Luna and Sol dashed ahead, running into the wheat field. Alaric and the others followed them. Ava and Reuban kept an eye behind them, just in case this was some sort of ambush. The field stretched across the terrain, dyeing the world in gold. The spire was farther away than they thought, so they walked for quite some time. Accompanied by chirping birds, butterflies flying around them, and the distant screeches they’d been hearing for a while now, they waded through the wheat plants, eventually reaching the spire.

  A set of wide stairs led up towards a large, closed, obsidian door, matching the rest of the structure. Above it, a large balcony jutted out of the second, casting shade over the entrance.

  “Right. Let’s see if we can go in.” Ava stopped in front of the door, pressed her hands on it, and pushed.

  A deafening creak echoed inside the structure as the doors moved ever so slightly. Ava stepped back, somewhat startled. “I think I need help. It’s bloody heavy.”

  All five of them pushed the left wing of the door. A deafening creak and quite a bit of effort later, the door was a quarter of the way open – just wide enough to let them pass.

  “I suppose the challenge was the door?” Jason mumbled with a shrug, drew his sword and stepped inside. Crimson lights lit up as soon as he took the first step. Alaric followed him, and so did Ava, Clara and Reuban.

  The entire first floor of the structure was once again a large, hexagonal chamber. Each of the six walls had murals painted on them. While their colours had somewhat faded, they still had been preserved remarkably well.

  The first mural to his right depicted a woman with blonde hair, wearing a beautiful white dress. She held up a torch high above her head. Her expression was serene, yet proud. When he looked at the mural a little more closely, he spotted small creatures in the background, burning.

  The second mural depicted her sitting on a throne. Her eyes were closed, and there were people kneeling before her.

  In the third mural, she offered her hand towards the kneeling people. Her expression was brave and defiant, smiling. Her clothes were that of a warrior now, and her torch a burning spear.

  The fourth mural depicted storm clouds gathering above. The woman was standing on a castle wall. A host of angelic beings had gathered around her, flying just out of her reach. They were wounded and bleeding. Blood dripped from her spear.

  The fifth mural showed a shadow cover the lands. The woman was kneeling, her spear broken in half, her fire extinguished. Two silhouettes stood before her, not even looking at her. One was white, the other pitch black.

  The sixth and final mural depicted her wearing a white, bloodied dress, laying on the floor in a pool of blood. The terrain around her was black, with crimson strands of light spreading.

  Each of the murals had text under them, though none of the symbols used meant anything to Alaric.

  “… well that’s dreary.” Jason folded his arms. “Didn’t you get a book at some point? Is it the same language?”

  Ava materialised the book. “Yeah. Here,” She handed it over to Alaric.

  “I think it’s the same.” Who is that woman? And is that corruption the same as what we’re experiencing around some of the spires? It looked similar, but without understanding the text, he refrained from leaping to conclusions. “Whoever she is… looks like she died. As dreary as it is, let’s focus on the task at hand first.”

  He closed the book, gave it back to Ava, then headed for the stairs. Luna and Sol climbed ahead of him. As they reached the top step, their stance became lower. They sniffed the air, letting out a soft whine.

  He unsheathed his blade. There’s something up there.

  With the others just a step behind him, he slowly walked past the wolves.

  The pedestal housing the mana core was in the middle of the room. A large archway opened up to the wide, spacious balcony they’d seen from the outside. He couldn’t see anything threatening, there were no spiders on the walls, or creatures in the shadows waiting to leap at him.

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  A rather unpleasant stench was what stopped him in his tracks. The stench of blood, raw flesh, and excrement.

  “Did something die up there?” Clara asked through her sleeve she covered her mouth and nose with.

  “Certainly smells like it.” Alaric muttered as he also covered his nose and climbed up the final couple of steps.

  The stench came from the wide balcony. He took a few steps towards it, then paused. There was a large nest made of hay grass, long sticks, what looked like torn vines and cloth. The entire thing was splattered with blood. A few cleaned bones were sticking out from under the cloth, and something golden glinted with the sunlight.

  “Clara, take the mana core.” He approached the balcony. Please don’t belong to a wyvern or something. He pleaded to whatever god would even care as he stepped closer to the nest and crouched. He waited without moving for a short while.

  There were no eggs. That’s a relief. At least they wouldn’t have to suffer an angry mother’s wrath on top of everything else. A few brown and white feathers were stuck to the hay grass. He picked one up, marvelling at how soft and large it was. The smallest feather was as long as his forearm, and wider than his stretched out hand.

  A big bird? He searched his memory, and what little he knew of myth and legends. A few large birds came to mind – none particularly helped ease his worries.

  “The bloody thing is stuck with these veins.” Clara grunted. Jason and Ava offered her help.

  He didn’t pay much attention to them as he lifted the cloth ever so slightly. The stench, even stronger now, hit him. He could feel his eyes water slightly, but holding onto his courage fuelled by curiosity, he lifted the cloth enough to see what was beneath it.

  Bits and pieces of bones, some picked clean, some still with some meat and… other things on them were neatly arranged in a small pile. Some of those bones looked awfully much like human skulls. He quickly looked at other things, trying not to think about that.

  A few pieces of jewellery immediately caught his attention. While most were just golden or silver bracelets and rings, he did spot a few necklaces as well.

  These must have belonged to people. None were particularly clean. Some had bloodstains, others just had the normal wear and tear of old jewellery. He was about to drop the cloth and leave when he noticed a hairpin.

  It was made of a red material and housed several black gemstones. At first glance, it looked like a pretty piece of jewellery – except for the familiar symbols carved on it. Curiosity got the best of him as he reached out to it. It was cold to the touch and stained with blood like everything else in the nest. He lifted it up to the sunlight. There was no mistaking it. Those symbols were similar to the ones in the book, under the murals, and on the stele in the orchard.

  This belongs in this new world. He took a second glance at everything else in the nest, searching for more of these symbols. None of the other pieces of jewellery were carved with this foreign language. Half disappointed and half proud that he did actually find this, he put the cloth back down, stood up and went back to the others.

  “We can’t remove the damn thing.” Jason admitted as soon as he noticed Alaric approaching. “Look at it!”

  The mana core was still on the pedestal. Crimson veins wrapped around it, fixing it in place. “If we try to break the veins, the core will probably break too.” Reuban let out a sigh and glanced at Clara. “It was a good idea, but it won’t work.”

  “Then we break the core and hurry back to camp.” Alaric glanced at Ava. “You’ve still got the hammer, right?”

  She nodded wordlessly as the small hammer materialised out of thin air. Practical. He took it, gestured the others to step back, raised it above his head, and smashed it against the mana core.

  A loud crack resonated before it shattered into way too many pieces.

  OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED

  YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE MANA CORE

  THE SOUTHEASTERN NESTING SPIRE SLUMBERS

  REWARDS GRANTED:

  PHYSICAL ABILITIES INCREASED MINISCULLY

  MANA INCRESEAD

  MAGICAL APTITUDE INCREASED

  NESTING SPIRES REMAINING: 0

  The text appeared, then was quickly replaced with another system window.

  OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED

  YOU HAVE PUT ALL FOUR NESTING SPIRES TO REST

  REWARDS GRANTED:

  PHYSICAL ABILITIES INCREASED MINISCULLY

  THE STRENGTH OF THE HALLOWED GROUND HAS BEEN INCREASED

  YOU HAVE DESTROYED ALL FOUR MANA CORES

  REWARDS CHOICE AVAILABLE:

  IMMENSE INCREASE TO MANA

  IMMENSE INCREASE TO PHYSICAL ABILITY

  24 HOUR DELAY TO THE NEXT OBJECTIVE

  LANGUAGE ABSORBSION – ENOCHIAN