Marquis Gomon took the lead into the uncharted tunnel that spread before them, his scalp was tingling with anticipation, his excitement of exploring never before seen places and planes had reawakened when they found the humongous heart in the cave they turned into their hideout, but this was far more breathtaking...
Crystalized walls that shimmered and glowed in hues of blue, green and orange were painted onto all sides, it looked like a corridor of coloured glass, stalactites hung down from the ceiling, and stalagmites protruded from the cave floor.
The dripping of water echoed up and down the path, an atmosphere and sight so different from the previous, that it took the remainder of the expedition by surprise.
They were moving in a single file; the way down was too narrow to accommodate formations where they moved shoulder to shoulder, but with four rank threes at the front, as well as one in the back, the warriors in the middle were thoroughly protected... at least in theory.
Marquis Gomon tilted his head to the side to look over his shoulder as they arrived at another intersection, "Down the middle, three, no, four locals." Daren said unprompted, he was fiddling with something invisible in one hand, while the other held onto Marv.
The Marquis nodded, then continued moving, "But take care, we might cause a cave-in if the crystal wall gets shattered." Daren added.
Another droplet of water raced to the ground, but was suspended in the air, others behaved similarly, together they formed a thin line that zoomed down into the tunnel.
Thuds echoed back up to the group as Marquis Gomon scoffed and lectured, "You don't need big flashy spells for everything."
They continued, having to step over the bodies of the freshly decapitated Treemen to descend even further, where it was getting harder to breathe due to the limited airflow, until the cave opened into a wide space with iceberg-like creations that contained vague outlines of humanoid shapes.
The group huddled while observing the glimmering walls that reflected themselves, the place felt so empty from its sheer size alone, and a loud rhythmic beating reverberated from deeper in.
"It's here. Get ready to strike!" Marquis Gomon walked ahead; the centre was getting closer without any obstructions.
The sound was tickling their eardrums and grew in intensity as they approached the source, a massive pulsing organ, that glowed in the same orange hue as the Flyers.
Beneath it was another small lake, with water as clear as the crystals that surrounded it.
Kassan reached his trembling hand out, a small chuckle escaped him, "Is this it?" a nervous smile formed on his mouth, "Even without eyes, I can see its majestic form..."
He inhaled a shaky breath, "A heart of this magnitude... what manner of creature could it belong to?"
"Doesn't matter, we are here to destroy it, don't forget that." Marquis Gomon said sternly.
"Right. Of course, I was just marvelling over this... thing... that eluded our expedition all this time." Kassan nodded, "You managed to destroy it previously, by combining the attacks from multiple rank three mages? Its defences must be far weaker than it seems."
"Hm? What are you saying? Is there something you noticed about it?" Winny squinted her eyes at him.
Kassan shook his head, his lips remained sealed.
"Daren, Winny, Plamus, and Kassan, with the five of us this one won't be standing a chance." the Marquis looked into the back of their group, from which Plamus was seen moving up to meet them, with Reyna in tow.
The injured were set down on the ground to recover from their exhaustion, "Is the water drinkable? The one in our old cave was..." their eyes hungered for the liquid within the lake.
Plamus clutched his stomach, he didn't spare a glance to the others as he prepared to move by the rank three mages, but Daren grabbed his arm, preventing him from going any further.
Plamus tried to yank his arm free, but couldn't muster enough strength, "I'll give you five seconds to let go." he glared into Daren's face, yet Daren's head was tilted upwards.
"I recommend you reconsider." Daren whispered, the roof of the cave above the heart was the dimmest part, and when Plamus looked up, it was hard not to figure out why.
Daren let go of him, and Plamus stepped back from the lake's direction, "How many is that?" he asked.
"How many is what?" Kassan turned to them, while Marquis Gomon and Winny followed their gazes upwards.
"Dear gods..." the Marquis exclaimed.
It wasn't that the shimmering of the walls couldn't reach up there, but that groups of shadows blocked out the light.
The shadows fell from the ceiling; they landed between the humans and the heart.
Even Kassan now knew what troubled them, a low humming filled the air as tens of heads turned towards them; a horde of rank three monsters had popped into existence as simply as a snap of the finger.
"Well, it was nice knowing you all." Winny's attention trailed towards the exit.
"Remember!" Kassan shouted, "There is no survival out there! Today we either slay all locals or die trying! Spend everything at your disposal, for you won't need it in the afterlife!" with a pat on his chest a bunch of light particles sprang out of him.
The light cut its way into the ocean of rank three beasts, the warriors behind Kassan jumped to action and entered the fray.
"Get me to the lake!" he ordered.
If this place was anything like the previous, then there would be an abundance of particles within the crystals underneath the heart, all but waiting for him to be used.
"Likewise!" Marquis Gomon bellowed, he could scrape together enough for spells, but there was a treasure chest right at their feet, that only needed to be opened.
But the beasts fought back, and did so with fearsome efficiency, as the regular and low ranked humans were torn through in mere moments, leaving the injured largely to fend for themselves, except for Marv, who was strapped onto Daren's back.
Plamus' darkness spread through the ranks of monsters, then disoriented and crippled multiple groups, allowing Kassan and Marquis Gomon to wipe them out with a yellow crescent arc and a blue slithering viper respectively.
Both parties were taking major losses, though on the human end the impact from the deaths was hardly noticeable, with all of its mages bundled together.
"Winny!" Kassan called out with a heavy heart, he would have to sacrifice the last shred of dignity his subordinates had, but they were running out of chances and could hardly make a dent in the ocean of locals.
However contrary to his expectations, that she would gleefully go on a frenzy, she did not act and simply remained close to Marquis Gomon's side.
"She won't be of much use right now!" the old man shouted back words that confused Kassan even further, if this wasn't a death mage's most favourable position, then what was?
"Daren, stop hesitating!" Marquis Gomon scolded, "The longer this fight drags on, the less of us will make it out of here! Pay no mind to the warriors! They would gladly give their lives if it meant our victory!"
Daren clenched his teeth, he threw is head from one side to the other, fighting an internal battle with his conscious, "Damn! Stay close to me!" wind burst forth, surrounding the rank three mages and Reyna.
Hair and clothes fluttered uncontrollably, and everything outside felt an irresistible pull towards the vortex.
A tornado formed, scraping against the ceiling, and tearing into the floor, locals and humans were pulled in indiscriminately.
The surfaces of the crystal structures were getting chipped away, the figures within turned restless, but were unable to break free on their own.
Daren and the others stood within the eye of the storm, nearly unaffected by the spell, corpses were lifted off the ground and tossed through the air like mannequins.
His face contorted, his fingers trembled from overexertion, he winced but ultimately failed to keep up his spell without a steady supply of wind!
Tears remained where the tornado had passed, the bodies, both dead and alive hit the hard ground.
"I'm all out..." he mumbled, fear creeped up on him as he ran out of particles, the requirement, the baseline, of being a mage.
Every beat from the heart felt like a strike to his head, a deafening and soul-crushing sensation overcame him, looking to drag him to the ground and beat him into submission.
"Get up! This isn't over yet!" Marquis Gomon cut into the torrent of monsters, but their efforts weren't nearly enough to battle the numbers that separated them from the lake.
Claws hacked at his limbs; his protections held firm at first but could only go so far while on the receiving end of a relentless assault.
Blood splattered onto the ground as wounds spread along his arms and back.
A short-lived cackling filled the air, Winny pointed her index and middle finger at the Marquis, a streak of yellow flashed by him, lighting up the cave, and puncturing those in its path.
Marquis Gomon took the chance to create some distance.
"Ha..." he huffed, throwing a grateful nod in Winny's direction, he felt that she might have been better off saving her spells, but since losing his life was the alternative, he didn't dare complain.
"A dual elemental mage?!" Kassan blurted, but his words got drowned out by the wails of dying monsters as Plamus' magic ravaged them, spots of pitch black consumed them, biting chunks out of their bodies with unseen teeth.
Plamus became enveloped by a purple barrier, just in time to block the pouncing of a local, the ground under its feet cracked as it launched itself at an immense velocity.
The barrier held strong; however, he was tossed backwards by the impact and collided with one of the big clear blocks that resembled ice, shattering the surface even more.
Cracks covered the outside but also spread deeper into the core.
Plamus struggled to get out of his mould, his vision was hazy, his earlier wound acted up again, having had hardly any time to recover so far.
Reyna glanced at him, unlike the other mages and warriors, she was only focused on evading the creatures and had yet to put any real effort into driving them back.
But she also knew that Plamus was the same... that there were some more cards up his sleeve he was hiding for as long as possible.
Another shattering rang through the air, and though Plamus protected himself, he coughed up a handful of blood.
The second strike drove him back into the crystal chunk, much farther than before.
A second row of cracks formed, then suddenly the beating of the heart stopped.
All the locals remained in place, like time had been frozen.
"What the-" Marquis Gomon spoke but was cut off by the shrill sound of breaking glass.
The crystal-iceberg crumbled on top of Plamus, covering him with a heap of broken shards.
The figure encased within was finally revealed, and its mere sight caused a spinechilling feeling to all that looked upon it...
Marquis Gomon's expression distorted, "What are we looking at...?" Kassan asked with apprehension, their situation was already awful enough, how much worse could it even get?
The beating of the heart returned, calm and steady, yet loud and pressuring; the eyes of the figure opened, they revealed an orange glow, the same hue of the thing that was nestled into its head.
"I might puke." Winny grimaced, the thing had legs like a human, arms like a human, a human torso, and what one might consider a regular head... were it not for the orange blob that either made its way into or is currently trying to break out of the brain.
It looked like one of the Flyers was mashed into the corpse of a young woman, spreading like a cancer from the head down.
The body stood upright, but once it began to move its sluggish actions were instantly apparent.
Arms and legs were raised and lowered as if controlled by an inexperienced puppeteer.
"Fucking hell-" Marquis Gomon spat, if this was what they would end up as, then he was better off blowing himself apart with what little particles he had left.
Daren's eyes widened, he recognised that girl, even with how decrepit she appeared, and though he couldn't quite assign a name to that face, he was certain that she had been among the group of competitors, making her some family's successor, or at least a potential candidate... what a travesty.
He watched as her hand was raised; at this point the morale of their remaining warriors had been completely killed, and yet the lowest point hadn't even been reached.
Everyone stared at the infected girl, they watched as the crystals around her were malformed under her scrutiny.
"Is that-?" Kassan mumbled.
"She is... getting accustomed to magic?" Reyna's brows furrowed.
Whatever was controlling the girl's corpse was experimenting with the concept of spellcasting!
Plamus dug his way out from under the rubble that buried him, it only took him a moment to understand what was transpiring.
And unlike the rest, he did not feel paralyzed by the notion, if there was something that threatened him, all that he needed to do was cut it down.
That's the way it had been all his life, his position within the Starhelm family wasn't endowed upon him, he had to fight for it, eliminate potential adversaries before they could take root, it was the way his parents had instructed him, raised him from a young age.
He made a cutting motion using his hand, and a wave of dark was let loose that washed over the girl without as much as a scream, leaving behind a body in two pieces, separated diagonally from shoulder to hip.
"Was that so hard?" he cursed while dusting himself off, but glanced back at the corpse, only to find it spreading nerves between its halves, reaching out for another, "Tch!" he clicked his tongue, even if some parasite had hijacked her body, with how many resources Plamus had left, he would simply need to reduce her to a state from which it was impossible to recover.
The halves were pulling each other closer, restoring the body at an inhuman pace, and yet all progress was lost the moment Plamus struck with a vicious flurry of black daggers.
Daren watched in horror as the girl's limbs were torn apart, then attempted to reattach, only to be met with another round of strikes, all while he, the remaining humans, and even the locals were standing there as if dumbstruck.
"Why... aren't they moving?" Marquis Gomon glanced back and forth between them and the cruel act that Plamus was displaying.
The earth at their feet rumbled, the intensity of the quakes picked up with each passing moment, however as much as Daren wanted to attribute it to the heart, its pace did not deviate in the slightest.
"Plamus!" he reached his hand towards the man, "Something isn't right here! I think you should sto-"
Plamus was in the middle of preparing another spell, he smiled, finally able to relieve some of that pant up anger!
But the tremors caused his balance to be tipped, a loud boom ensued as the surface next to him ruptured and opened a massive hole right next to him.
Green vine-like plants slithered their way out, one of them carefully slinging itself around the wounded body of the infected girl handling her with care, while the other lashed out, whipping Plamus and sending him into the ground!
Daren sucked in a breath of the already limited air... there wasn't time for any of them to react, they could only look on as he was slammed into the crystal floor.
The rest observed a green stalk growing and rising out of the newly formed hole like a flower in spring, the bud at its tip blossomed, revealing one of the flower-women, whose appearance always carried along misfortune for the survivors.
It was surrounded by pink petals, that spread out as it opened its arms, in which a lone boy with short black hair had been hidden.
Daren's mouth opened, he tried to stand up, "Frey!" he choked, "You're alive!" he felt like a weight was lifted off his chest, but something was still gripping his heart, why was he with that flower-creature?
He glanced at the infected girl, 'No way, right?'
Frey lifted his hand, and the vine mimicked him, he swung it down, then the vine came hurling onto the grovelling Plamus who desperately layered his defences, because the vine did not relent after its first strike, it slammed down, over and over, each impact made Frey's hands jolt, "How is it?! Do you like being on the receiving end?! It cried out in pain! Again! And again! But you continued without mercy!"
The vine wrapped around Plamus' waist and pulled him into the air, it was tightening around him; Frey glared at the man, his teeth were gnashed, and yet he was hesitating...
He closed his eyes and looked to the side, heavy breaths managed to calm the anger he was feeling, but Frey couldn't stand to look at Plamus, everything... everything was because of him!
The humans that came for him, and the destruction of the heart!
He was a 'monster', through and through, but the vine's entanglement lightened.
Frey met his gaze one more time, then the vine tossed him to the side; Plamus was sent flying, he soared through the air and smashed into the crystal wall at the far edge of the cave.
The boy's eyes wandered over the remaining humans, the lowly warriors had gathered around an assortment of figures, blood dripped down their fingers, their light armour was cut through by sharp claws, many lacked the strength to hold on to their weapons, and at their centre were Marquis Gomon, Winny, Reyna Ironhoof, Kassan Horun... and Daren, "Frey, is that really you?" goosebumps spread on his skin.