The core area of the Mists of Death was a broad valley surrounded by rolling hills. The mists from all around slithered towards here, slowly at first and then faster , distilling their very essence into the valley. Death energy covered the ground in layers, dense enough to turn liquid, forming a black lake a mile across and covered in the thickest mist they’d seen so far.

  This lake was dotted by stone islands ranging in size from a table to a courtyard, close enough that people could jump from one to the next and walk across the water. They were like lily pads on a normal lake, except not particularly flat and not as susceptible to sinking.

  The group observed the lake from its shores. They had tried flying over the valley, but the rolling death energy created winds so chaotic that Marcus deemed the attempt too risky. Therefore, they had left the airship—Freedom—at the entrance of the valley and stealthily approached on foot.

  They did not expect a lake made of death.

  "This looks dangerous," Horace said.

  Jerry approached the lake, squatted at its edge, and squinted at the black water.

  "Wanna hear something funny?" he said. "I don’t think I can survive that."

  "The water?"

  "Yes. I can handle it for some time, but this is liquid death energy. Even undead will rot away inside it."

  "Liquid death energy!" Marcus’s eyes widened. "I’ve never heard of such a thing!"

  "Neither have I," Jerry replied, shrugging as he stood. "To be fair, I don’t think it exists anywhere else in the world."

  Laura crossed her arms. "The wood nettle potion can’t save us from this, triple dosage or not."

  "From the lake? Not a chance. However, the air above it isn’t much different than the rest of the Mists. A bit windy, sure, but fine otherwise. The Mist is sucked into the lake as soon as it approaches." Jerry looked straight ahead, his eyes cutting through the dark haze. He could only see a hundred feet away.

  Laura frowned. "Which makes no sense, by the way. I thought the entire area of the Mists expelled death energy. The mist should be exiting the lake, not entering."

  "I’m just telling you what I see." Jerry shrugged again. "The death energy falls into the lake and disappears."

  "That’s weird."

  "We should get going, Master. Allow me," Boney said, approaching Jerry. He squatted and dipped a finger into the lake, only to remove it a moment later. "Yes, this is dangerous," he confirmed. "Look; only the bone is left."

  "Do you think Arakataron is in the middle of the lake?" Laura asked, ignoring Boney.

  "Absolutely. He’s an Archmage necromancer; where else would he possibly be?"

  "Inside the lake."

  "Oh." Everyone looked at each other. "Well, I guess we’ll just have to find out."

  Axehand was not participating in the conversation. He was already standing on the first stone island, gloating at his bravery. As everyone was talking, he jumped to the next one, then the next. They were a bit rocky, like shorn-off mountaintops, but anyone could walk on them.

  When nothing bad happened, Axehand raised an axe in triumph.

  "What are these islands, anyway?" Jerry asked. "Who put so much stone inside a lake?"

  "Death energy has corrosive properties," Laura explained. "If I had to guess, this wasn’t always a lake. The death energy corroded the soil and formed a crater for itself, but stone is impervious to it. The islands we see here should extend to the bottom, however deep that is."

  The next question was, naturally, how deep was it? Jerry grabbed a random long stick from the ground and stuck it in a few times, nodding. "Mhm. It’s only a foot here, but probably gets deeper as we go. The lake bottom should be shaped like a crater, as Laura said."

  "Of course. However, these stone islands are so many it’s suspicious… Was this area full of stone formations?"

  "This place was called the Valley of Kings. It was known for its rocky terrain," Horace explained.

  Marcus’s eyes twinkled. His head snapped around fast.

  "Valley of Kings!" he shouted out of the blue. Boney jumped, grabbed his ribcage, and muttered something about a fortunate lack of bowels, but Marcus didn’t care. He retrieved a little blue notebook from his inner jacket and quickly flipped through the pages. "This is the place I’m looking for! I knew it was somewhere in the Mists, but I never imagined it would be dead center!"

  Boney chuckled. "Nice one."

  "This is no time for jokes, Boney," Marcus retorted.

  "Oh, silly me. I saw you guys talking for half an hour and thought we were chilling."

  "Well, if the treasure was here, it’s gone now." Jerry laughed. "Unless you want to dive in and scavenge the taels one by one."

  "Not necessarily." Marcus’s eyes twinkled again. "According to my notes, the treasure is entombed in a crown-shaped stone formation—and, as Laura said, stone is impervious to death energy."

  "Oh?" Horace raised a brow. "How very fortunate. What kind of treasure is that, anyway?"

  Though he had become a part of their group, Marcus was reluctant to reveal more things than needed. Laura didn’t know all the details either. After all, the location of Dorman’s treasure was world-shaking information!

  "Let’s talk about this later," Marcus quickly dodged the question. "Just keep an eye out for any rocks shaped as a crown. They should be tall, so they probably stick outside the lake, at least a little bit. And, in any case, we can’t search for treasure with a hostile Archmage around. Let’s go get rid of him!"

  The Billies released a combined roar, supporting him. Horace gave Marcus a deep glance but didn’t comment further.

  Marcus’s mood had gone up at the thought of treasure. Suddenly, he was battle-ready, and his eyes were twin taels.

  However, Laura frowned as she gazed over the dark waters.

  "Isn’t this a bit risky?" she asked. "A single misstep and we’ll be poisoned… Remember, Marcus, the two of us are living."

  "Nonsense. Opportunities always come with risks. What are we, cowards?" He laughed rowdily, enduring Laura’s icy stare like it was nothing. "Come on, let’s go already! Treasure’s waiting!"

  "Shouldn’t we at least have a plan?" she tried again.

  "I do have a plan," Horace said. "It’s called, my bow."

  Axehand grunted in agreement from where he stood, raising his two axes, and Marcus’s eyes remained tael-shaped. Jerry laughed. "I guess we’ll improvise," he said.

  "What Master means to say," Boney intervened, "is that we must hurry, or the death knights we distracted before will have time to return. Moreover, since we’re forced to go in blind, what plan could we have? Even Birb can’t scout freely in there, or it might be spotted."

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  "It can try."

  "So can you, but I don’t see you going."

  Her sigh was full of irritation. "Fine," she said. "Let’s just do our best not to fall off."

  "Of course. We would hate to lose you." Boney said with a cluckle—his signature combination of chuckling and bone jaw clacking. She looked at him emptily before mustering her courage and stepping on the first stone island, cutting off Marcus.

  "Hey!" he yelled.

  She smiled. "Ladies first."

  And so, slowly but surely, the entire group got on the lake and started jumping from stone to stone like children. They were fourteen in total, including the flying Birb, so they created quite a spectacle—only the circus music was missing, but Boney was under strict instructions to keep that unfurling stick in his pants.

  Some stones were flatter than others. Some were easy to pass and some difficult, and Jerry even saw a single rock which towered high and stood alone like a proud hill. They didn’t find the crown shape Marcus was looking for, unfortunately, but the proud rock was a pleasant landmark.

  Of the entire group, the Billies were undoubtedly the most relaxed, followed by Horace. These five climbed any stones and jumped from island to island as casually as taking a stroll. They made it look easy. It profoundly irritated Axehand, whose bulk didn’t let him follow their pace, as well as Marcus, whose excitement waned at the sight of the Billies’ antiques.

  "Take it easy, boys!" he warned them. "There’s no need to rush. You might fall off."

  They ignored him, and Billy One even did a handstand. Marcus scowled.

  Laura laughed beside him. "Boys will be boys. Relax; they can handle it."

  "They shouldn’t ignore me," he grumbled. "I’m the captain!"

  "And where’s your ship, Captain?"

  "Resting. She flew a long way."

  "She?"

  "She."

  Her confused gaze met Marcus’s steady one.

  "Look!" Jerry suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the dark water. "There’s fish!"

  "Fish?"

  The four of them—the three humans and Boney were bringing up the rear—stopped and looked.

  "Oh!" Laura’s voice jumped. "There’s fishes!"

  A few white shapes could barely be seen in the dark waters, swimming from side to side and slowly gathering near Jerry. There were five of them, and they seemed to belong to different species, ranging from pinky-sized to ones as long as Jerry’s forearm.

  "Look at them, all white and glowing," Jerry said with pride. "They must be very brave to survive in all this death energy."

  "Wait, are they transparent?" Marcus asked, frowning. "I can see the white glow of a fish through another fish."

  They all looked carefully. "You’re right," Jerry finally replied, nodding. "I wonder if I could adopt one."

  His soul reached out, and he instantly exclaimed in surprise.

  "What is it?" Laura asked.

  "These things aren’t fish!" Jerry said, full of excitement. "They’re souls!"

  "Souls?"

  "Yeah. They’ve lost their bodies, but the death energy here keeps them alive. How peculiar."

  "Wait, so these are the souls of everyone who died in this lake?"

  "Maybe even the entire Mists of Death." Jerry scratched his head. "The thick death energy maintains the souls and carries them along as it flows to this lake… Here, they do not weaken with time, and they’re forced to aimlessly wander these dark waters in eternity, losing all their memories and turning into fish…"

  "So, ghost fish," Boney concluded. "Creepy."

  "You’re a ghost too, just trapped in a skeletal vessel."

  "Yes, I’m creepy too."

  "Do you think they can hurt us?" Marcus asked, looking at the seemingly harmless fish which quickly lost interest and wandered away.

  "Probably," Jerry replied, "but they don’t have the aggressiveness of undead. I don’t think they’ll try anything unless we attack first. Even if they do, I can easily extinguish these little ones. The stronger the soul, the larger the fish, so we’re going to be just fine unless there are whales hiding in the depths."

  "I think I’ll stick by your side," Laura said.

  “Me too.” Marcus and Boney quickly agreed.

  Jerry laughed.

  "Are you coming?" Horace’s voice drifted over from atop a tall rock, his form barely visible through the Mists. "We’re waiting for you."

  "Coming, coming." Jerry laughed again, running and jumping to a slightly far away stone. They weren’t always located close to each other, but thankfully, everyone wore well-made shoes that offered good grip.

  The lake was large, and they were slow.

  As time passed, the bantering died down and was replaced by silence. Everyone was nervous. The shores had long disappeared from their vision, giving the impression that the lake was endless in all directions. By now, only Jerry knew the way to the center, as he could sense a large amount of death energy flowing there.

  Slowly but surely, the group was approaching the Archmage, and they were all stressed and jumpy.

  Suddenly, Jerry’s brows furrowed.

  "Stop," he whispered, and everyone froze. They stared at him.

  "Birb found enemies," he whispered again, closing his eyes and reopening them shortly. "Long limbs, plate armor. It’s a death knight like the one we fought at Horace’s tribe."

  "There was another?" Marcus’s eyes widened.

  "We’re talking about an Archmage," Laura hissed. "He’s not stupid to send all his forces at the Dungeon. He must have kept some as backup…but how many could they be?"

  Jerry narrowed his eyes. "He sent twelve at the Dungeon, as Birb saw, and I doubt anyone can support much more than that, Archmage or not."

  "Is it approaching?" Horace asked sharply.

  Jerry once again closed his eyes, wobbled a bit, then reopened them. "Not really," he said. "It’s moving perpendicular to us, three hundred feet ahead. We’ll be fine if we just wait."

  Everyone nodded.

  A few moments later, Jerry spoke again. "It’s gone."

  "Good. Let’s go, and be careful, everyone; we’ve entered their patrol radius."

  The group restarted, this time deathly quiet. Birb located two more death knights, each walking by itself, and the group was growing more worried by the minute. Just how many were there?

  Due to Birb’s vigilance, they eventually approached Arakataron’s location to the point where Jerry felt stifled. The quantity of death energy heading there was insane; it was so large, in fact, that a strong wind now blew at the group’s back, stopping occasionally like a giant breathing on their necks.

  The thought was humbling. Jerry gulped as he kept going.

  A moment later, he raised a hand. "We’re here," he whispered. Everyone looked around but could only see the same mists, black water, and stones they’d been seeing all along.

  Of course, nobody doubted Jerry.

  "Somebody hold me, and be vigilant," was all he said before closing his eyes. His body wobbled and fell to the side—thankfully, Boney was there to catch him.

  "You’re heavy, Master…" he panted. "Have you ever heard of dieting?"

  Unfortunately, Jerry’s senses were already borrowing Birb’s.

  He laid eyes on the center of the lake, and the shock was so great that his concentration almost broke.