Inside the ruins, just after the entrance sealed shut behind them, Noidron and the aspirant stood in tense silence, watching as a strange light cascaded over the door. The staff member pressed his palm against the barrier, quickly realising the futility of trying to pry it open.
Once satisfied with his inspection, he exchanged a glance with the aspirant.
'What now?' the aspirant asked, uncertainty lingering in his voice.
'We move forward. High Maegi Talien is powerful enough to face them.'
'But three – maybe more – against one? That's too much, even for him.'
Noidron didn't respond. Instead, he strode further into the dim tunnel. 'We have to trust that he will prevail.'
'Right…'
The tunnel soon opened into the portal chamber, a massive space lined with ancient, metallic frames. Pulsing veins of crimson fluid coursed through pipes, powering several portals. Yet, many gateways remained dormant, their edges dark and unresponsive.
Noidron narrowed his eyes. The air was thick with residual traces – whispers of magickal presence. When he activated his senses, a spectrum of energy unfolded before him, revealing faint silhouettes of those who had passed through.
'They went through these,' he murmured.
'How can you tell?' The aspirant frowned. 'I don't see anything.'
'I can.'
He scanned the lingering traces, searching for a particular imprint. Every movement of his eyes traced the invisible currents of odh. Amongst the echoes of many footsteps, one stood out.
'What now?' the aspirant asked impatiently.
'I'm working on it,' Noidron replied, his tone clipped.
'Working on what?'
'This,' he gestured towards one of the inactive portals. 'Riniock went through that one.'
The aspirant blinked. 'Who in Murat is Riniock?'
'That's irrelevant.' Noidron's voice remained steady. 'The high maegi's nephews are likely with him. I need to figure out how to follow.'
He approached the lever at the chamber's centre, testing it. It hummed softly, controlling the flow of power to the still-active portals, but the ones already used refused to reignite.
Another angle, then.
Noidron once more tapped into his sight, allowing odh to bloom in his vision. The threads of energy clung to everything – even the dormant portals. Each signature pulsed with a distinct resonance. And amongst them, he saw it. A connection. Faint, but undeniable.
'They left a trace,' Noidron muttered.
'What?'
'Nothing.' He waved dismissively.
The more he examined, the clearer the pattern became. Several portals were linked – their energy signatures intertwined. One of them must lead to the same destination.
Then, it clicked.
'Got it!' Noidron's voice rang out, triumphant. 'That's the portal we need.'
'Finally.' The aspirant sighed. 'Took you long enough.'
They stepped through the portal and were immediately engulfed in a storm that reeked of blood. Crimson droplets clung to their skin, staining them as they trudged forward. The air was thick, stifling, and their voices failed them – no sound escaped when they tried to speak.
Side by side, they pressed on, their eyes locked on the distant exit.
But then the aspirant halted, scrubbing furiously at his eyes. Noidron noticed, pausing to wait. The aspirant's trembling hands smeared the blood away, and just as he blinked his vision clear, a massive shadow loomed overhead.
Noidron's gaze snapped upward. For a brief, dreadful moment, he glimpsed the vast form of a monstrous structure plummeting towards his companion.
The impact was brutal. The ground quaked and dust filled the air. By the time the mass retracted, there was nothing left – only a smear of crimson where the aspirant had stood.
A rush of dread coursed through Noidron.
Without hesitation, he broke into a sprint, his heart pounding. But even as he fled, his eyes flicked towards the source of the destruction.
There it stood – a monument to death itself. A colossal, jagged tower of blackened stone, twisted and vile. Tendrils of malevolent odh pulsed from it, visible only to the staff member. It exuded ruin, a force of pure malice that swallowed all light and hope.
And still, it loomed, waiting.
Without sparing a glance behind him, Noidron emerged from the portal, finding himself in a vast, shadowed cavern. Darkness consumed the space, broken only by a faint glimmer in the distance. He took a few shaky breaths, the horror of what had unfolded still fresh in his mind.
But he forced it aside. With a firm slap to his face, he cleared his thoughts, rubbed his eyes, and focused on the task at hand – following the trail left by Riniock, Niann, and Siegmun.
Their tracks were easy enough to trace.
As he moved through the cavern, strange flora and fauna surrounded him, unfamiliar and alien. The twisted vegetation pulsed faintly, and the creatures moved with an unsettling grace. Noidron, wary of what he did not understand, disturbed nothing. His sole focus remained on the footprints ahead.
Eventually, he came upon what appeared to be their place of respite – at least, for two of them. One set of tracks continued further, leading deeper into the tunnels.
'A tower, huh? Not a bad spot to stop,' Noidron murmured, studying the looming structure.
Ancient, three faded symbols adorned the entrance, their meanings lost to him. With no hesitation, he stepped inside. The chamber was sparse, marked by a single circular platform in the centre, surrounded by broken crates and scattered debris.
Noting that the others' traces had somehow ascended, Noidron followed suit. He stood upon the platform, feeling the lingering traces of their odh. Imitating them, he channelled his own energy into the circle. The response was immediate. His body jolted upwards, propelled to the floor above.
Before his feet had even settled, a voice greeted him.
'Noidron?'
'Siegmun,' Noidron exhaled, relief washing over him. 'And Niann!'
The two sat slumped in stone chairs, papers and old books scattered around them. Both bore visible injuries – Siegmun's leg torn, Niann's hand wrapped in crude bandages.
'What are you doing here?' Siegmun asked, eyeing the staff member with surprise.
'It's…a long story,' Noidron answered, his gaze flicking between them. 'Where's Riniock? And what in Murat happened to your leg? And his hand?'
'Long story,' Siegmun echoed dryly.
Noidron explained everything, leaving no detail unspoken. In turn, they recounted their own ordeal. The more they spoke, the deeper the unease settled between them.
'So Riniock was right,' Niann murmured grimly. 'They were planning this from the start.'
'Riniock knew?' Noidron asked, visibly taken aback.
'He did,' Niann confirmed.
'The arch-maegi must have told him,' Siegmun added, absentmindedly rubbing his wounded leg. 'He hinted as much to me at least.'
'What do we do now?' Noidron pressed. 'High Maegi Talien bought me time, but I have no idea how to help him. We need to inform Arch-Maegi Karthen. But how?'
Silence hung over them as they each mulled it over.
'Riniock can help!' Niann suddenly exclaimed.
'How?'
'He knows a spell – it allows him to send messages to anyone, no matter the distance.'
'How far can it reach?'
'When he was far from Ikshar, hundreds of leagues away, he used it to contact me.'
'Perfect.' Noidron straightened. 'Then there's no time to waste.'
'You're leaving?' Siegmun frowned.
'I am. I'd rather not leave you both in this condition, but we have to warn the arch-maegi.'
Noidron dusted himself off and prepared to depart. But before he could take another step, a violent tremor ripped through the tower. The walls groaned, and thick clouds of dust cascaded from the cracked stone. The three of them were thrown to the ground as debris clattered around them.
'What was that?' Niann gasped, struggling to sit up.
'I don't know. An earthquake?' Siegmun suggested, though the uncertainty in his voice was clear.
Noidron's expression darkened. 'It didn't feel like an earthquake.'
He promptly activated his sense, his vision flooding with glowing strands of odh. What he saw sent a chill through him. Astronomical currents of energy surged beneath the earth, twisting through the stone with terrifying speed – energies that resembled that of an actual monster of immense proportions.
'Much worse,' he muttered. 'Far worse.'