The cathedral was tall, dark and whispering. This morning Alek would enter the dungeon below by Broken Fang’s side.

  Kill yourself, Saleos commanded, reminding Alek of what he was training for.

  When I am stronger I will come back and I will pay you back ten fold. Alek didn’t think Saleos could hear his responses, but he gave them anyway. He just wished he could tell his Mum to wait for him. Wait, because he would go back to Hell for her.

  Alek rubbed his jaw; it felt strangely okay this morning. The pain hadn’t kicked in during the fight, the adrenaline was too strong, but when the fight was over and Rowan pulled Alek away it all caught up. Alek wanted to scream, but it was too painful to try. It took Rowan until sunset to put Alek’s jaw right and heal every major injury, including broken ribs and a fractured skull. When Rowan finished in the dim light and wiped his sweaty brow, he seemed to have aged a full year.

  Alek was older too. He had only been training for two weeks, but in that time he had spent so much life span he was distinctly taller, his tattered shirt feeling tight around the shoulders. Alek touched the dagger strapped to his side, it felt at home.

  A heavy hand slapped Alek’s back, pushing him to stumble. ‘Don’t get cold feet now, Kid.’ Eddie strode past him without looking back. ‘You’re the only reason we are going back into the she-bitch, so I won't hit you so softly the next time you doze off.’

  That was softly?

  A hand rested on his shoulder then brushed past, following Eddie. Jarrah strolled forward, not looking back. Another hand on his left shoulder and a palm on his head ruffling his hair. It was Aria and Rowan, she with her oversized witch’s hat and him with a backpack looking heavier than her. Alek chased after them, demonic voices forgotten.

  Broken Fang marched through the shadowy door of the cathedral and he followed. Aria raised her staff and a white orb formed. It lit the area around them, but the darkness inside the cathedral was oppressive, closing in. She made five orbs, one for each member. Alek received his and it floated just above his head. Another skill I couldn’t learn. Like Jarrah, Aria spent several hours teaching Alek magic, but he was next to hopeless. Finally, Aria was able to teach him fire magic, which he learnt without trouble, but that would not be useful inside a dungeon where air was limited. He would rely entirely on his blade. A blade without a coating.

  ‘This way,’ Rowan said, now leading the pack.

  They walked past the bronze disk that sat in the center of the cathedral. Alek had been down this path before chasing his mother’s sobs. This time Alek noticed something he didn’t see before, the roof was open sky directly above the plate. Strange. No one in Broken Fang paid the plate any mind and none seemed to see the black purple aura that swirled around it.

  Kill yourself, Saleos whispered and no one else heard him.

  Deeper into the cathedral they went. Silence held them until Alek could hear nothing but footsteps, shuffling clothes and soft breathing. Rowan cleared his throat and the party stopped at their first obstacle. A staircase, leading to level one of T’karamatu. The burrow was covered by a sheet of faint gold light that Alek recognized as a barrier like the one around the city. Eddie ignited his coating and when he put his hand on Rowan's shoulder, it covered his skin too. They moved through together and when they were below Aria descended after them, leaving only Jarrah and Alek.

  ‘Do you want me to coat you?’ Jarrah asked, but the unsaid question was Do you want me to pretend to coat you? As both knew, it was impossible to coat Alek, something that so far they had kept hidden from the rest of Broken Fang, particularly Eddie.

  The first day they entered the city over the great black walls Alek had walked through the barrier without a coating; something that according to Jarrah was fundamentally impossible. Since then they had gone in and out of the city a dozen times. They hid it from Eddie who did not need another reason to find Alek strange, but now it seemed silly to hide it.

  All of Broken Fang were looking and waiting. Alek shook his head and stepped through the barrier, no coating and no resistance. Rowan raised his eyebrows, but that was the greatest reaction he got. Aria showed zero interest and Eddie turned back down the stairs.

  ‘You don’t find that strange?’ Alek asked.

  ‘Kid, that was the least strange thing you've done since we met you.’

  * * * *

  When they were deep in the third floor the thud of metal boots reverberated off the cold, stone walls. Armored ghosts were swaying at the end of the hall. Their joints clinked and black smoke oozed from their rust tinged visors. Behind the ghosts, two lights - one green, one orange - flashed.

  ‘We got company,’ Eddie yelled, lifting his giant axe.

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  The heavy, empty sets of armor lumbered forward and between their ranks two gem bullets exploded forward, whistling as they flew. Aria had a bolt of metal formed and spinning that she cast to match. It collided with the topaz, shattering it. The emerald went for Eddie. He blocked with his axe, but then the armored ghosts were on him.

  Eddie grunted as he collapsed under their weight, dropping to one knee. On each arm, two hulking figures pushed against him. Two more crystal bolts glinted from the shadows.

  ‘Alek!’

  Alek was there. He warped to Eddie’s side, jamming the dagger deep into the ghost’s visor, crackling the floating red brain inside. Eddie went to crush the head of the second ghost, but Alek was faster. Both ghosts crumbled into loose armor on the floor and black dust.

  Alek dropped to the floor huffing, his muscles were crying out in pain and even his head thrummed with a steady ache. Alek had learnt to boost more than just his muscles. Boosting his eyes and brain was necessary to keep up with the speed of combat, but this was all too much too quickly and his body knew it.

  Eddie’s calloused hand gripped Alek’s arm so tight it cut off its circulation and then he threw Alek against the dungeon’s wall. The little wind in his chest was knocked out and Alek failed to draw breath when he gasped. An emerald bullet cut through where Alek’s head was a moment ago, but it disappeared into the darkness, that whistle its only evidence.

  ‘Pay attention, Kid.’

  Alek finally felt the pull of air into his lungs. It tasted so sweet despite how musty and stale the air was below ground.

  Aria fired a spell that sounded like an explosion followed by two cracking sounds down the hall. The crystal walkers had been shattered.

  ‘We need to keep moving,’ Rowan said. ‘This is the final push.’

  * * * *

  At the end of a long hallway where the floor slanted ever so slightly downwards, there was an open door. Inside was an armory unlike anything Alek had ever seen. Dozens of sets of steel plate lined the walls, shelves were packed with countless swords and in the center of the room was a pile of gemstones that was taller than Aria - not that it took much to accomplish. Some of the armor had started to rust, and all of it had collected thick mats of dust, but for the most part all of the equipment was pristine.

  ‘Holy,’ Eddie said, strolling into the armory with his arms outstretched.

  The rest of Broken Fang piled through the door, Jarrah fending off several rock spiders going for a final pounce. When he slipped through Rowan slammed the door, holding it with his back as several thudded against its wood. Rowan slid down to the ground, huffing.

  ‘We made it,’ Jarrah said, hands on his knees. ‘We finally conquered the third floor.’

  Alek felt a weak punch to his shoulder. Aria in her oversized hat was next to him, covered in dust and smiling. ‘It’s all thanks to you, Alek. You made the difference.’

  Eddie, seemingly uninterested in the moment, walked to the nearest set of shining steel. He bent down, looking at his warped reflection in the breastplate. Knocking it twice with his knuckles, it chimed dull ring. ‘This is top quality kit, better than anything Henry forges at that mass producing factory of his back in Kerioth. Not to mention all of these gems,’ he said, gesturing to the shining pile. ‘There is a fortune lying at our feet.’

  ‘We will need to destroy it all,’ Jarrah said.

  ‘What?’ Rowan cried, clearly liking Eddie’s plan more.

  ‘Bugger off,’ Eddie said. ‘This will set us up to retire for life, for several lifetimes.’

  ‘What vessel do you think the ghosts have been using?’ Jarrah asked. ‘Same for the crystal walkers.’

  This went back and forth, but while they argued, Alek took in the whole room. Behind him, Rowan was still fiddling with the door; next to him were a few loose chairs. On both walls were at least a hundred sets of armor that ranged in sizes from about five and a half feet to over seven. On the taller side, many sets of armor were missing, leaving gaps in the row. On the far wall were racks of swords, most rusted beyond repair likely due to the slow drip of water that fell from the ceiling directly above. The center of the room was filled with a disorganized pile of cut and polished gemstones of many different colors. Most only a few carats, but some were larger than Alek’s fist. Finally, on the far side was a staircase that led deeper into the dungeon with a barrier so thick it cast a golden glow over Eddie’s face, a glow that Alek realized no one else could see.

  ‘I did wonder where the armor was coming from,’ Eddie said. ‘In other dungeons it was usually some bargain trash. Whatever previous adventurers were wearing when they died inside whereas here every set was identical, but that doesn’t mean we have to destroy it all.’

  Alek saw something skip across his vision. Two small red lights flying together. They floated like fairies, blown by an invisible wind until they came to rest in two sets of armor right behind Eddie.

  ‘Eddie!’ Alek called out, but it was too late.

  Thick iron arms wrapped around his neck. They squeezed and the giant man was lifted off the ground, choking. A bolt of ice shot past, cutting Eddie’s cheek, but smashing into the visor behind him. Alek warped onto the other before it could even step off the stand. The armor fell.

  There was an awkward silence as Eddie rose to his feet and coughed, rubbing his neck. Then finally, he said, ‘Alright, let's get rid of em.’

  ‘We won't have to worry about sets that have previously inhabited,’ Aria said, ‘and I should be able to cast a hex over the gemstones to prevent any more crystal walkers.’

  It took three hours to destroy the remaining sets of armor and hex the gemstones, but when it was done the hard work of the day had only just begun. They did four trips trucking the gemstones up to their camp on the surface. Each trip they had to fight off rock spiders, but there were no more encounters with armored ghosts or crystal walkers. After the first trip, they all wore saddlebags from the horses to carry heavier loads and when Alek finally laid down in the rising morning sun, he swore his back had broken.

  There were still deeper floors below.