“A map is an interesting thing, it represents both what we know and that which we have not yet comprehended. They evolve as we discover more, ever changing because there is always something new. It is the control of this knowledge that demonstrates true power, power no army could rival.” Veran Oret, Master Cartographer

Kestel grabbed hold of a rung, slowly descending the ladder that led into the cellar. The smell of booze was overwhelming but was mixed with a distinctly other type of smell.

“What kind of shit has been getting it on down here?”

“Probably gremmels lad.”

“Gremmels?”

“Oh yah the little creepy ones, with the big ears.”

Kestel cautiously stepped towards the back of the cellar, pushing past rows of wine racks. Each one dripped with some kind of slime that was most likely the cause of the smell. A skittering sound ran above him and he whipped his head around to see nothing but rotting wood.

“Shitty shit shit shit shit.”

He reached the back of the cellar and came face to face with something right out of a nightmare. It had patchy brown leathery skin and crooked teeth, paired with a set of curled ears it made for quite the cursed image.

“Ah fuck.”

The gremmel screached and launched itself towards Kestel with a torrent of claws and teeth. Kestel turned and ran screaming his head off.

“What the fuck is this shit?!”

“Feisty little buggers aren’t they?” The innkeep called from above.

“It’s gonna fuckin’ kill me!”

“Oh they won’t do that much.”

Kestel stopped and spun on the spot, facing the gremmel. It barrelled towards him like a tornado shredding the wood on the wine racks as it ran towards him. He felt his heart beat in his fingers and knew what he had to do. Or rather, what he had to try and replicate.

He focused on the pattern, imagined what it looked like. His fingers began to numb, but the gremmel was coming in quick. Kestel began to panic, he took in a big breath and the coldness in his fingers went from an annoyance to pain. He pulled in another breath, the cold got worse. He sucked in another breath, unbearable pain. Finally he outstretched his hand and grabbed hold of the gremmel.

The gremmel landed into his palm and he squeezed down, it struggled as its eyes began to pop out of its head and its tongue began to crack from the cold causing it to gargle its own blood. At first only its feet were frozen solid but the chill began to creep up, it thrashed more as the ice slowly worked its way upwards. When the frost finally reached its heart it let out a blood curdling cry and then quickly slumping over, Kestel dropped the gremmel and it landed with an echoing crash.

Bits and pieces of the gremmel lay strewn across the stone floor, some parts of it hadn’t completely frozen so a jellied clump of blood oozed out of where its head used to attached to its neck.

A flash of light alerted the group. They all looked up as they neared the end of their journey to the surface, the sun rays piercing into their retinas. As they came to the cave entrance they warily inspected the threshold from dark to light. Iyless walked towards his escape with confidence and took the sun in all its glory and pain willingly. The brightness stung his eyes, he was blind for a long moment before blinking some moisture to his eyes and mildly adjusting to the light.

“The pain is worth it my friends, you can come out.”

The pack of lizard-men all exited simultaneously and hissed in pain before covering their eyes and inspecting the ground which thankfully was not so bright.

“So what now Iyless.” One of them called.

“I don’t know. Branth, you said there was a divine’s phylactery near here?”

“Indeed. But the mountains are treacherous, perhaps we should look for an alternative?”

“We don’t have any other alternatives, we’d best move to some shade before the others die of exposure.”

The group huddled under a tree nearby the base of the mountain from which they emerged. One of them broke off a stick from the tree and inspected it.

“It’s so… fragile.”

“Compared to the walls of Haven this is but a babe left in the caverns as sacrifice.”

Iyless looked up at the faithful follower, he too eyed their surroundings carefully. It was far more overwhelming than he had imagined. He scooped some dirt into his hands and felt it slip through his fingers, its softness was unlike anything he had experienced in Haven.

Branth pranced over to Iyless and squatted next to him, following suit and picking up a handful of soil.

“Fucking magical isn’t it.”

“Maybe, we’ll see how magical it is when it tries to kill us.”

“Have some hope won’t you. If you brood for the rest of the time we’re out here, I swear I’ll off myself.”

Iyless chuckled and stood up, clapping his hands together to both draw the attention of his comrades and to get rid of the dirt that now stained his fingers. He stepped up on a large protruding root from the tree and cleared his throat.

“This is it. Welcome to the surface.”

He stepped down from the root and the others looked at him, waiting for him to say something more. Nothing came. Iyless pulled his pack back up and mounted his vysak.

“Might as well get going, it doesn’t do us any good just standing here.”