The entrance to the Catacombs was nothing but a dismal shack with a deplorable sort of decor – barbaric piles of bones and skulls stuffed with snuffed-out candles. The windows were boarded up, and it looked more like the entrance to a mine than a shack. It was half-sunken into the earth, lopsided and ramshackle. The worst part about it was that it lay within the village boundary, in close proximity to a few huts. Pirim did not envy the people who had to live within view of such a sight.

A small stone wall surrounded a barren field to make the enclosure in which the entrance was situated. An iron gate barred the path from the Catacomb entrance to the rest of the village, but still, the threat was forever looming. Since the Catacombs were the closest infested area to the village – one could say it was within the village itself – it required constant maintenance and expeditions to drive away the pests that lived within its subterranean bowels.

Pirim had filled her pack with supplies, though Sim carried a much larger pack complete with a tent, food, and medicinal herbs. Victoria had given Pirim a basic rundown of the situation. The Catacombs were an extensive tunnel network that stretched deep underground, the branches of which ran underneath the village itself. It was therefore imperative that parties regularly search the tunnels underneath Loxburg in order to ensure that none of the demonic inhabitants could burrow upwards into the square or break into unsuspecting homeowners’ basements. The nearest tunnels had already been extensively mapped, so it would be nothing too exploratory. However, that did not mean it was not dangerous in any capacity.

Victoria was not particular about what sort of skills Pirim brought to the table. It seemed she was more concerned about the principle of keeping an eye on Pirim to prevent her from becoming infected than she was about what Pirim could do on an expedition.

“Now, given that we are now venturing within demonic territory, it is absolutely necessary that you take the required precautions and do exactly as I say. Failure to do so could cost you your life, or even worse, or get you infected. After we complete this routine mission, you’re going to participate in our after-mission disinfection process to sterilize ourselves from whatever we might have caught in the Catacombs.”

Pirim nodded to appease the stringent lady, though she already had no intentions of succumbing to whatever plagued this pit. Within her pack, she placed several stones of varying strengths. Though warding spells did not last forever, she had enough stones to continuously cast new spells when the old ones ran out.

Victoria opened the door to the shack, which was as decrepit as doors came. However, just beyond that door, a gaping pit yawned open, hidden behind a locked iron grate. It seemed that this was the real door, and Victoria bent down to place a rusted key within the lock on the grate. It swung open with an ominous metallic screech. Barely visible in the shadowy air, iron rungs descending deeper into the vertical tunnel lay steadfast and weathered. Victoria stood back as Sim was the first to descend, being the most heavily armored. The position Victoria outlined was such: Sim in the front, Pirim in the middle, and Victoria in the back. This was both because the middle was the most versatile of positions when it came to whatever skills Pirim had, and it also offered the most protection. Doubly, Victoria could keep a close eye on Pirim if she tried to pull anything.

Pirim stood nervously as she watched Sim descend. Though he was much heavier than she was, those corroded iron bars looked precariously fragile. She could not help but think that they looked like the teeth of a great beast’s maw, and that she was about to climb right into its throat. She fumbled with her skull for a moment before whispering a quick apology under her breath and stowing it in her pack. Then, she took a deep breath, the last breath she would have of free air this mission, and started to descend.

As the impacts of heavy boots against rusted iron echoed around the claustrophobic tunnel, Pirim noticed a gradation in the strata of the earth. At first, the topsoil around the once-fertile land began to morph into alluvium. Then, about thirty paces downwards, the first traces of stone began to appear. Eventually, as Pirim counted, they reached about a hundred paces underneath the ground, where the surrounding earth was comprised of limestone.

As they descended, Victoria took the time to educate Pirim on the history behind the area.

“These caves were originally mines dug during the town’s first creation to provide easy stone for the village buildings. However, as the village expanded, the buildings began to encroach upon the land that the tunnels had borne through. The original square and center of Loxburg used to be at the foot of the Lord of Loxburg’s mansion, which we now call the Petrified Palace. Now the new square is right above the Catacombs. When the Lord and his family succumbed to the corruption, the palace and the surrounding areas became uninhabitable and overrun by otherworldly creatures. We had to separate that part of town, cut it off like an amputated limb, but that only made the closer threat the Catacombs.”

“When the palace was overrun, many people hid inside these tunnels that were originally used for mining. Those who could not fight – children, elderly, injured, ill, and those with only months left to live. Those who were injured or ill eventually died. We did have a graveyard once, but it was already overflowing with the bodies of the fallen in battle, so we had no choice but to store the excess dead inside the tunnels themselves. Those other refugees still clinging onto life lived lives unfit for anyone. They supped and slept next to the decomposing corpses of their companions. It only took one parasite to take hold of a corpse and infect the entire underground population. Soon enough, all the living had been turned into undead, and the Catacombs was sealed off from the rest of the village.”

“You can probably guess what sort of monstrosities we’ll be facing in the Catacombs. The skeletal remains of those who rotted and wasted away here. A necromancer’s paradise…”

Pirim couldn’t help but feel her heart start to race at the mention of the word “necromancer.” However, she steeled her face as the vertical tunnel finally gave way to the Catacombs themselves. Sim hopped off the rungs and dusted himself off, Pirim following. Victoria came last. Now that she was done with her lecture, she held a silencing finger to her lips before Pirim had a chance for any input at all. Sim pulled out the map from his pack and traced with his finger the route that they were supposed to take. While even the mapped portion of the catacombs was expansive, the area that they were assigned to patrol was miniscule in comparison. It was a loop, only enough to cover the distance to the new village square and back.

The air was already stuffy, and there was no telling just how many dust particles were hanging in the air. The musty stench must be from all the bones that littered the walls and floor in gruesome decor. Pirim was breathing in granules of dead human remains. She shivered at the thought… but also grew excited. The vast multitudes of skulls that lined the walls in a collagen façade, hiding the limestone walls underneath, were nothing too distressing for Pirim to witness. After all… she carried her own skull with her at all times of her own volition. Human bones did not sway her, in fact, they were comforting in an eerie way.

There was no doubt these caverns were the final resting places for thousands upon thousands of humans. The walls themselves were made out of bones – skulls, femurs, humeri, etc. It was mind-bending to realize that if Pirim died and her bones were made into decorations, she would only fill an iota of the space that the bones occupied. Every single dismantled skeleton belonged to someone who lived a unique life, with unique relationships and experiences. Years upon years, accomplishments, dreams, failures, successes, all of those over eras only to wind up as some sick decoration in a wall only the unfortunate few would ever see.

Before coming to Loxburg, information about the infection was stymied and stigmatized such that the gravity of the situation had been diminished to an inane degree. It was now that the reality of the situation hit her full on. She was looking at the corpses of an entire village full of people. The petrified remains of a dying community, the grim history and the dark manifestation of its failures. The destruction of the enemy and the suffering that everyone outside the gates of Loxburg was blissfully ignorant of.

If only she had arrived earlier. If only she had made the decision before all these people had to die. With her unique skills, perhaps she could have helped them, even saved one or two. But it was not grief for the strangers that had lost their lives that opened the pit in her heart, it was disappointment in herself that she had not witnessed such valuable events. To study the boundary between life and death itself – there were thousands of subjects here that died before testing. Such a waste of an opportunity. If only she had arrived sooner, then perhaps she could have brought them back from the brink of death, and if she failed, she could simply move on to the next. If she succeeded, then perhaps Yuka could…

Pirim snapped out of her thoughts when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked upwards to see, through the gloom, a shambling skeleton with eyes the color of dim candlelight. The remains of an adventurer’s cloak lay tied around its neck like the last vestiges of honor. Finally, a test –

“Stay back!”

Victoria’s arm came swinging in front of her. Pirim stumbled, but Sim caught her. He shuffled behind her, blocking her escape route.

The skeleton paused. It casually laid its chipped sword to rest against its shoulder blade. A nod of respect, or perhaps it was arrogance, then a defensive posture. Pirim saw a glint of silver two paces in front of her. The skeleton took a step towards Victoria, but her dagger was already at its jaw.

The skeleton hefted its sword to parry. Victoria sliced twice, horizontally upon the neck, then diagonally in between the arm joints. A dismal wheeze escaped the skinless creature. Its arm lay severed on the ground, its sword clattering against the wall. It stumbled back. Victoria lunged. Pirim moved to follow her deeper into the tunnel, but was stopped by Sim’s great arm.

With the remaining hand, the skeleton grappled for purchase on the dusty bones of the tunnel. It found none. Victoria’s dagger cut red arcs in its wake, drawing blood from the bloodless. Her dagger cried and shrieked with echoing fury. Left, right, forward. Under, in. The piercing wail of her blade ricocheted in the air, penetrating Pirim’s heart like the bite of a venomous snake. It spoke.

“It was your weakness that caused your disease!” A cross-body stab. The ribs cracked open. Victoria stepped forward. The skeleton dropped to the ground.

“It was your arrogance that caused your death!” A sanctimonious slice. The cloak split in two. Victoria planted her boot on the skeleton’s chest. It pulled at the leather, begging silently.

“It was your foolishness that caused your destruction.” A final, holy blow, precisely where the skeleton’s brain should have been. The skull shattered, and its hand collapsed, fingers rolling, dust flying.

“You do not deserve a grave,” the blade whispered as Victoria sheathed it. As the skeleton returned to dust, Victoria spat on its remains. When she whirled back around to face Pirim, Pirim quaked.

“You see that? That is the only proper way to take care of threats like these. No hesitation. No mercy.” She nodded at both Pirim and Sim. Sim nodded back, but Pirim hesitated, which only made Victoria bristle.

“It looks like you still have a long way to go. Only those with iron will have any hope of saving this wretched place. If you do not dedicate every single part of yourself to purging the world from the demons that taint it, then they will use that to their advantage. You will become no more than a tool for their aspirations. Give them half a second and they will tear you to shreds and make you part of their undead armies. And if you let them, I will not save you.”

With a huff, Victoria continued onwards, too consumed by indignant rage to return back to the very position she had ordered before. Pirim looked back at Sim, who shrugged. When she looked back, Victoria was already setting a brisk pace, not even deigning to look back to check if the rest of her party was following.

They traversed the rest of the tunnels in silence until they reached the space underneath the town square. Pirim noticed that the skulls and bones that lined the halls seemed less deteriorated than earlier. Some of them even looked like they had been placed there recently – there was hardly a scratch or a speck of dust on them, and they were still white. Had somebody been ferrying bodies down here? It would make sense, given that the graveyard wouldn’t exactly empty itself, even after all this time. Those who died patrolling the infested areas would have to go somewhere…

An earsplitting wail flew through the tunnels, bounding off of the sharp edges of the walls and permeating the air. Pirim jumped, and Victoria instantly dashed ahead. Regaining her senses, Pirim sprinted after her. When she rounded the bend, she saw that on a bench of bone sat a thin skeleton dressed in a frayed black dress and a decaying black beret. In its arms, it was holding a much smaller skeleton – an undead baby. This baby was the source of the noise, and it was crying as vigorously as a living one.

“Hm,” said Sim as he came up behind her. His gruff voice sounded like the scraping of bark on a tree. Pirim detected a hint of surprise on his tone, but he said no more. Peering closer at the undead mother and covering her ears, Pirim noticed how her bones were much more polished and stable than that of the adventurer Victoria had destroyed earlier. That must have meant she died recently… did Sim know her?

“Ugh, children undead are so infuriating,” Victoria spat. “There’s no shortage of them in the Catacombs.”

“How horrid,” Pirim said. She wondered if their deaths had been agonizing and lonely.

“Shh, shh,” the mother skeleton said to its baby. There were no vocal chords to speak of, and yet it was able to make a raspy, whispery sound that sounded like blowing through a reed pipe. A thought struck Pirim. If this reanimated skeleton was able to maintain motherly instincts and even vocalize, then it might be possible to recreate such a practice with her very own Yuka. This was an opportunity she could not waste. This skeleton seemed much more human-like than what she had expected. She could use this.

Victoria drew her blade and aimed it not at the mother, but directly at the wailing infant. With her back facing Sim, Pirim secretly drew a clump of pyrrhotite from her cloak and started to draw a circle. She completed it in blinding speed, and thrust her wand forwards, pointing it at Victoria’s back. Then, she brought it around, whirling backwards and swinging the wand against Sim’s chest. He hefted his hands up in surprise, but he was far too slow to prevent the effects. Both Victoria and Sim froze in place, Victoria crashing to the ground like an unbalanced statue.

Pirim took a breath. The mother skeleton and its baby made no move towards her. Instead, the baby stopped crying and eyed her curiously. The mother tilted its head in bewilderment. Pirim stepped slowly past Victoria, who lay on the ground, unmoving. She could feel the rage emanating from her. Even though her eyes could not move, she felt Victoria’s gaze staring intently at her boots as she walked past. Her blade could not move on its own, but she could sense its bloodlust. She shivered. In comparison, the mother sat idly as she approached and bent down to its level.

“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?” she said softly, her eyes roving over the mother before flicking towards the baby. “And this little one… so young. Nobody deserves to die… let alone die twice.”

“Shh, shh,” was all that the mother said. There was no light in its – no, her – sockets.

“Go on. Tell me what it’s been like for the both of you. Who reanimated you? How did you come to be? Who were you, when you were alive?”

“Shh, shh.”

“Can you understand me? Can you speak? Do you remember your name?” the questions came hurried, desperate, frustrated, then angry.

“Shh, shh.”

“Ah. No use after all. Pains me, really, but I have to cover my tracks.” Pirim drew her wand, creating a circle that this time, glowed a deep crimson. She took a miniscule needle so thin it was barely visible and pricked the tip of her thumb. She let the blood drip down into the center of the circle, then spelled out her incantation.

“Shh…aaa…” the mother opened her mouth, jaw unhinging, as she stared lifelessly at Pirim’s wand. She clutched her baby tight, but strength was rapidly failing her. The baby rolled out of her arms and onto the ground, where it shattered into pieces. The mother slumped over, motionless.

“It was not wrong,” Pirim thought to herself. “I must not arouse suspicion, for if I do, I would not get to save Yuka. It was not wrong, Victoria would have killed them anyway.”

Pirim sucked the tip of her bleeding finger to distract herself. She dug within her cloak, drawing another mushroom to prepare her second memory spell. She turned –

Wham!

There was a blade pressed at her throat. Her head slammed into the skull behind her. Bone against bone. It whiplashed. Her neck caught ever so slightly on the dagger’s edge.

“You’re a witch!” screamed the blade with its angry red afterimage. Victoria’s eyes were bloody roses. She panted like a bull. Steam around Pirim’s chin. Sweat down her cheek.

Pirim tried to speak, but the dagger was too close. Any movement meant injury. The message was clear.

“I should have known this would happen,” Victoria growled. A strand of hair hung in front of her face. “It was bound to happen. No matter how far I go, there will always be somebody who runs in the exact opposite direction.”

“That low-grade spell won’t work on me. I’ve arraigned witches far more wicked than you’ll ever be. But you are a special, most deplorable case. You took the carriage straight into the hedonistic heart of mankind to fulfill whatever perverse desires you harbor. And you thought you could do so right under my nose.”

“I saw you talking to that monster. Consoling it. You want them to succeed, don’t you? You want them to infiltrate the world and slaughter us, to turn upstanding human beings into rotten husks of depravity. You saw the state our village was in. You saw the parasites that leech off their backs. You got a taste of the pain and suffering. You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”

Victoria stared at Pirim, then tilted her head with a twisted half-grimace. “You did!”

“You may be content with seeing the world burn, but I have been fighting tooth and nail for years in this dismal place to ensure that this bastion of corruption will never expand to my hometown. To my family. I will never let someone as disgusting and stupid as you to undermine my unerring will. I should kill you, right here and now, and make it look like an accident. It would be unimaginably easy to do so. For you to openly practice the occult arts, even blood magic, I daresay nobody else would miss your existence. But you are in luck. I fight for humanity, and that means I will never turn this silver blade against my own kind, no matter how deranged they may be. I will never participate in bringing about the deaths of any humans, because I am not a witch like you.”

“You’re unhinged,” Pirim thought to herself. This terrible place must have stripped this woman of reason.

Victoria shoved Pirim back against the wall as she relinquished her hold. She dusted herself off and flicked her hair of her face, but she did not sheath her blade.

“However, if you just happen to get lost forever in these labyrinthine Catacombs,” she said with a dark smile, “my hands remain unclean of human blood. You know what to do, Sim.”

Sim, who had only just broken the spell, lumbered up to Pirim. Pirim tried to raise her wand in self-defense, but Sim casually ripped it out of her hands and snapped in two.

“No! That was from Yuka-”

Thunk!

Sim hit her with a heavy left hook. The metallic plate dug into her cheek and her jaw. Her head bounced off the wall and slammed into the ancient dirt. The last thing she saw was the lifeless corpse of the baby she had just killed, lying in pieces before her.