Shiden gazed at the ruins ahead. Most of the buildings laid desecrated before them, their great pillars and white-washed walls falling to pieces after long years of looting and vandalism had taken its toll on the place. The roads below their feet were cracked and hot and would be terribly hard to traverse. Shiden had a fitful hour or so of sleep, his dreams full of terrible signs and sigils. The spellcaster woke up before dawn and explored the closest ruins, going as far as he dared to check the husks of once tall buildings of unknown purpose, finding nothing but abandoned wreckages.

  The signs he recalled from his nightmare might have been influenced by the markings he saw scrawled in black or red ink upon the walls and pillars around him. They were signs left by vandals and bandits, renegades from Raiiya lands up north, glyphs in their own language left as cryptic messages for one another. The company gathered quickly after using up most of their stored rations, and left swiftly along the road. Shiden used his scepter to light the way. He saw another pit in the ground as they went on, nearly falling from Toldar's back twice – he felt anguish and physical pain in his gut, but Shiden continued on after his companions. The oppressive energy and extreme dizziness were almost too great to bear.

  “Master Aurien! – what have they done here? What is this sensation?”

  “Ignore it!”

  The captain waited at a forked road before taking a path leading northwest. “Don't touch anything else until we're past this area. All this country was consumed. You know of the wars against the tyrant caster. There was a conflict too lengthy and tragic to discuss now, but get moving. It will pass. It is only the imprint of the anguish and evil acts they suffered.”

  Shiden adjusted his makeshift scarf over his face, and continued following. He did not tell the captain about the scouts in the distance, who retreated when their leader made eye contact with him. He might have accused Shiden of hallucinating; but he saw the scouts go into a building at the center of ruined foundations barely visible in the Black Fog.

  The Blue Company reached their destination close to noon on the following day. They passed into the next town, called Baron's Respite, again with their heads bowed as they entered the walls through its main gate. Their gesture again was in deference to the dead who had been laid to rest in the city's many tombs. Aurien said nothing about the battle he'd fought in. It had ruined the town – he did not need to and could not explain all to the others in a short time. There were many modern buildings over the ruins of an ancient and unknown kingdom, and many structures left over as a memorial to the ancient warriors who had died defending it. The mining town was founded on its outskirts and added to the allure of it, which treasure hunters enjoyed seeking after. Some of the company moved into the town past the fallen wooden gates, and stepped carefully over many fallen, rusted and damaged iron bars, which had once formed its inner portcullis.

  Three of the knights scouted ahead on foot, searching the gatehouses and other buildings. There was also another smaller part of the full company from another unit among them, a portion from the western sector. They'd joined up with these five in a village on the path to the border of the deadlands. Aurien ordered them to make a camp in the town's empty, open market square. He distrusted them. There these new companions waited; but Shiden, and Captain Aurien, kept going on towards the northern edge of the town, towards a house where the blacksmith once lived with his family.

  The town was overcome, no longer a peaceful place, and it was covered by the preceding nine years of plant growth and rot. Shiden did not overtake the others, but wandered through debris, passing across the parade ground where the local forces trained, and ignored the memories threatening to overwhelm him yet again. He glanced at a charred remnant of a post in the far distance, which still had a set of shackles bolted to it. As though he understood, Aurien slowed his pace and put an arm over the spellcaster's shoulders, and whispered something. The others did not remark on it, but their mood was not joyful, either. They'd heard the stories of what had happened in the town. Aurien gently guided the spellcaster ahead of him.

  At last, they reached a path to the cabin they sought. It was in a clearing, and was past a tributary of the region's main river, across a bridge Shiden paused at for a moment. He whispered something to himself, and scratched a few lines into a post with his dagger. There was once a gate blocking the bridge from passage by non-locals. Shiden recalled the green-clad archer who'd bought the defenders much needed time, and had died defending the gated crossing from the bandit Cinar Raiya. There were even signs of Cinar's signature blast spell here, a black charring on the stonework, and broken planking left in the battle's aftermath. On that dreadful day, Shiden had experienced his first encounter with one of the many wandering, enigmatic Heroes, who traveled Niriu in search of adventure and enemies to slay.

  Aurien whistled, and drew the spellcaster's attention. Their trackers found what the company sought, very quickly. Shiden recovered from the grief affecting his already dismal mood. He went ahead and lit his scepter. On the hill where a house once stood, there was a slope leading into the depths of the earth. There were two heavy slabs of stone on either side, and the cabin's foundations were broken apart. The remains of heavy slate-wood logs were everywhere. Broken children's toys were everywhere, and equipment belonging to the owner – the forge had been looted. Shiden ignored the sight, which angered him. He sent forth two hovering blue spheres of light, and they ascended. A third shot upwards after the others and illuminated the company's surroundings before going out after a few minutes. The spellcaster wandered over to the spot where he'd cast his greatest spell, nine years before. It had been enough to destroy many things, enough to protect a few locals, including one of his closest friends.

  Shiden walked part of the way up to the house's upper floor. Because of the damage, he could see a monument far away in the distance atop a barren hill, shining even in the light of the moon, for there was an enchantment upon its stone. The shimmering gold lines, carved onto the top of a white slab, bore a strange text impossible to read no matter how close one got. It was there, and some knew of it only because of intensive research on its creation, but the tomb of Raiya Kalin was not often visited by locals; it was in the midst of an archaeological site Shiden had studied notes from. He let the thought drop and continued searching the house's ruin, but he was astonished more by what he saw beyond the hill and gasped at how damaged the land was. There was what looked to be a miles-long gouge in the earth in the distance, close to the hill where the cabin was; subsidence had revealed the hidden mineshafts below, and there was a terrible fume escaping. As though his presence woke up some sleeping terror, more smoke and grit began shooting forth from the cracks in the ground, joining the accursed Black Fog that had overcome much of the southern lands of Niriu. The ground close to the chasm was blanketed with ash, the stifling air polluted with poisonous vapors.

  The spellcaster flung his tattered scarf back over his face, and raised his hood. He lit his scepter again, and descended carefully past the ruined walls of the house. As he'd suspected, it had been built over the entrance to a tomb, long before his birth. The dead had been angered by man's hubris, lore masters said. Or, so it had been told to him by the type of superstitious fools Shiden had become adept at extracting information from.

  The spellcaster called his companions to enter the mine shaft. Seven of the company's knights remained above ground to wait, their crossbows at the ready, staring silently and fearfully at the blackened husks along the cursed treeline. Four of the remaining twelve companions followed Shiden, their hands at the ready to seize upon either crossbow grips or sword hilts. The captain was close behind the spellcaster, but Saga was behind the others, worried about going first.

  'Twelve highly trained knights, and three have already been lost. Does not bode well. . . .'

  Shiden longed for the days when Heroes ventured into the dark places of King's Sanctuary instead of him, to destroy the dens of Runners. Now, there was only the wandering Blue Company to raid them, and lads who trained for ceremonial quests for short-lived fame. Heroes, and their exploits, were relegated to the occasional, fanciful tale – of the type a father might read to his children by the fire. Shiden was back in Baron's Respite, back in the town he'd last seen nine years earlier, the place he'd hoped he would never have the misfortune of coming back to.

  It was hot, too hot to be natural. He hadn't needed to touch the stone, but Shiden knew the bandit's spell was lasting, and pervasive. Even now the scorched stone was worsening, as if the spell fire's damage was still spreading. It was only an illusion, perhaps, but the spellcaster kept his guard up. That was a ward. He'd recovered enough to cast more spells, even if lighting his scepter still caused a shooting pain up and down his right arm when he tried to do so.

  After an hour of traversal through many stone passages, the company reached what appeared to be the antechamber of a tomb. There was a central, circular platform, illuminated dimly by Shiden's light. Atop it was a stone coffin, and it had been broken open. There were scorch marks on the ground surrounding it. Shiden raised his scepter aloft and shot more lights out of it, wincing with each cast. The lights soared over to the coffin, and the spellcaster went to it.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Definitely a grave, then – and it was a child's. See the sword, Captain?”

  Aurien looked into the small coffin – there was, indeed, a toy sword inside. He watched the spellcaster turn it over with his dagger. A shattered urn was also inside, and remains consisting of ashes and bone fragments. Shiden looked over the sword to check for signs of ownership, which was an ancient custom still observed across the continent. There was a mournful expression on his face.

  “No signs at all. Not a one. Keep moving. They care nothing for those they've killed. I – I can't repair this damage.”

  “We don't know who did this,” replied Saga, who was pacing along the outer edge of the chamber while they searched. “Might be the Enemy, might be common looters.”

  The captain sighed as though annoyed, but he agreed. “Only one way down from here. Shall we?”

  Despite his trepidation, Shiden knew they had to check. He led the way down, as the only one with a light source. “Hate having to do this – disturbing, and disrespectful. Do you have any theories, Master Aurien?”

  The captain followed after the other two as they led the way down on a steep staircase. The passage was narrow. “Maybe, but I will keep it to myself, for now. Go on. Look at these relief images, can you decipher them?”

  Indeed, there were many images on the wall, and the spellcaster was trying to avoid looking at them, for twice, he thought they might have shown the very thing he was doing – a spellcaster descending a spiral stairwell, with a scepter aloft, many lines scratched around its end as though signifying a light.

  “I'd rather not, Captain. Waste of time.”

  Aurien grunted, and kept walking. “Perhaps,” he said, but he did not say what he was looking at. The passage widened as the company moved along it and reached a deeper part of the tombs. The relief images became larger and even more elaborate as they went, and as they reached the widest section yet, decorated with banners, Aurien realized there was a low mist over the floor, reaching knee-height. He began to fear it for the first time.

  “A long way down. Reminds me of the Runner dens I cleared when I was younger.”

  Saga's whisper angered Aurien, but he did not feel as though it were worth arguing about. The captain had also been reminded of their subterranean nests. “Indeed,” he said, “but this place was sealed up.”

  “Then, something must have been discovered about the cabin – before it was destroyed. It's in a suspicious place. The clearing, the river, the hill. . . and it had all of this beneath it?”

  “And surrounded by a walled town full of heavily trained guardians, champion. Yes. That is why we are here. Long before your birth – never mind. Keep going. I feel like we're close.”

  Shiden exited the passage first. A staircase was before them, descending into foggy darkness. There were three levels, three large step-like platforms really, with plain stone walls, cut precisely, ascending toward the chamber ceiling. Shiden's light illuminated the way ahead. Spell lamps were on either side, hanging on braces set in the walls at certain intervals. There were many grave markers along the walls – grates and seals were in the wall also, above each one. Aurien stomped over with slow, lumbering movements to their left and checked them – many of the grates had been either melted, ripped off, or hammered and bent out of the way so the coffins behind them could be made accessible. These had been looted. Bones of long-dead humans were in them. The captain bowed as a sign of respect to those whose resting places had been disturbed, before stalking off back to the carpeted path through the tomb. There were empty torch racks along the walls, and more sealed or broken graves, along the way.

  “The keepers – I remember their lore, now. You said you found priests, caster? They guarded places like this, I was told – most were taken as children, and trained in ancient rites; taken to keep secrets, and record long lists of the dead; taken to learn spells. This must be where they were brought.”

  “And the bodies were theirs, I'd guess – the catacombs are clearly empty. Sobering thought Captain, very sobering. Why not ask for adults to do it?”

  Aurien pointed to an empty sword rack, made of gold, probably decorative, but perhaps looted of ceremonial weapons long before their visit. “Because spellcasters must begin training at a young age, to learn how to repel dark spirits from these places. When mines were tapped of resources they were not sealed, but the people of those times would turn them into catacombs and bury the dead deep within them.”

  Saga scoffed. “But 'the dead were angered', it is said. I heard those stories when I was a child. Is that what runners are? Possessed bodies?”

  Aurien did not respond until the company reached the midway point, at which the passage started to rise again, in an exact mirror image of the side they'd come down. “Maybe. Poetic, really. We are suffering for the folly we took part in – but we are here to find living men. Strange, though – and cruel-seeming. . .permanently imprisoning the heralds, alone and in perpetual darkness among the remains of the innocents they helped kill, don't you think?”

  Saga said nothing, but he drew his blade out of instinct – a loud scraping began, and a whirring, and twice a voice seemed to speak, as if it were a reply to his innermost thoughts. Yet, the conscript did not have an enemy to slay, and recovered from his fright, sheathing his sword and wondering why he even drew it out by the time he was done with the action. When they passed the final lamps, Shiden let fly two spheres of light into the narrow space at the end of the passage, and went in after them. The other men followed slowly behind, and discovered the next circular chamber. It seemed as though they were back in the entrance, but they knew they were not.

  It was a replica of the antechamber, and matched exactly. There was a coffin, and another platform; but all around it at set intervals, there were pillars, ornate, carved, black in color, with golden lines in the forms of glyphs on their bases. Shiden touched his scepter to the one nearest the entrance he'd come through, as though he'd learned the proper technique for lighting the place subconsciously. He walked ahead, but stopped when all of the other pillars lit up around the company. Etched glyphs on the support pillars began to glow, as the light he'd emitted went streaming up each of them by some ancient art long-preserved. The company discovered they were at the start of a bridge made of polished white bricks, which spanned across a deep encircling chasm towards the center of the circular, central platform. All around it in the floor, there were bolted chains, set in the floor along the edge, black chains, which were each linked to a golden loop on the coffin's lid at the center.

  To their horror, the company realized they were too late – much too late – to stop the remaining heralds from being freed. The coffin lid was broken, and opened, and there was a black fume coming from inside it. Shiden finished the crossing of the bridge first with the captain close on his heel. Several of the chains, on their right hand side, were damaged. The captain picked up several broken links as he walked, noticing the tiny etchings on them in the Raiiya language, and threw them away from himself. All along the outside wall, there were ten chamber entrances with other bridges leading to them out from the central area, and nine of their doors had been damaged, broken irreparably, doors of once-polished steel, and most of the doors had been melted away. Shiden knew without checking, it was done with a powerful flame-spell. He suspected he knew exactly who'd done it as well.

  “They all escaped, Captain. I was wrong. . .they all escaped at the same time.”

  Aurien passed him, curious about the tenth door. It was still sealed. Aurien went right up to the bridge leading to it. All the other nine chambers had been broken into. Saga came up with him, trembling and wondering probably the same exact thing Aurien was. It was still sealed, and the door was barred and chained, and there were many seal-tags on it, hammered in with black spikes. They were paper seal-tags with glyphs drawn on them, in a language the captain had no idea how to read – the script was not in the Raiiya language. The captain backed slowly away from the end of the bridge.

  “Captain―.”

  “Don't ask, Champion – I do not know why they would leave one of these chambers sealed up, but the heralds are bad enough to deal with. Steel yourself for battle. Train as often as you can. You might have to face another one.”

  “I meant the bridge,” Saga whispered. He looked back over his shoulder, a chill running down his spine as they went back to the central dais. “Why would they destroy the bridge? What could be in it, if even the heralds don't want to deal with it?”

  Aurien did not answer, but returned to where Shiden was. He was searching the coffin, and his face when Aurien saw it was white as a sheet. The captain looked inside. There was no bottom, but a rope ladder had been attached to the inside, and there was a cell beneath it, hidden, as if the coffin were only a disguise for its entrance. Shiden touched the ladder's end and the entire object decayed in an instant without a sound. The captain made eye contact with Shiden and gestured towards the doorway they'd come in through. Shiden nodded, and began walking away from the coffin. Aurien took something from his pocket as the men went back to the entrance. The spellcaster watched him drop the key-ring Rivelas had given him onto the chamber floor. There was another one lying right next to it where it landed, left behind whenever they were used last.

  “Captain. . .the seal on the coffin lid―.”

  “The sigil? A constellation, it looked like. What of it?”

  “I only ever encountered it in the north. I knew someone who bore it, on a pendant of raw obsidian.”

  Aurien paused when they reached the middle of the hall of graves. The others were ahead of them, dreading the return journey, but eager to begin the ascent.

  Aurien leaned in close to the spellcaster. “Master Muiras – when we were in Etirran, I saw a woman, a woman wearing a fragment of cloth exactly like yours. Just as tattered and just as dark, with the same blue trim along its edge. Lanith Aliin is still alive.”

  Shiden did not answer at first, until he checked whether the others were within earshot of them. “I know, Captain. I saw her in the northlands before I went into the tombs there – thought it was a hallucination brought about by my grief and memories of the storm country. Rivelas is the one who told you she was dead, isn't he?”

  The captain pointed toward the exit impatiently, and led Shiden towards the end of the hall. “No. He showed me her grave.”

  Shiden followed after his captain without speaking. He was unnerved. Only when they got back to the antechamber did he realize why.

  Since when do you call me by my chosen name?