Lin says "Done now?"

"Yeah, there is only about a foot left before I break into the cave."

Lin says "Does that mean you can relax and actually get some sleep?"

"Yes, it does."

Lin says "That's good. You push yourself too hard."

"I just do what's necessary. Let's go, I'm hungry."

Lin looks like she wants to say more, but in the end she just turns and leads the way. The tunnel is dark but my vision is good enough that I can enjoy the view as I follow her. When we exit the tunnel I dump the rubble on the hill and then walk back to camp with Lin.

Lin says "Albion has gained a new power, or maybe it's a power he just hasn't used before."

"Oh? What happened?"

Lin says "Brightfire got overconfident and got stung by one of the tiger-bug things. Albion was not only able to cure the poison, but he healed the wound as well."

"That's great! I was worried that you guys didn't have a healer with you if something went wrong. I am glad that he is getting stronger."

Lin says "So am I. Aren't you going to ask how Brightfire is?"

"You already told me her wound was healed. If she was in danger you wouldn't have waited until now, you would have come for me much earlier."

Lin says "You should still ask about her well-being, it is just polite."

"We will be at the camp in a minute, can't I just see for myself when we get there? Besides, asking her directly is more polite."

Lin doesn't seem to have an answer for that, but she laughs when I stick my tongue out at her. However, she doesn't get a chance to say anything else because we have reached the camp. Brightfire is sitting by the fire and doesn't even look up when we arrive.

As I sit down I quietly ask if she is okay, but she only nods a little without looking at me. I am guessing that she realizes that she made a mistake and doesn't want to talk about it. However, Lin gives me a look and motions with her head towards Brightfire.

"You just made a small mistake, everyone makes mistakes. Learn from it and don't repeat it."

Brightfire says "I know."

Lin says "Okay, let's eat."

"Albion, you did great."

Albion says "Thank you, father."

Lin hands out the food and as Albion starts eating I can see that his horn has grown again. When we first came here it was a little under two inches long, now it is over eight inches. If nothing else, this trip to the jungle has already been very beneficial for Albion.

That should mean that his ability to handle corruption has improved, which could be very important tomorrow. As I eat, I can't help but try to guess what we will find inside the cave when we open it. My curiosity is at the peak and I can hardly wait until tomorrow to satisfy it.

I am tempted to suggest we go look after dinner, but I doubt the others would agree. They spent the day exploring and fighting, so they are tired and want to rest. I am just going to have to deal with my curiosity for now and wait for the morning.

After everyone is done eating I shapeshift to human form and follow Lin and Albion into our tent. Albion falls asleep quickly, but Lin stays awake for a while and helps distract me. Only after she falls asleep do I try to make myself sleep, but it doesn't work.

Despite staying up and only meditating for the last couple of days, I am not sleepy. My curiosity is tormenting me too much to allow me to sleep, so I just lay there. In the end, I end up laying there unable to fall asleep until the morning.

When Lin and Albion show signs of waking up I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. Otherwise Lin will worry about me and might not want to go to the cave right away. Besides, letting Lin wake me up is a pleasant experience that I don't want to miss.

Once everyone is awake we eat a quick breakfast and then we finally head to the tunnel. As we move down and the light fades, Albion's horn starts glowing to provide light. The light his horn gives off is brighter than a torch and allows everyone to see clearly.

Bones and I have no problems with the darkness, but everyone else needs some light. When we reach the end of the tunnel I have Albion stand next to me with everyone else behind us. Then I smash the foot of rock that is left between us and the inside of the cave.

As soon as the rock crumbles a wall of black smoke starts flowing into the tunnel. However, as the smoke hits the light from Albion's horn it burns away. The more of the black smoke that burns away the brighter the light from Albion gets.

For the next twenty minutes the rest of us just stand and watch the battle between the smoke and the light. The question is whether the smoke will run out first or if Albion will be exhausted first. Luckily, it is the beginning of the day and Albion is completely fresh.

Finally, the smoke starts to thin out and only a few minutes later we can see into the cave. Other than the corpse in the middle of the room the cave is completely empty. However, the corpse is more than enough to grab everyone's attention.

The corpse looks to be between seven and eight feet tall and is covered in black armor. There is a symbol on the chest of the armor that is continuously emitting black smoke. Luckily, Albion's light is still going so the smoke burns off as soon as it appears.

What skin is exposed by the armor is gray and dried out so that it looks like a mummy. Before I let anyone go near it, I scan with my mana and check for undead energy. There is energy present in the corpse, but it is not undead energy, it is something else.

In fact, the closest energy I have come across would be Krenocia's energy. It has a taste of the Divine in it, but it is also the energy of death and corruption. What's even more surprising is that while that energy is what is causing the corruption, that isn't its purpose.

The smoke is actually just a side effect, the purpose of the energy is suppression. It takes me a minute to burrow through the energy to finally see what it is suppressing. Under all that energy is a small spark of life energy, but it is surprisingly strong.

That should mean that this corpse isn't actually a corpse, it is still alive. It is just in a sealed state and probably has been for an unimaginably long time. I use my mana to carefully remove the helmet so that I can see the body's face.