Chapter Eighty-Six:

  "Fangs and Flames"

  As Hex led them around the side of Lord Sterling’s Dark Palace, the ice bridge had already begun to melt, sending slow waves of steam drifting into the air. The lingering heat from the molten river devoured the frost, transforming the ruins into a thick, shifting haze. Humidity pressed in, each breath heavy, difficult.

  The molten glow from the river of fire wavered against the black stone walls, casting fractured streaks of light and shadow as they edged along the crumbling ledge. The narrow path beneath them was barely half a foot wide, pressing them against the towering palace walls. Below, the molten river churned, its heat rising in scorching waves. Tendrils of flame lashed upward, just out of reach, but only just.

  Asha exhaled sharply. "I'm beginning to think trusting her was a bad call."

  Hex, leading the way with ease, didn’t look back. "If the entrance was easy to get to, it wouldn’t be secret now, would it?"

  Asha shot her a glare but said nothing.

  The ledge trembled, and a chunk of stone snapped off near Ankit’s feet. He yelped, stumbling back. "Oh, PLEASE don’t let me fall again!"

  His head whipped around, searching for Leo. Still there.

  Leo, catching the genuine fear in Ankit’s face, gave a small, reassuring nod. "I’ll always catch you, Ankit. No worries."

  Ankit exhaled, still rattled but comforted enough to keep moving.

  When they finally rounded the far side of the palace, there it was

  A gaping sewer pipe, embedded deep in the stone foundation, its mouth choked with stagnant filth and the unmistakable stench of death. Thick iron bars blocked the way, rusted, pitted with corrosion, but still solid. Their warped edges jutted outward, sharp where time had eaten through the metal.

  Hex turned to Leo, her eyes narrowing as she studied his arms. "You won’t have a problem with those."

  Leo cracked his neck. "Yeah, I got this."

  His fingers tightened around the bars. With a deep breath, he pulled. The metal groaned, resisting, bending. Then, with a final heave, the rusted iron snapped free. It clattered at his feet.

  Bones and wet, rotting muck spilled over his boots. Leo recoiled. "Gross!"

  The sewer’s entrance gaped before them, dark, foul, hungry.

  Hex clapped the grime off her palms, then wiped them on her skirt with exaggerated disgust, like a child playing at being squeamish. She turned to the group, her tone matter-of-fact.

  "This is where we part ways. My father is expecting me soon, and I can’t risk his suspicions." She dusted off her hands one last time. "I got you in. The rest? That’s your problem."

  Lucinda leaned in first, peering into the sewer’s black maw with a frown. The thick air carried the unmistakable stench of rot. Something shifted in the darkness, too deep to make out. She exhaled sharply and pulled back, her expression grim. "Oh, that’s disgusting. And you’re sure we won’t run into trouble?"

  Hex’s smile was sharp, knowing. "Oh, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem." She waved a hand lazily. "The palace is mostly abandoned… by the living, anyway."

  Ankit’s entire body tensed. "Ghosts?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Oh, fantastic. Just what I wanted. Why not throw in some flesh-eating rats while we’re at it?"

  "Oh, thanks! I almost forgot about the rats!" Hex smirked.

  Ankit sighed. "I just have to keep opening my mouth." He made a gesture of locking his lips and throwing away the key.

  Emily swung her bow onto her back and grabbed the edge of the entrance. Her boot sloshed into the murky water. "Come on! We've wasted enough time."

  As if on cue, a fresh wave of filth sloshed out from the sewer pipe, a revolting mixture of stagnant water, rotting remains, and the unmistakable stench of human decay. Bone fragments clinked against the stone, bobbing in the current before vanishing into the dark.

  Ankit groaned, pressing a hand over his face. "I hate this place. I hate all of you, I hate ghosts, and I hate whatever the hell was just in that sludge." He peeked between his fingers, scowling. "Seriously. This is the worst."

  "Then you’re really going to hate what’s waiting inside," Hex said, already stepping away. She lifted a hand in farewell but didn’t look back. "Good luck. Try not to scream too loud. He likes that."

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  And with that, she was gone, slipping into the night, heading for the palace’s heart, where her father waited.

  The darkness swallowed them.

  The moment they stepped inside, the walls pressed in, slick with moisture, sticky with something best left unnamed. The air was thick, heavy with decay, the kind of foul rot that lodged itself in the throat and refused to let go.

  The tunnel stretched ahead in blinding darkness, broken only by sickly green bioluminescence, its glow clinging to the damp stone in uneven, pulsing patches. The eroded walls sagged inward, their crumbling bricks slick with centuries of filth, human waste, and rot. The air was damp, heavy, thick enough to taste, thick enough to choke

  Water, if it could even be called that, sloshed at their feet—murky and impenetrable, swirling with debris and unrecognizable filth. Bones, small and large, bobbed in the slow-moving wake, bumping against the stone with soft, hollow clicks.

  Lucinda exhaled sharply, pressing a hand against the wall for balance. "This is so much worse than I expected."

  "You expected better?" Ankit shot her a look, lifting his foot as something unseen slithered past his boot. "I’m already regretting every life decision that led me here."

  Asha stepped ahead, her boots splashing in the filth. "We don’t have time to be disgusted. We need to keep moving."

  Leo’s voice came from behind them, steady but low. "Everyone stay close. I don't like how dark it's getting."

  The tunnel deepened into darkness, what little light remained fading with every step. With a sigh, Leo ran a hand through his hair, then ignited it, a controlled blaze of blue flames billowing to life, casting an eerie glow along the tunnel walls.

  Ankit, momentarily distracted from his disgust, let out a low whistle. "Dude, you totally look like Ghost Rider right now, except, you know, for the whole having skin over your skull part."

  Leo smirked. "Hey, it keeps my hand free."

  As they pushed onward every noise seemed to echo too far, stretching beyond the visible tunnel, escaping into the dark. Disorienting.

  Raya wrapped her arms around herself, eyes watching the moving shadows ahead. "How deep do these suppose these go?"

  "Let's hope we never find out." Emily answered.

  Emily slowed to a stop, pressing a hand against the cold, slick wall, her brows furrowing as she took a slow, measured breath. "Hold up. We need to get our bearings."

  Ankit, still shifting uncomfortably in the ankle-deep filth, suddenly snapped his fingers. "Wait. Wait. How the hell did we forget? We have game mechanics!"

  Silence. Then, everyone turned to look at him.

  "A map," he said, grinning. "How did we forget we literally have a UI?"

  With a wave of his hand, a glowing interface shimmered into existence in front of them, hovering in the stagnant air like a projection. A rough layout of the palace’s underbelly stretched before them, dead-end tunnels, branching paths, and, at the far end, a blinking waypoint.

  Emily’s gaze sharpened as she took in the display, then turned to Lucinda. "Speaking of game mechanics… your protection spell’s worn off. Can you put it back up?"

  Lucinda nodded, already lifting her staff. "Protection."

  A soft pulse of silver light washed over the group once more, briefly illuminating the filth-stained walls before fading into an invisible barrier around each of them.

  Asha crossed her arms. "We need to be careful with your MP. We’ll need those healing spells later."

  Ankit waved a hand. "Not a problem. I stocked up on Mana Tears before we left to walk headfirst into our deaths. And you know the best part?"

  Everyone just stared at him.

  With a triumphant smirk, he pulled out an emberfruit tart, the same from breakfast at the inn. Without hesitation, he took a massive bite, the sweet aroma mixing with the rancid sewer stench, somehow making it worse.

  A collective wave of disgust rippled through the group.

  Raya and Ani both recoiled. "Ew. How can you eat that standing in what you’re standing in?"

  Ankit gave her a deadpan look, mid-chew. He swallowed. "What?"

  The group pushed forward, navigating the winding tunnels with the comforting glow of their compasses marking the way. The waypoint waited ahead, a promise of an exit, an escape from the filth clinging to their legs and the stench that had already seeped into their clothes.

  "Almost there," Emily muttered, keeping her eyes fixed on the ghostly outline of the door projected before them.

  The tunnel arched downward, forcing them to crouch into knee-deep sludge as the walls pressed in closer. The waypoint grew larger, its glow reflecting faintly off the damp stone.

  Ani was practically drowning in it. The thick muck clung to his fur, tangling in clumps, human waste and other horrors sloughing off him in sluggish streams. He let out a miserable whine, shaking himself violently, only to fling the filth onto the nearest unfortunate soul.

  Then the darkness awoke.

  A rustle. A stirring.

  Tiny pinpricks of light appeared in the dark, first one, then a dozen, then hundreds.

  Eyes. Red, glowing, unblinking

  A slow, collective inhale passed through the group.

  Asha whispered, "Tell me that’s just a UI effect."

  The first set of eyes lowered, moving.

  Then another.

  And another.

  A soft, wet skittering echoed through the tunnel.

  Ankit exhaled through his nose. "Yeah. That’s a no from me."

  A chorus of tiny, clicking claws began to move. Closer.

  The moment the first rat lunged, the swarm followed.

  "Run!" Emily shouted, her boots tearing free from the muck as she bolted forward.

  Leo was right behind her, splashing through the last of the sludge until his feet found solid, if slick, stone. The swarm pressed in from all sides, rats swimming through the filth, dropping from cracks in the ceiling, their monstrous, grotesque forms becoming clearer in the eerie glow of Leo’s flames. Massive spiked bone protrusions along their spines. Their red eyes burned like hot coals, their pointed, yellowed teeth glistening with saliva and plague. Their flesh marred with open sores, tufts of mangy fur missing, leaving raw, pasty skin exposed beneath.

  And then they hesitated. Not daring to draw close to Leo's flames.

  They feared fire.

  Leo grinned. Good.

  He raised his hands, blue flames rolling down his arms. With a sharp thrust of his hands, he sent the fire outward. A tidal wave of blue fire exploded from him, rolling in all directions. The magic harmlessly passed over the others, warm but without pain. The rats, however, screeched in agony. Some ignited instantly, their deformed bodies bursting into balls of writhing blue flame before vanishing into shimmering motes of multicolored light. The rest turned tail, fleeing into the shadows with frenzied chittering, their bodies scrambling over one another in panic.

  For a moment, only the sound of dripping water and sizzling flame remained.

  Leo dusted his hands off, glancing around at the others. Raya was still clinging to Ani, her face buried in his filthy, soaked fur, too shaken to care that she was now just as disgusting as he was.

  Leo smirked. "That wasn’t so bad. The rats back home in Berlin? Way bigger."