Khuradan's shoulders squared as he stepped forward. Temru's hand brushed the hilt of his blade, a habit of readiness, as he followed close behind. Valgrin and Altayna exchanged glances before falling into formation. Skwilly's hooves sent echoes bouncing through the tunnel as he scrambled to match their pace. The rest of the sevles’ group, minus two who stayed behind to stand guard, followed Skwilly.

  The narrow passage opened suddenly, and Valgrin's breath caught in his throat. Thousands of crystal facets winked from the vaulted ceiling, casting rainbow shards across his vision. His eyes watered from the brilliance. Across the chamber, twin pedestals of obsidian held massive pink crystals that pulsed with inner light, each crystal easily matching Skwilly in size. Behind them loomed three doors of wood so dark it seemed to absorb the dancing light, their surfaces carved with symbols that seemed to shift when viewed directly. Valgrin counted—one, two, three, four—as a beam of pink light jumped from one door to another, the rhythm of its movement as steady as a heartbeat.

  “Puzzle room?” Valgrin asked.

  “T’would appear so,” answered Altayna.

  The lead group moved forward and began to examine the pedestals. Khuradan stood a few feet behind, ready to spring into action. The other sevles took positions around the room, remaining vigilant.

  “Anyone good at finding traps, magical or mundane?” Valgrin asked.

  Altayna pointed at Temru, “He’s the best one in this group, well that I know of at least. I watched him spot a needle-thin tripwire in a shadowy room. Kept us from going kaboom, or whatever nastiness linked to the wire.”

  “All yours then.” Valgrin motioned to Temru, who nodded and began his inspection.

  Valgrin counted the pulses of pink light watching for any disruption in their rhythm as Temru's hands moved methodically across the obsidian. He abruptly stopped counting when multiple sudden thud’s echoed in the room. Turning quickly he saw a white fog disappear into the walls, leaving three sevles lying on the floor. Altayna was already half-way across the room, Temru and Valgrin quick stepped to catch-up. Khuradan beat all of them to the closest.

  "Alive, but unconscious," Khuradan's voice rang out, cutting through the tension. "Same here," Altayna reported as she hurried to another fallen comrade.

  Within moments, Temru confirmed the same for the third sevle. Valgrin rushed to the first chamber, Skwilly at his heels, discovering the same scene repeated inside.

  "Did anyone catch a glimpse of anything beyond that accursed fog?" Altayna's frustration was palpable in her growl.

  Valgrin joined the negative answers the others gave, then added. “I’m going to drag these two into the crystal room. If anyone can give a hand?”

  “On my way.” Khuradan answered. "Let's relocate them all to the center of the room. Safer there it would seem," he added.

  A few moments into moving the unconscious sevles, the one Valgrin was moving twitched. Fingers curled weakly, eyelids fluttered. By the time they'd arranged all of them in the center of the chamber, they were all twitching. One by one, they roused—first with groans, then with trembling limbs struggling to coordinate. Temru offered a waterskin to a sevle whose words slurred together unintelligibly. "The f-fog," the sevle finally managed, voice cracking, "c-climbed like vines." Another nodded weakly. "Couldn't move. Couldn’t call out." He lifted a hand that still shook visibly, within seconds he dropped it back to his lap.

  Temur caught Khuradan’s gaze. “Need you to call Erden in here, I’ll need to keep Jargul out with the others. I know she won’t like it, but we need a snolve in here to hear and smell what we can’t. Atarkh,” Temur addressed the sevle who spoke first, “get Ulansa in here as well. She can check the rooms to get an understanding of lay of the land. Then go back and stand at the opening. Not enough room in here for a snion to stay and I’m not going to ask anyone to stay in the first chamber by themselves.” Both nodded in agreement, within minutes Erden stood watch over the sevles, Ulansa had sniffed the room and then left to stand guard right outside the cave.

  “Khuradan, you’ll be in charge of watching over this group. You and Erden. I need to stick with Valgrin and Altayna.” Temru turned to them as he spoke, “And we need to figure out the puzzle this room hides.” He headed back to the pedestals, after examining both of them thoroughly he declared he didn’t find any traps.

  Valgrin cleared his throat to get the attention of the other two, “I’ve been watching the light show while Temru looked over the stands and the crystals. Never changed timing or pattern. Unless one of you have found clues or have insight, I think we should start by trying to open the middle door when the light is on the other two. We won’t have much time—less that five seconds if the timing doesn’t change. “

  Altayna shrugged, “I don’t have any better ideas.” Temru nodded his agreement with her.

  “Middle door it is.” Valgrin waited until there wasn’t a pink beam on the door before pressing the latch. Something clicked loudly and the pink lights faded out. “Not what I was expecting. Should we continue going through the middle door?”

  “I hate not having anything other than hope to guide decisions.” Temru groused.

  Altayna scratched at her chin, then dropped her hand. “Well, I see two options that could make sense to what little we do know. Open the middle door, or press the latch on the two side doors now that there isn’t any light on them either, maybe pressing the three latches activates something?”

  “Kinda like bringing in the other doors into the mix,” Valgrin said, “the thing that changed was no more pink lights. Skwilly, being the light expert here, anything to add?”

  “Not really. I can stand here and debate my way out of doing anything,” He answered.

  “Temru, click the one by you and I’ll get this one.” Altayna took a deep breath and pressed the latch of the door to the left, a loud click sounded. Temru did the same to the door on the right, a loud click sounded and the middle door swung open.

  “Yay for our team,” Valgrin chuckled. “Skwilly a little light, please.”

  The light showed a room, walls carved from the mountain stone. Valgrin guessed it to be twelve to fifteen feet wide, maybe twenty-five feet deep. The ceiling was still raw cave, including the stalactites, and had at least a thirty foot clearance. The polished floor reflected enough light to the emptiness of the room.

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  Altayna's low whistle echoed off the bare walls. "Empty as a beggar's promise."

  Valgrin's boot heels clicked against polished stone as he ventured forward, muscles coiled tight. The bright glow from Skwilly cast long shadows that danced at the corners of his vision. Three steps in, his shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch.

  Stepping to the side, Temru ran his fingers along the wall. "Too quiet. Too clean."

  The door behind them slammed with a thunderous crack. They whirled around in unison, hands tightening on their weapons, only to watch the wooden surface shimmer like heat over sand before melting into solid granite.

  Altayna’s head swiveled, sending her ponytail whipping violently as she shot Temru a look that could have chipped granite. "The room heard you."

  Valgrin raised a finger to his lips. He cocked his head, straining to hear past his own heartbeat. There—a faint scratching sound, like tiny claws on stone, skittering just beyond the reach of Skwilly's light.

  “Can you get even brighter?” Valgrin asked, his head pivoting as he tried to find the creatures making the noise. A faint tightness pressed against his ribs, but he forced himself to breathe evenly.

  With a trembling voice, Skwilly whispered, “I can… but don’t look at me directly or you’ll be blinded. Hope this works—I really don’t want to meet whatever is making that noise.” His glow sharpened, pushing the shadows back until they shriveled into corners and vanished. For a moment, the brightness felt reassuring.

  Then the noise grew louder.

  “I still hear them… but I—I can’t see anything.” Altayna’s voice quaked, barely controlled, the sound of someone trying not to imagine the worst. She clutched her weapon as if it were the only solid thing left in the world.

  Temru swallowed hard before speaking. “Ceiling?” His voice cracked, the single word trembling as he cast frantic glances upward. “I can’t see them up there…maybe one of you can.” His breath hitched.

  A prickling cold crawled up Valgrin’s spine. The glow should have revealed everything—every crevice, every ledge—but the light only made the unseen presence feel closer, watching, waiting. The dread pressed deeper, swelling inside him until it throbbed behind his ribs.

  He tried to speak, but the words shuddered out of him in fragments. “I—I c-can’t…s-s-see…an-anyth—”

  A new sound slithered through the brightness—low, wet, impossibly near.

  Valgrin’s breath snapped short.

  The fear no longer whispered.

  It screamed.

  Skwilly shrieked—high, sharp, panicked. The sound knifed through the air, and the others jolted in pure instinct, their bodies reacting faster than their minds could catch up. For a heartbeat they all forgot the warning about his light. Blinding brilliance swallowed their vision, turning the world into a painful white void.

  They stumbled. They cursed. Panic fed on panic.

  “I—I can’t see!” Altayna gasped, her voice wobbling as she swung at empty air.

  Skwilly’s voice cracked into a squeal. “Something bit me!” His glowing form lurched and spun wildly in confusion. In the chaos he slammed into Valgrin, knocking him to the ground.

  All at once the group fell silent.

  Something else wasn’t.

  The sound rose from the darkness just beyond their ruined vision it was wet, rending, and deliberate. Flesh tearing. Bones cracking. A low, hungry growl vibrating through the floor. Something heavy and slick hit the stone beside them with a nauseating plop.

  No one breathed.

  Valgrin swallowed hard and reached a shaking hand to push himself up. His fingertips brushed against something solid yet horrifically damp, slick like freshly spilled blood but shaped like no stone or tool he’d ever touched. His hand recoiled on instinct, bile rising in his throat.

  Before he could register what it was, crack—the flat of a blade struck his temple.

  A rush of warmth bloomed behind his eye, and the world tilted sideways. His ears exploded into a ringing hum, drowning out everything else. The wet chewing, the growls, the choked breaths of his companions.

  In the sudden, merciful quiet, his terror loosened its claws.

  “It tried to grab my foot,” Temru screamed, “but I got a hit in.”

  “Was m-me. Trying t-to…g-get up.” Valgrin shouted over the noise in his head. Wait, can’t hear, less afraid. Thought I felt something bloody, but was Temru’s boot? He covered his ears and the horror lessened to fear, he quickly plugged his fingers in his ears and the fear vanished. “Yes!” he shouted.

  “Huh?” Altayna blurted out.

  “Cover your ears. Nothing there, some auditory fear spell.” Valgrin’s words tumbled out.

  “Working!” shouted Altayna.

  A game memory came rushing to Valgrin, “I disbelieve.” He shouted to the room, the monstrous noised vanished. “Everyone disbelieve, the magic is all illusion. Disbelieving should make it go away.” Wonder how saving throws work into the mix?

  “It worked for me,” Skwilly’s voice changed from fearful to confused. “The sounds went away, but so did the room. We’re in a normal cavern room, no walls, no polis…” He stopped midword.

  “You okay? Skwilly?” Valgrin called out in the direction he thought the voice came from.

  “Um…yeah…maybe. We’re not alone. Back wall is gone, five elves are staring at me.” Skwilly completed the emotional circle, fear was back in his voice.

  “I can’t see but I can still hurt you.” Altayna tried to sound tough, but failed.

  “You’re not frost giants nor their allies,” an unknown voice carried through the room, his statement teased at being almost a question.

  Valgrin blinked his eyes a few times, he could make out shadows and vague shapes. He turned to where he thought the back wall had been. “No, we’re not. Your cave showed up in Sevle territory and we were checking to see if it was a threat. The Structure sends caves, buildings, and other things here. Don’t think we know why.”

  Altayna jumped in quickly, “No, we don’t have a clue why the Structure does this. We just know it’s done it for generations.”

  Another voice joined the conversation, “If I understand, and you are being truthful, we are no longer in Obisic?”

  “Never head of it,” Temru answered. “You are in the Sevle Territory, Terska.”

  “And we have never heard of that, but from what we’ve just uncovered you are being truthful. Sorry, but we must be careful. The priggy is as we know, though we have never actually seen one. Then the remaining three of you look elvish, but with vast differences. One is short and blue, and two of you are very elvish but quite pale and, to us, the point of your ears is wrong. I would imagine ours ears look wrong to you. We are Elves, the five of us are Elementalists and the last five of our people. The Frost Giants have spent years in trying to eradicate us and have nearly succeeded.”

  A third voice joined in, “We must apologize for what you have faced. These were defenses to keep our enemies from finding the five of us. We are often called Frost or Snow Elves, but in truth we are just ordinary elves that live in a colder region.”

  “Then the Structure was right in sending you here,” Altayna bowed. “The Sevle Territory is one of constant snow, so you should fit in here. We must take you to see Caelith, he is the leader of the Sevle and remained with our base camp on this outing. We will have to have a guard near you during the meeting. We too need to be safe.”

  A buzz of whispering paused the conversation and then the first speaker turned back to address Valgrin and the others. “Your precaution is understood. I am called Therwon and have just been told I’m our leader. We would be most grateful to speak with Caelith.”

  “We can take you to him as soon as you are able to travel.” Temru declared.