Corrin awoke the next morning with a jolt and a whisper.

  “Pack your things, we’re moving.”

  It was Tutsoi, his voice as cold and emotionless as always. He hovered over Corrin like a drone until he sat up. Corrin took a look at Tutsoi. In all of their months together, he had learned hardly anything about Tutsoi aside from his sister dying in Nevarii because Tutsoi didn’t kill Lukas.

  “Where are we going?”

  Corrin began to pack his things. Tutsoi’s voice was commanding and authoritative, yet, among those things, there was a hint of mystery Corrin desperately wanted to see in the light.

  “A Cathedral. Apparently, that's where Elliot and Ivas last saw Nevarii, and they assume he’s still there.”

  Tutsoi left the room as he spoke, his voice quiet and direct. His hand was hovering over his broadsword's hilt as though bracing for an attack at any moment. The air nipped at Corrin’s skin as he gathered his belongings. A pack of basic supplies, his katana, the shard, and his courage. As Corrin left the room, he found all of the others getting their belongings ready.

  “What about Lukas?”

  Corrin found himself asking as he wondered about Lukas. He hadn’t heard any news regarding Lukas since they got there last night.

  “Elliot is staying here with Lukas and plans on looking for an antidote throughout the city. The antidote is another type of poison within the creature that you took down. It’s the only way he can be saved.”

  Corrin could only feel that it was his fault that Lukas was poisoned. If only he had been faster and lighter on his feet, he could have saved himself from his pain. As they all got ready to leave, Janis turned to all of them.

  “Remember, we’re only scouting. Under no circumstances are we to engage unless I give the command. Is that clear?”

  They all nod in unison, her authority once again put on full display as they exited the building. The cold instantly poured on them in frosty waves. Even while in the city, the wind blew as though nothing obstructed its path. They walked through the cold for a few minutes before they all entered another building that looked similar to all the others. Corrin would have asked why they were there if it were not for the fact that his question was answered nearly immediately.

  “We’re going through the sewer systems. It's the safest way through the city. And the warmest. There's an entrance in here.”

  She brought them to a wooden trapdoor and opened it, allowing them all to go in one at a time quickly and quietly. The ladder was old, rickety, and held together by rusty nails and decaying wood. The sewer itself had a thick air to it, like they were in constant smoke. A shallow water ran gently in the middle of two walkways on either side. Corrin found that Janis was right about the warmth; he felt the warmest he had since coming into the Fali Realm.

  The four of them, after traveling through the cold, welcomed the warmth with open arms. Though Corrin admitted, the warmth was not ‘warm’ by any means; simply a warmer cold. Eventually, they came across another opening, a decaying old ladder leading them up into it once again.

  “Here, this is our exit.”

  Janis climbed up the ladder first this time, which was a much longer climb than before, and took a peek through the trapdoor before determining it was safe enough to leave. They were standing upon a brick walkway that overlooked the main part of the Cathedral from above, and the trapdoor was integrated into the walls, which was a very strange design. Of course, this was a very strange place, so it fit.

  The four quietly found their places on the bricks overlooking the main sanctuary below and gazed upon it. Below, there was nobody. They sat in silence for longer, and eventually waited there for nearly an hour. But still, nobody appeared. Janis sighed.

  “I don’t detect any kind of mind aside from our own, so he’s not here. I only hope and pray that—”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Suddenly, buckets of ice-cold water poured on them from above, and their body temperatures instantly dropped. Corrin fell to the ground, his body searing from the cold. His teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, and he looked up to see who had poured the buckets on them. From above, the buckets were held together by a chain that hovered vaguely over them. Janis turned down.

  “I f-feel their presence, their c-close!”

  She stuttered the words out, the cold clearly making its mark on her. She grabbed her ball and chain, which had been lying readily below her pack, and brought it up. Ivas and Tutsoi readied their broadswords, and Corrin unsheathed his katana with a zing. Corrin’s movements were stiff; he wouldn’t be able to fight at the same level he had been before.

  “B-Below us!”

  Janis looked down, and instantly the bricks on which they stood began to crumble and fall. Corrin slowed time around himself. While it was nowhere near a crawl, he could physically react much quicker when time was slowed as it was then. His months of training were paying off well, and the cold he felt was nearly negated due to the time being slowed. This time, he wouldn’t let Nevarii get the better of them.

  The dust around the bricks swayed away, and Corrin had a direct line of sight to what lay below them: dozens of hovering chains. It was clear that he was here. The same person who had some kind of magnetism, Resonance. Corrin feared what he was capable of, but also who he could be.

  Corrin raised his sword and swung at the chains to hit them away, and much to his relief, they moved as the black steel rang through the air. The others reacted around the same, though all of their movements were stiff, the cold they felt having worn off none.

  Below the chains were dozens of horrid creatures; dogs without fur and much, much larger. Corrin’s mind began to race. Out of all four of them, Corrin was the one who had the most time to think. After thinking for much longer than he should have, he had an idea. He latched hands with Tutsoi next to him, hoping and praying he would catch on to what he was planning.

  Tutsoi grabbed onto Ivas’s hand next to his own, and Ivas grabbed onto Janis’s hand. This was it, their escape plan. Before Corrin moved, he realized that they were far too close to the ground. To do what they were planning now, Corrin would practically be directly next to the flesh dogs. But he never had to do anything. Instead, Janis moved.

  She swung her body around, using the momentum of swinging to lift up Corrin, Tutsoi, and Ivas all at once towards the wall. Corrin brought his sword around and stuck it into the rocks. Tutsoi and Ivas did the same. Janis threw her ball and chain, which dislodged some of the bricks, and they began to tumble down. Corrin used the opportunity to jump through the now destroyed wall into another room.

  They all collapsed onto the brick floor, and time reverted to normal. Corrin began to shiver harder; the cold was getting worse. He looked around, hoping to see Janis ready to give orders, but she was nowhere in sight.

  Over the rubble of rocks came deathly, horrifying screams. The screams of a person as though their body was being torn limb from limb by flesh dogs. Corrin stood up all the way, looking desperately for an exit, because he knew the moment the dogs were finished with her, they would climb over the rubble and make their way to three more bloody meals.

  But he finds none. It seems the only way to escape would be to break down the wall behind them, which was difficult, but was possible. Suddenly, without them having to move, the wall breaks down on its own towards them, Corrin readying for anything that would come through. Fortunately, he did not need to prepare himself at all for what came through. Falcia, in her magnificent, glowing lightning, was breaking through the wall at incredible speeds. She was flanked by four other people, Corrin figured were part of the Information Division, including Elliot as one of them. Behind her, not in the four, was Mary, holding a dagger, clearly panicking.

  Corrin turned towards the flesh dogs, which had begun climbing over the rubble seeking blood. He knew that this was the moment they were going to defeat Nevarii. He had to be close if these things were here.

  Golden light flew through the room as both Corrin and Tutsoi readied themselves.