we speak. Anybody got any ideas?” Asked Valerria.

“None.” Said Tor and Skass in unison.

“There has to be something.” Said Collar. “If this form had no weakness, they would have been in it from the start.”

“Sounds like you all need some time to think. Hold back the golems a bit for me.” Said Valerria.

The three did as asked, holding back both golems as best as they could. Being free for a second, Valerria ran over to where the mirage bodies had been hiding the entire fight.

“I see you are all having a good time being useless, but I do so require your services now.” She said.

“Please, no! With so many bodies dying all at once, I fear my mind will break from the pain!” Mirage pleaded with her.

“I didn’t create you so that you would whine. When I order you to run for me, you run. When I order you to fight for me, you fight. And when I order you to die for me.”

Valerria threw her knife at one of the bodies’ heads, nailing it to a wall.

“You die.”

Mirage nodded reluctantly. Fourteen bodies charged the golem while one remained behind to keep generating more bodies. The bodies slammed into the golems, taking their focus away from the rest of the group. The golems froze and shattered the bodies as fast as they could, but the bodies were replaced quickly enough to hold them in place for a while.

“Good, now that that’s out of the way, what have we got?” Asked Valerria.

“They are extremely resistant to magic, blunt force, and even to their magic being nullified.” Said Skass.

“So, invincible then.” Said Tor.

“Not necessarily.” Intervened Yon. “Before the transformation, they had no elemental allegiance, but now they do.”

“So, what? We need to burn them then?” Asked Tor.

Valerria threw her fire dagger on at Tor’s feet.

“Feel free to try, but it didn’t work for me.”

“I’ll give it a shot.” Said Collar.

Collar picked up the dagger and attacked the distracted golems. With the flame-enhanced edge of the blade and his strength, Collar’s strikes pierced through the skin of the golem.

Seeing the damage his partner received, the other golem pushed through the mirage bodies and ran for the immobilized Shinko. Tor reacted in time and grabbed Shinko while Collar tackled the golem, pushing it out of their path.

Collar’s arms began to freeze, and the fire dagger slipped out of his grasp. Still, he got up to fight the golem in front of him.

“Collar! To your right!” Yelled Skass.

From Collar’s right side, the second golem charged him. Left blinded on that side due to the telescope, Collar reacted far too late. The golem tackled him and rammed him through the wall into a separate room.

“Collar!” Yelled Tor.

“My knife!” Yelled Valerria.

Tor quickly grabbed Valerria’s knife and rushed back to the group with Shinko in his arms as the mirage bodies jumped in again to hold the golem in place.

“The knife alone won’t be enough. It’s too small to leave any real damage on the golems.” Said Yon.

“Small?”

Tor remembered something.

“Do you all remember the room Skass brought us in? The one filled with alcohol?”

Yon’s expression changed instantly. Without waiting for Tor to say another word, he rushed to a wall and created a gateway.

“Mirage, create as many bodies as you can and carry all the barrels in that room here. You three, hold back the golem.”

“Yes, sir!” Said Valerria.

The bodies carried in barrel after barrel, which Tor threw at the golem, coating it in alcohol. Once the golem was covered in several barrel’s worths of spirit, Valerria threw her fire dagger at it, igniting the beast’s entire body.

The golem started to howl as it flayed around, trying to put out the flames.

“It’s still not dead?” Asked an exasperated Tor.

“Shut up and break the vessel!” Yelled Skass at him.

With the golem unable to stop them, the three attacked the vessel with everything they had.

The three struck the vessel as hard as possible, and the vessel began to crack and splinter under their assault. As the cracks expanded, magic started to explode from it in violent jets, cutting the mirage bodies caught in it in half.

“What the hell?!?”

“All of you, get out of there!” Yelled Yon from inside the room they had entered the castle in.

“But what about Collar?” Yelled Tor.

“Damn it Tor, we don’t have time!”

The group rushed inside the portal as the vessel started to collapse. The portal closed just as soon as the vessel finally exploded, reducing the entire study room and all of its contents to ash. The explosion spread past the castle, engulfing the whole district in its light. Though the castle itself was protected, most of the buildings in the district were destroyed.

The entire room around the group shook violently as the exploding reverberated inside of the castle. And then they started to feel light on their feet. The castle was falling back down to the ground, connecting with its other half. With their success confirmed, the group allowed themselves to take a small break.

Skass slumped up against a wall and let himself fall slowly to the ground.

“I can’t believe we did it.”

“I’m still alive!” Yelled Tor happily.

“Next time, bring better weapons for us, Yon.” Said Skass.

“They’d be found at the gates and get us arrested.” Answered Yon.

Tor grabbed Shinko by the shoulder and shook her slightly.

“Hey, we did it. We killed the golems and got the skull. We won this.”

Shinko didn’t respond at first but then slowly spoke up.

“That’s great.”

“Oh, don’t be so sad about your arms, we’ll buy you some fine prosthetics once we sell the skull.” Said Valerria while ruffling Shinko’s hair.

“Speaking of which, we need to move.” Said Yon as he stood up

“You’re kidding, we just barely survived that! Let us rest a little.” Complained Tor.

“The explosion must have left the guards stunned, but it will only delay them so much. The castle is still going to be overrun with soldiers in a matter of minutes. We don’t have any time to spare.” Said Yon.

The group nodded, and everyone slowly got back up to their feet.

“Wait.” Said Tor. “Can we check up on Collar? He might still be alive.”

“Seriously?.” Asked Valerria. “If the golem didn’t freeze him to death, the explosion sure as hell killed him.”

“Please, just open the portal back to the room. I just want to see if he’s there or not.”

Yon stared at Tor for a few seconds but ultimately chose to fulfill his request.

Yon opened the portal back up, revealing nothing but an empty smoldering crater where the study room had been. No golem, no Collar.

Tor breathed in.

“Alright, let’s lea-”

“BOO!”

The head and torso of one of the golems jumped at them from the portal, making Tor scream, and the rest of the group get ready for combat. This only lasted for a second as the mangled body slumped over and fell on the ground, lifeless.

“W-What?”

“Got you, didn’t I?” Said Collar from the other side of the portal.

He stepped into the room in front of a dumbfounded audience. Collar’s body was charred, and most of his hair and clothes had burned away, but he was very much alive.

Everyone stared dumbfounded as Collar walked past them and up to Yon.

“Did you use the golem as a shield?” Asked Yon.

“Yeah. It dragged me far enough away from the blast that its body could protect me from it. Had I been in the room with the explosion, I would be ashes right now.”

Tor grabbed Collar and hugged him.

“God damn, am I glad to see you. You’re one stubborn bastard.”

“Told you we aren’t going to die here.” Said Skass as he put his arm on Collar’s shoulder.

Even Shinko looked up to the three and smiled weakly. The girl made the best effort she could to stand up but nearly fell over, only to be caught by the three in time and pulled into their hug.

“Alright, alright. You’re all fine.” Said Yon. “We can’t hang around here. We need to move out fast if we want to reach the treasure before the guards realize our position.”

Tor put Shinko on his back and then left the room together with the rest of the group. This time, the map revealed the entire castle to them. With the guards focused on what had transpired in the vessel room, the group managed to sneak through the rest of the castle mostly unchallenged.

The moment they stepped into a new corridor, Skass immediately backed off into a wall.

“Skass? Are you feeling something?” Asked Yon.

Skass trembled as he clutched his scales.

“It’s...it’s further down, but if we continue this way, we’re going to die for sure.” He said.

“More golems? Soldiers?” Asked Collar.

“No. It’s much, much worse. I’ve never felt magic like this before in my life. It’s otherworldly, and it’s screaming at me that it wishes to eat me whole. Eat all of us.” Skass said in a full-blown panic.

Yon and Valerria looked at each other, unsure of Skass’s words.

“Fine, I think we can afford to take a longer route that avoids whatever you sensed. Let us know if you sense this again at any point.” Said Yon.

The group continued, taking only routes that Skass approved. They still arrived at the treasury as intended, but the soldiers were much closer to catching up to them than they had hoped due to the detours.

Collar was about to open the doors to the treasury when Yon stopped him.

“Stop. Remember, we are only here for the skull. Do not touch even a single gold coin.”

Collar smiled.

“But of course.”

The group entered the treasury. A veritable ocean of gold immediately inundated them. Collar’s eyes were transfixed with the golden waves before him.

Leaving Collar behind to stare at the gold and jewelry, the rest of the group walked up to the pedestal of the leviathan skull. Just out of their reach sat their goal, four times the size of the golems they had just fought, worth half the houses in a city, possessing enough power to eradicate all life on the continent.

“I thought leviathans were bigger than this.” Said Tor.

“It’s been shrunk about twenty times so that it could fit.” Said Yon.

“And I’m guessing that’s how we are going to get it out too?” Asked Skass.

Tor looked over the pristine pedestal. There were no cracks, no flaws, nothing that he could grab on and climb while also holding onto Shinko.

“You can put me down now.” Said Shinko.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

Tor gently put down Shinko. The girl stood wobbly on her feet, but through that pain, her eyes never looked more determined.

“Good, you’ve recovered. We need both you and Skass for this.” Said Yon.

“Why me too?” Asked Skass.

“Because the skull robs anyone who touches it of their mind and soul. If you touch it, you can momentarily disable that effect. Touch it more than 20 seconds, however, and even with your resistance, you will die.” Explained Yon.

“You need to touch it for the whole twenty seconds. Any less, and the magic won’t be disabled, and Shinko will die if she tries to shrink it.” Added Valerria.

Skass looked at Shinko, clearly worried.

“Don’t worry, Skass, I trust you. Let’s leave the king speechless.” Said Shinko with a more aggressive tone.

“Good to see you so determined. Please, be determined for the both of us.” Said Skass.

Skass lifted Shinko in his arms. The pedestal was around five meters tall, a paltry height to Skass. The agile lizardman ran up the pedestal at blinding speeds, arriving at the top in less than a second.

Once there, he approached the skull. He started counting to twenty as he placed his hands upon it. Right as he hit twenty, he pulled them away and then quickly lifted Shinko over it. She put her foot on it and shrank the skull to the size of a coin. They promptly threw that into their bag and climbed back down. Though the Shinko was no longer touching the skull, it was still in close enough proximity to her that she could maintain her magic on it without needing to touch it.

“Do you have it?” Asked Yon.

“Yep!” Shinko answered cheerfully.

With that, the group headed to the exit, where they found Collar filling his bags with gold coins.

“What the hell are you doing?!?” Yelled Yon.

Collar smiled.

“Just let me explain.” Collar grabbed the bags and handed each one to one of the mirage bodies.

“The soldiers are hot on our trail, so we should create a few distractions for ourselves.”

“I see.” Said Yon, understanding Collar’s plan immediately. “Very well, I suppose. The five of you split up and lure the guards away from us.”

The bodies nodded and headed off in various directions, all leading away from the group.

While Yon looked pleased with the idea, Valerria only gave Collar an even harsher glare than before.

“Don’t get too comfortable now, fresh meat.” She said and walked past him.

“Man, she really doesn’t like you.” Said Shinko.

“So it would seem.”

With the treasure secured, Collar rechecked the map, this time for the room holding the escape portal. When he found it, he couldn’t help but groan.

“What’s the matter?”

“The portal is in what looks like to be the cellar. We have to descend all the way down to get to it.”

“Why is that a problem?” Asked Tor.

“If we run into trouble there, we won’t have many avenues for escape.”

“Not like we need them, though, right?” Said Tor, trying to lift Collar’s attitude.

“Hopefully.”

The group followed the map until they arrived before a spiral staircase that led down to the last floor of the castle. Just above their heads thundered the sounds of heavy footsteps marching down the halls. The soldiers were close to catching up with them.

With no time to lose, the group rushed down the staircase. In their hurry, they failed to hear the sounds of the wiring that ran through the stairs. In an instant, the stairs pulled back, leaving them to freefall into the darkness below.

Collar grabbed hold of the map as he fell. The map showed him falling through several floors, even past the cellar, at which point the map started to draw new locations on itself the further the group fell.

Collar had little time to examine the map as the group landed into a pitch-black room, where the impact of the fall knocked them out.