It was difficult to choose which nesting spire to attack. The one in the northwest was surrounded with spiderwebs, gigantic spiders, and likely even worse monsters by now. The one to the southeast was way too close to what used to be Fairford, now shrouded in fog. It was nearly half a day’s walk away. They had absolutely no information about what was there – even the terrain itself was a mystery.

  “We can rule out that one,” he pointed at it. Luna woofed in response, wagging her tail a little, then continued chewing on the large deer bone Robert had given her. He had quite a good hunting trip in the afternoon, apparently.

  “That leaves two.” Alaric muttered, shifting his gaze to the northeastern spire. It was mostly hidden behind a stretch of trees, and its surroundings had likely begun to terraform already. “At least there are no spiders there.”

  When Sol poked him with its snout, he realised he had stopped petting it. “Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled softly. “No spiders is good enough for me.” But we don’t know what is there. What if something worse awaited them there? Gigantic praying mantises or ants, for example? The thought alone sent a shudder down his spine, prompting both wolves to shoot a worried glance at him.

  “We can do some recon first.” He finally decided, petting both wolves before pushing himself up on his feet.

  “Talking with them already, lad?” Robert’s voice startled him. How was the man moving so quietly?

  “I guess.” He chuckled. “Makes it easier to collect my thoughts.”

  “Of course it does.” The man climbed up the boulder. “Have you decided?”

  “I think so. I think we should check that one out.” He pointed at the northeastern spire. “And I think we need a few more… allies.”

  Robert nodded. “That you do, lad. But not abominations. We’re not made to live together with those. What you need are companions. Never forget that.” He sat down and started scratching Sol’s neck with a nostalgic smile.

  ***

  They left shortly after dawn, emboldened by yesterday’s victory. The wolves ran ahead scouting and guarded them as they saved most of their strength for the battle that likely awaited them.

  “It’s quite different here,” Victoria said as the spire finally entered their field of view after nearly a whole hour of walking. The terrain was similar, albeit a bit hillier than the rest of the surroundings of the Hallowed Ground. A thin, long treeline had been blocking most of their vision, but they passed through it with little to no challenge. The only thing hurt was Ava’s pride as she walked into a tree when not looking in front of her.

  “Magic?”

  Victoria nodded. “Just like it was around the other spire, but way stronger.”

  Is it worse than the spider spire or better? He hated that he couldn’t tell. If only he was able to see this stuff like her…

  The spire was sitting on a hill, surrounded by a small field of black and crimson flowers blooming. It was an oddly beautiful, but also eerie sight. The structure itself was a lot more… well, structure-like than the rock the southwestern one was. None of it seemed like it was natural, aside from the fact that there were no seams, no sign that this was constructed from smaller blocks and bricks.

  “It looks like it was cut from a single big rock.” Lochlan scowled. “That shouldn’t be possible though.” He folded his arms and glared at the structure from afar. “I don’t understand how they did it. It has to be magic, or something like that. Right?”

  Erik and Avery nodded, while Jason just sighed. “This is what you find the most surprising here?” He asked. “It appeared out of nowhere – I don’t think how it was made matters!”

  While Alaric did agree with the guy, Lochlan’s words did make him think. Magic that could shape obsidian at will, into a structure like this. If only we were able to do that – fixing the church would be so easy.

  “Let’s – carefully – approach,” he suggested, unsheathing his sword. Jason and his four friends followed him, with Ava, Clara, the twins, Edward and Carl trailing a few steps behind.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  So far, nothing had moved around them aside from the butterflies having the feast of their lives on the vibrant, beautiful flowers, and a few birds flying above them. His chest was tense as they approached the spire. The heavy doors were closed, and its windows were simply too high to reach.

  We could try to climb. It would be difficult, but if everyone worked together, they’d probably reach the balcony above the large doors.

  He stepped onto the obsidian steps, then braced himself, half expecting the door to burst open. A few seconds passed in awkward silence.

  “I think it’s fine?” Clara glanced at the others, who shrugged.

  “I suppose.” Where are the enemies? He couldn’t help but wonder as he climbed the remaining four steps and arrived in front of the large door. He reached for it but stopped before his fingers touched its surface. “Victoria, let me know if you notice anything odd.”

  The young woman nodded.

  He pressed his palm against the door. The smooth obsidian surface was cold to the touch, and the door opened with ease as soon as he pushed even a little.

  THE NORTHEASTERN NESTING SPIRE IS OPEN

  FIND THE MANA CORE AND CLEANSE OR DESTROY IT

  He pushed away the system window and stepped inside.

  Torches burst into flame with each step he took. The flames burned an eerie crimson, dyeing the obsidian structure red. His gaze darted from corner to corner, looking for enemies, for the next thing that would come for his life.

  Nothing came. Nothing leapt out of the shadows, nothing tried to tear his limbs apart.

  He walked further inside. More torches lit up, revealing the large, hexagonal chamber. A set of stairs led upwards, and wide hallway sloped downwards at a dangerous angle across the door. It was quite a similar chamber to the first spire they shut down, but there was no pedestal, and thus, no mana core at the centre of it.

  “Do we go up, or down?” Clara approached the sloped hallway, tying to see where it led. “I don’t like down. Way too dark.” She quickly took a few steps back and nervously glanced around.

  “We should go up.” Victoria opened her eyes. “I can feel more magic upwards. It’s like a fount, overflowing. It’s weird.” She still seemed to have trouble describing exactly what she felt, but it was good enough for now.

  “Upwards it is.” Tightening his grasp on the sword’s hilt, he moved towards the stairs. Luna and Sol dashed ahead. The stairs were narrow, steep and dark, but torches once again burst into flame as he climbed them. The crimson flame was unnerving. Better than pitch blackness.

  A large, hexagonal table took up most of the space on the second floor. It was surrounded by high backed chairs and had a rather intricate chandelier hanging over it. Alaric scowled as he walked up to the table and ran his fingers along its surface.

  There wasn’t a speck of dust on it. Too clean. He touched the high backed chairs. Also clean. His gaze darted to the rest of the chamber – two of the six walls were covered in windows, one opened up to the balcony they saw above the door, one housed a rather odd mural, and the remaining two were lined with intricate cupboards, housing crystalline glasses and bottles filled with different coloured liquids.

  “This is different…” Ava mumbled. She was the last to climb the stairs.

  Alaric turned his gaze to the mural.

  It depicted several figures, standing before what looked like sun. Most of the mural was simply too weathered, and the details on the figures were long gone, but one of them still had a couple of distinct details.

  It was a woman with long hair, wearing a long dress. Its gown reminded him of wings, as it was almost fully made up of feathers, and the bottom of it was badly damaged and torn, showing her legs and bare feet. Her back was turned, just like all the other figures.

  What does this even mean?

  There was no mural, no such details in the other spire. So why was this one different? Should I be relieved or worried? Was it a trap? Or information they were supposed to make sense of?

  Does it have anything to do with the Empyrean?

  They spent some time going through the cupboards and trying to find something – anything – that would help them make sense of what they were seeing. After a short while, and nothing to show for their efforts, they continued upwards, to the third floor.

  “Ah!” Victoria exclaimed as they arrived on the third floor, housing the mana core. Just like before, it was on a pedestal in the centre of the room. Once again, the pedestal was the only notable thing in the chamber.

  “I’ll try cleansing it again.” Victoria approached the mana core and closed her eyes while hovering her hand just above the crystal.

  “I don’t think I can do it.”

  Victoria’s voice pulled his attention away from his surroundings. “We’ll destroy it then.”

  The young woman seemed somewhat disappointed in herself. As she returned to the lower floor with Clara and Elizabeth, Ava handed him a hammer. “Please do the honours.” She glanced at the mana core. “It’s making me uncomfortable.”

  “Yeah…” He smashed it into pieces.

  OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED

  YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE MANA CORE

  THE NORTHEASTERN NESTING SPIRE SLUMBERS

  REWARDS GRANTED:

  PHYSICAL ABILITIES INCREASED MINISCULLY

  MANA INCRESEAD

  MAGICAL APTITUDE INCREASED

  NESTING SPIRES REMAINING: 2

  Ava clenched and unclenched her fist. “That’s useful,” she muttered before taking the hammer and making it vanish. “We should probably go back to camp, what do you think?”

  “Yeah.” Alaric glanced around. He was still feeling uneasy. This was too simple. “This was… easy.” He hesitated, glancing at Ava. The young woman chuckled. “Yeah. A welcome change, I say.”