“We should help them.” Estella was the first to speak. Her hands gripped her chakrams tightly and her entire body was tensed, eager to run off to aid the wolves.

  "I don't know..." Tirion objected as he watched another wolf collapse. "They did attack us. By law of the Undercity, we have no obligation to help those who've proven hostile. And if we reveal ourselves now... I’m not sure we want to get into a conflict with the Veiled Crown here."

  It was a cruel line of logic, but one less competitor for the First King's crown did sound beneficial for our quest. The Silver Wolves had made their position clear when they'd tried to drive us out. As Renna said this, we are not allies, this is merely a truce. Internally, I was compelled to agree with Tirion's pragmatic assessment.

  But there was also the issue of the Veiled Crown. Those Demon King worshippers seemed like a bigger threat than the Silver Wolves. My mind wandered back to the sewers, sending a shiver down my spine at the memory. How easily had the masked man overwhelmed us, treating our best efforts like a child's game. Not to mention their control over corrupted monsters. Their power level was clearly in a different league entirely.

  "If we want to stand a chance against the Veiled Crown," I said, "teaming up with the Silver Wolves might improve our odds." It was basic game theory - when faced with two hostile factions, ally with the one that's less likely to turn you into a horrific dark element experiment.

  Tirion studied me for another moment, something within him still hesitating. But finally, he gave a sharp nod. "Agreed.

  "We need to find a way to the other side of this wall," I said, my mind already mapping possible routes. "The wall we saw through was on our right, so the actual room must be..." I traced a path in the air with my finger. "Somewhere in that direction."

  “If only we could just walk through walls.” Estella pouted.

  "Unfortunately we can’t." Tirion adjusted his shield. "We need to find an actual path."

  I nodded, studying our surroundings more carefully. "We've been keeping to the left wall. Let's switch to right - might bring us closer to where we need to be."

  "And if we get lost?" Estella asked, though she was already moving to the right wall.

  "We're already lost," I replied. "Might as well be lost in the right direction."

  We backtracked to the last intersection, this time taking the right path. The torchlight cast long shadows ahead of us, making every turn look ominous. After three rights and a left, we heard it - the faint echo of voices.

  Tirion's ears suddenly pivoted forward, and his arm shot out to stop us. "Wait." He whispered. Those sensitive bunny ears of his were twitching in that way I'd learned to pay attention to. "These old stones... they're playing tricks with the echoes."

  I pressed my back against the cold wall, closing my eyes to focus. The sounds bounced and twisted through the corridors, but beneath the chaos of echoes, there was a pattern. "There." I pointed down the right passage. "It's weaker, but cleaner. That's our path."

  Estella's fingers brushed my arm in silent agreement. Even she wasn't making her usual quips. I closed my eyes, trying to filter out our own breathing and footsteps. "It's stronger down this path. Let's move, but quietly."

  We crept forward, Tirion taking point with his shield ready. The passage curved slightly - the first non-right angle we'd seen in the maze. A good sign we were getting somewhere different.

  Another scream echoed through the corridors, closer this time.

  "Left here," I whispered, recognizing a pattern in the wall similar to what we'd seen through the transparent section. "Then immediate right if the layout mirrors..."

  The passage ended in a T-junction. Right path. Twenty paces. Another turn. The voices were getting clearer now, and with them came the sound of something that might have been chanting.

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  "Wait," Estella grabbed my arm, pointing to a subtle draft moving her hair. "Air's flowing from that direction. There must be a larger chamber."

  We pressed on, moving as quickly as we dared while staying quiet. Left turn. Right turn. The passage widened slightly. And then we heard a growl.

  "We're almost there," I whispered, drawing my sword. "Everyone ready?"

  The passage opened into a larger chamber. We burst into it but were too late. Where the masked man had stood, only lingering traces of the black mist remained, swirling lazily in the stale air. But what we found instead made me wish we'd gotten lost in the maze forever.

  It was a scene from the darkest of nightmares. The proud Silver Wolves who we had just met earlier were now something else entirely. Their once-proud silver hair had turned a shade of void-black. Veins of deep purple crawled along their skin. Their flesh was torn and split at different places but instead of blood or bone, only absolute darkness leaked out.

  Their eyes were the worst part. Gone were any resemblance to human eyes. Instead, dancing purple flames flickered in empty sockets. The flames left trailing afterimages as they moved, creating disturbing patterns in the air. When they opened their mouths, the same purple fire danced between their teeth, now elongated into nightmarish fangs.

  Beside them, Renna was convulsing on the ground, her proud warrior's form wracked with spasms as she fought against the corrupting darkness. The black mist seemed to concentrate around her, seeping into her skin through every pore. Her silver hair, darkened strand by strand like ink dropping into clear water.

  Our eyes met across the chamber. She was struggling. Her eyes flickered between gold and consuming darkness, like a candle fighting against the void.

  "Stop them," she gasped, clawing at the ground as another wave of convulsions hit her. Her armor creaked and groaned as her body began to twist beneath it. "You have to stop them." Her voice came out distorted, barely understandable.

  In her half-delirious state, she reached toward us with a trembling hand. Her fingers were already beginning to elongate, her nails blackening and extending into cruel claws. "Don't let them get the First King. He deserves to rest in peace."

  But as soon as the words left her mouth, the darkness claimed her completely. Her spine arched at an impossible angle, and a sound escaped her that was like thousands of voices crying out in harmonized agony. Her skin rippled like the surface of a turbulent pond, and the transformation accelerated.

  Her face twisted and stretched and her orcish features elongated into something more bestial. Her teeth turned into long fangs that dripped with liquid darkness. The muscles beneath her armor bulged and shifted and her plate armor cracked and reformed around her new form as the darkness reshaped metal as easily as flesh.

  Her transformation completed with a pulse of dark energy that shook the chamber. Where the proud Silver Wolf warrior had been, now stood something that combined the worst aspects of orc, and eldritch horror. Her new form towered over us, muscles rippling with unnatural strength. The purple flames in her eye sockets blazed brighter, and when she opened her mouth - now filled with rows of serrated teeth - that same fire spilled out like corrupt breath.

  The massive axe in her hands had grown with her, its blade now jagged and cruel. The symbol of the Silver Wolves, once proudly displayed on her armor, had twisted into unrecognizable cursed symbols.

  She raised her head and let out a splitting roar that hurt our ears, and in that sound, I heard the last echoes of the proud warrior she had been, now corrupted into something monstrous and eternal.

  The three of them looked at us. In the blink of an eye, Renna flashed into the air above us, her axe raised high. The massive weapon left trails of liquid darkness in its wake, each droplet eating into the ancient stone ceiling. The speed was impossible - no orc should move that fast, corrupted or not.

  "Scatter!" I shouted, but Tirion was already moving. His shield came up as he stepped forward, positioning himself between Renna and Lysa.