As soon as all four of them had entered the great doors; the doors swung shut. They heard a loud clank as the doors locked behind them. Virgil had a look of dread in his eyes.

“Great hornless dragon’s teeth!” He exclaimed, “I cannot believe that I fell for that!”

“What?” Tiyana asked.

Virgil’s reaction set her nerves on edge. Virgil pounded on the great doors. Nothing happened. Then, he strode over to a pedestal and put his palm above it. As he approached, a familiar emerald holographic sphere appeared. It turned orange as it enveloped Virgil’s hand.

“Jeosen.” A calm, robotic voice said.

Virgil interrupted it before it could go on, “Kesa ect iraquof ic tumalmech mass banhat?”

The response came, “Mass banhat vess bindof picibhat ic sueledll ar Malacoda Nar-Pyresaun. Urnust nivo onz ect iraquof ic anulēt ha sueled kamer Nar Malacoda ect essern.”

“E viss… ect heddin moto?” Virgil responded.

The reply sounded slightly apologetic, “Zo, entwidi Nar Malacodayi dramina aur urnust nivo onz ect iraquof.”

“E viss.” Virgil replied dejectedly.

“We are locked in here.” He said in English.

Everyone’s eyes opened wide.

Tiyana broke the silence first, “So, what did you find out?”

Virgil answered slowly, “Malacoda is present. We need his clearance to open the doors. There is only one other way out.”

“And what is that?” Tiyana prodded.

“If he leaves the building, then his clearance level leaves with him.”

“Does he have to check out?” Tiyana asked.

Virgil answered, “No, it is a safety protocol. Even he cannot change it. He must check in once every day. If he fails to check in, then his authority level drops to zero. I am not clear on exactly why the system was set up the way it is, but it is what it is, and it cannot be changed.”

The news took time to sink in. After a fruitless discussion of their options, the quintet resigned themselves to continuing their journey as if nothing had happened. They walked deeper into the subterranean realm.

The monolithic size of the underground realm astounded Hunter. They had walked into a titanic underground metropolitan area. Shops and offices lined the walls of the endless tunnels of the Byzantine world. The buildings, however, bore no markings. They were all assiduously clean and pristinely preserved. The whole area had a sterile, hospital-like feel to it. It was as if the structures were all put there with the most neutral, utilitarian goals. It was as if they were waiting to be moved into and personalized. It was as if masterful architects of an ancient age prepared their magnum opus in hopes that it would draw residents, but they never came.

“Virgil, did you know that all of this was down here?” Hunter asked, still awestruck by the scale of it all.

“I did.” The taciturn monk replied.

“It’s incredible.” Tiyana added.

“It was.” Virgil remained tight-lipped.

“Do you know where we are going?” Hongo asked.

“Somewhat.” Came their guide’s reply.

“Wonderful.” Hongo said dryly.

He double checked his pistols to make sure that he still had the safety off. The loneliness of the vast empty space made his hairs stand on end.

“Stop.” Virgil commanded with his open palm held high.

The quintet had reached an intersection. Virgil crept to the corner of the nearest building. He flattened his back against the structure’s wall, then tilted his head just enough to see around the corner. Emotionless, he crept back to the group’s position.

“We are here.” Virgil whispered.

“Where?” Hunter whispered back.

“I do not know.” Virgil replied. “At the end of the hall, around that corner, is the entrance to a temple. Two ghouls are guarding the gate.”

Hongo’s grip tightened around his pistol’s butts.

Virgil went on, “I do not know what we will find in there.”

“Paola! Is my Paola in there?” Vito demanded to know in hushed, but uncomfortably loud tones.

“I do not know my friend.” Virgil placed his hand on Vito’s shoulder and used the most reassuring tone possible.

Vito seemed emotionally unstable. The determination in his eyes was palpable.

Virgil went on, “Wait here my friend. Do not make a sound, anyone.”

With that, Virgil vanished around the corner. A few seconds later, they heard muffled cries. Hunter peeked around the corner and saw two ghoul bodies lying unconscious on the steps of a grandiose platform. The steps rose up to a large open gate. Doric columns supporting a decorative abacus stood in front of the gate. Above the abacus, the architrave bore a colossal bust of a man. The man’s round head and close-cropped hair looked as sterile and bland as the surrounding city. The eyes, however, dazzled their viewers with brilliant refracted light. The eyes were made from large crystals that reminded Hunter of the azure stone that he carried.

The travelers ran to the steps and paused to look at the bust only briefly before hurrying inside where Virgil was already scoping out the territory.

“Quickly now, come on!” Virgil admonished them.

They half-jogged, half-walked behind him as he led them down hallway after hallway. Virgil navigated the Daedalian halls of the ancient building quickly and carefully. After a few minutes, they saw light at the end of the tunnel. The end of the bleak hall opened onto a spacious stadium. Thousands of rows of bleachers sloped down to a dirt floor. At the bottom, large piles of gray and brown dirt and rock lay pushed up against the walls. A spiral of makeshift platforms led down into a deep hole. They saw an assembly line of ghouls working on the excavation effort. Buckets of dirt were hauled one after the other up from the seemingly bottomless pit.

“They are digging somewhere.” Tiyana observed.

“Or for something.” Virgil added.

“Virgil!” Tiyana exclaimed in hushed tones. “Do you know what they are excavating down there?”

“No, but whatever is down there, we probably do not want them to find.” He said ominously and cryptically.

“Paola! Where is my Paola?” Vito urged impatiently.

He searched the faces of the horrific ghouls, dreading the thought of seeing her resemblance on one of their countenances.

“They may not all be converted.” Virgil said. “Some may still be prisoners.”

Vito’s heart leapt up into his throat. He realized that Paola might be okay and she might be very close.

Tiyana put her arm around the portly man, “If she’s in there, we’ll get her.”

Hunter felt tension build up in his muscles. He was ready for action.

“What’s the move?” He asked between clenched teeth.

“Relax, we are deep in the mountains. Your blades will be useless down here.” Virgil said.

“What?” Hunter asked as he glanced at his gleaming satchel of swords and knives.

“You are an Aempyrean, Hunter. You need the Sun’s rays for the declopse.”

“The Sun?” Hunter thought as he closed his eyes and focused his thoughts inward.

He concentrated on the center of energy between his eyes, where he felt the vibrating cosmic bands. Something was wrong, the feeling was numb. The connection was weak. He could not reach the bands with his mind. He could not make the connection.

“It’s the layers of rock. Also, they may have installed dense layers of connectivity blockers. The builders of this place were resourceful to a fault.” Virgil responded.

“They are not armed.” Hongo observed.

He was right; the ghouls were dressed in raggedy garb and were using both hands to haul dirt. They looked puny without their gleaming armor.

“Alright, then, we don’t need no stinking Dahjaat. We’ve got Hongo Ochuka.” Hunter said with a grin as he clapped Hongo on the back.

Hongo shot Hunter a look.

“Lay it out Hongo. You’re the military man. We need a strategy. How do we find out what’s down there?” Hunter asked.

Vito interjected emphatically, “What about Paola?”

“Right,” Hunter went on, “find out what’s down there and find out if they have prisoners somewhere.”

Hongo began speaking, “Well, there are five of us. If Tiyana…” Hongo stopped cold.

A dark flicker caught his attention. He saw large bat-like wings and a scarlet-skinned demon floating down toward the pit.

“Malacoda.” Hunter whispered through clenched teeth. “I guess we knew we’d see his ugly face... I wonder if Shenouda is around.”

A dark look crossed Tiyana’s face.

Malacoda hovered menacingly above the ghouls as they went slavishly about their work. He had his arms crossed. His poignantly yellow eyes rolled slowly from side to side. From time to time he muttered out guttural commands. Meanwhile, the quintet crouched in prudent silence behind the pillars surrounding the upper level of the coliseum-like room.

“Should we wait for him to leave?” Tiyana mused.

“We can.” Virgil replied. “But, he will not leave his minions and their work here unattended. In other words, if he does leave, then someone worse will arrive. You know who.”

After a moment of solemn silence, Tiyana spoke up, “How do we know he’s not here already?”

“I know.” Virgil replied enigmatically.

Tiyana wondered whether to press him on it. She supposed that he learned it either from the machine at the entrance or from his scouting earlier and let the issue pass.

Virgil was first to pierce the shroud of silence, “Hunter, declopsed or not, you and I must deal with Malacoda. If we create a distraction, then Tiyana, Hongo, and Vito may find Paola. Moreover, they may learn what horror lies buried here.”

“A distraction?” Tiyana exclaimed. “You know how dangerous he is!” she commanded in her sternest whisper.

“I do not see a way around it. Better to get the drop on him than to have him get the drop on us.” Virgil replied.

“But there must be another way.” Tiyana pleaded.

Virgil stared at the floor. Hongo shook his head.

Hongo joined in, “We cannot wait for him to leave. He will not leave on his own. We must engage him eventually. Now may be better than later, but we need a plan.”

Hunter was watching the ghouls haul dirt. They had a laborious assembly line going. Deep in the hole, a bucket would be filled with dirt. It would then be passed from one eager set of decrepit, skeletal hands to another. The line of ghouls snaked up the bleachers in an obsequious spiral. About twenty rows down, Hunter could see the end of the spiral. The line of ghouls disappeared into an alcove. The dirt went in and empty buckets came out.

“We are going to break the chain. Vee, we run down to the alcove, push the ghouls off that ledge. When the commotion starts, we run across those two lines of bleachers into the passage there.” Hunter pointed as he spoke.

“If Malacoda follows us inside, we’ll have a surprise waiting for him.” Hunter said with a smile.

“And what would that be?” Tiyana asked.

“Actually, I have no idea.” Hunter’s smile vanished as he looked helplessly at his satchel of weapons. “I assumed Vee could come up with something.”

“I can.” Virgil said solemnly.

“What will you do in the passage?” Tiyana asked.

“I know these halls.” Virgil replied. “I can guide us through them.”

“Safely?” Tiyana asked.

No response came.

Tiyana cast her eyes downward, then spoke, “Okay then. Take care of him Virgil. I am counting on you. What do we do?”

Hunter locked eyes with Hongo and they shared a non-verbal communicative head nod.

Hongo answered the question, “Peek your head out and look at three o’clock. There are two armed ghouls in full gear guarding the portico. If there are prisoners, then those are probably the guards.”

Tiyana peeked, followed by Vito.

“You think she’s in there?” Vito asked through clenched teeth.

Hongo reached into his jacket and pulled out a silencer. As he gingerly screwed it onto the end of his nine-millimeter pistol, he shot Vito a look that said, “We are about to find out.”

An awkward few seconds passed.

Finally, Hunter broke the silence, “Any last words?”

Tiyana reached over and clasped the back of Hunter’s head with both of her hands. She kissed him deeply.

She pressed her forehead against his and said, “Be careful dear.”

Hunter stared determinedly into her eyes, kissed her one more time, turned, and sprinted through the gateway into the coliseum.