It was impressive to say the least. The structure Sid had been obsessed with. As Ted clung to Trizel's back, he got a good look at it. It was like something he'd expect to see someone make out of bricks on the beach, or Legos. Like someone had set down a bunch of shipping containers on top of each other in neat lines. It seemed to have six levels, but that was hard to tell with how some of it was stacked. Each level was smaller than the last one, but it wasn't a pyramid. It was more like each level was made after the one underneath it was finished. Or was it the one above it?

Ted had trouble deciding with how it looked upside down to him, but it felt like it was built right side up. Each level was like a plateau, with the next one built on top. But at the fourth level it started to change. Two different rectangular levels were started there, unlike the uniform levels below. One was much larger, with the other still looking like it was about the size of a shipping container. The fifth level was worse. In the far-right corner, there was the largest structure, but all around that were countless other smaller sections rising up like a handful of six-sided dice that had been scattered across a table. The final, sixth level was a singular structure. From the distance, it was barely visible, and seemed like nothing more than a closet slapped onto the top.

Trizel set Ted down on what Ted saw as the lowest floor. Or, more accurately, Trizel set him down on the ceiling of that floor. Sid, Og'drimun, Narissa, and Nugget were already there waiting.

"I will go grab the next ones," Trizel said as he tried to keep his breathing slow and steady. Though the sweat on his brow coupled with his red face made it clear that these trips were starting to take its toll on him.

"Of course," Sid nodded. "Do not overexert yourself. We will need you for what awaits us inside."

Without a word, Trizel unhooked Ted's harness from his, and climbed back using the rope Sid had set into the rock.

"So, find anything interesting yet?" Ted asked.

Og'drimun shrugged his shoulders while his finger prodded at his nose. "Nope. Just a bunch of rocks and junk."

Narissa sighed and then crossed her arms and lifted a gloved hand up to her head to rub her temple. "It's a bit late for secrets, so yes. This place is practically oozing with powerful magical energy. The fog had a similar aura, but compared to this? Well, the fog may as well have been a single snowflake while this is a snow-covered mountain."

"What? Really?" Ted asked as he looked around. It didn't feel odd to him. It just had that strange musty smell tents seemed to get when you left them in storage for too long. Like a hint of wetness in the very air itself.

"It is old too," Sid continued. "Though it seems to have resisted the wear of time exceedingly well." Sid rubbed his hand slowly against the wall as his eyes darted over every small imperfection.

Ted took a look around. It was dark inside, and it got darker the further in he looked. However, he could still see that it seemed to be made out of cut stone. The walls looked completely smooth, but on closer inspection they were covered in tiny holes that were barely visible. Even so, it felt smooth to the touch. He glanced up at the ceiling, or what should have been the floor if it wasn't upside down, and it seemed completely bare as well, except for something that looked like a continuous strip of faded, purple carpet heading deeper inside. The ceiling that they were standing on was similar to the walls, but occasionally there was a strange eleven-sided polygon recessed into the center of the ceiling itself. It was also tall, with this hallway being taller than most two-story buildings Ted had seen.

"Curious," mused Sid. "It seems to be carved from a mountainside."

"What does that mean?" Ted asked as he walked over towards Sid to try and see what he was looking at.

"Sounds boring," Og'drimun scoffed.

"To clarify myself, it appears at least this level and the outside was carved out of a solid piece of rock. There are no seams, or pieces fused to one another. It is seamless." Sid turned to look at Ted. "However, the outside was just from a cursory observation, and without direct inspection I could be mistaken. With this level at least, there is not even a chance for error on this."

"Are you certain?" Narissa asked as she narrowed her eyes at Sid. "You'd be surprised at how enough magical power can bend the laws of reality."

"Cuts leave scars in rocks. These have none of those where they connect. Perhaps if they could grow it to look like this, but these could not have been fused. It is not possible." Sid explained.

"Ooh hoo hoo!" Og'drimun sneered. "Keep doubting magic, and you may find yourself in some serious trouble. Especially here."

"Even magic must follow laws," Sid explained calmly. "You cannot create something from nothing, you cannot simply do whatever you wish. There are limitations as there are with all technology."

"Technology? Um, pretty sure I said magic," Og'drimun teased. "Wow, I thought you were smart or something."

As Og'drimun started to get riled up, Ted decided he needed to step in before things got worse. "Come on, is this really the time to be fighting?"

"A high enough level of technology is indistinguishable from magic. As I am sure transplanting myself permanently into this body must seem like quite the magic trick to you Og'drimun. Perhaps even one that remains outside of your reach?" Sid seemed to ignore Ted, and rather uncharacteristically, the edge of his mouth curled slightly into a smile as he confronted the demon.

"Wow, I know you missed a lot because you were passed out, but didn't you hear at least how I transformed into a different version of myself that was super tall and buff?" Og'drimun's long ears started to sway back and forth as he pressed closer to Sid.

"Of course, though I see you did not keep that form. perhaps it was too much of a strain on you?" Sid pressed.

"Hah! A strain? Me? Do you know who you're talking to?"

"I am afraid I know all too well."

Before Og'drimun could open his mouth again, Narissa walked up and slammed her fist against the top of the tiny demon's head. This sent him spinning away in the air. "Maybe you forgot just whose power you wasted with your showboating!' She snarled as she grit her teeth. "You're such a brat! If I'd known how much you'd have wasted I would've sucked you dry instead."

"Hey!" Og'drimun complained as he tenderly rubbed his head. "You'd have turned all gross though. Humans don't handle that stuff well, you know that."

Narissa looked down at her gloved hands and then turned back to glare at him. "We had a plan you know. If you hadn't..."

"Look, let's calm down," Ted said as he physically stepped between Narissa, Sid, and Og'drimun. "We've already been through all of that stuff. Let's focus on surviving in whatever this place is, alright?"

"Yeah, we can't make a fortune dungeon diving if we're too busy arguing to loot!"

The four of them turned and saw Lulu hop off of Trizel's back. She had a big grin on her face, and quickly unhooked herself from Trizel's harness. She patted the large man on his back and said, "Well you've got a few more to grasb, right? Better hurry! Oh, and word of advice, you may want to rest before grabbing that corpse guy. Fella is a lot heavier than he looks."

"You can rest now if you need to," Ted said as Trizel looked like he had just finished running a marathon.

Trizel shook his head. "I am fine. Time is of the essence, I know, but I also know my own limits."

Before anyone could say something else, Trizel was already heading back.

"Huh? I thought that chick was with you?" Lulu said.

"Uh, Narissa is right there," Og'drimun said as he jerked his hand over in her direction.

"Wait, she's right. Where's Nugget?" Ted said as he quickly looked around.

It was pitch black. There was no light at all, but it didn't seem to affect Nugget at all. She walked with firm determination forward through the perfectly angled hallways. She took care to avoid stepping on or in any of the eleven-sided polygons in her path, but after she went around them, she would return to walking in the center of the ceiling.

There was no way she could see anything, and yet she walked as if the way was perfectly clear to her. Besides the darkness, it was also silent. No noise except for her talons slapping against the stone as she pressed forward.

The hallway turned into a labyrinth as pathways started to veer off of the one she was walking down. Eventually, she turned down one of these paths, and started to weave her way through various hallways. Left here, right there, and so on.

Then, she stopped just before the ceiling she was walking on ended. She had come into a central chamber with three levels of square doorways that led into different hallways similar to the one she was in. Each level had a small balcony that led out from it supported by impressive pillars. With seemingly no way to directly get down to the floor they were all encircling. At the center on that unreachable floor was a circular well smack dab in the middle of everything. Somehow, the darkness in it seemed to be even blacker than the shadows around it.

Nugget craned her neck this way and that. Finally, she simply leaped forward. Gravity pulled her towards the vaulted ceiling in the room.

This ceiling was covered in strange symbols, that seemed to be very precisely placed. In the center, right above the well, was a circular painting that depicted a dove being crushed by a stone while a lamb watched in the background.

Nugget slowed her fall by flapping her wings, and she landed on one of the strange symbols that almost looked like the outline of a charging bull. She hopped from one symbol to another all around the ceiling, until she finally landed on the painting. She lifted her talon and scratched right where the lamb's eyes were. As she scratched out the second eye, the room began to shake.

A low moaning echoed out from each of the hallways that led into this room. The ghostly chorus rose in volume as things shook more and more.

The voices were nonsense at first, but slowly formed into actual words. "Deceiver! Betrayer! Accursed one! Leave this sacred place at once!"

The chorus was all the more haunting as the voices were not perfectly in sync, but offset just enough to make it almost painful to try and parse out what they were actually saying.

As all this happened, the darkness from the well began to spill out and spread along the floor as if it was smoke from dry ice and the building was not upside down.