Eron pulled himself away from the steaming lake, legs weak and shaky from the fight. He fumbled with the half-burnt strap on his backpack and looked down at his torn, soot-covered jacket. His ribs ached from the blast, not broken but bruised enough to sting with every breath.
The silence that followed felt wrong and heavy, so he knew he couldn't stay here.
The cavern stretched into deep darkness, walls fading quickly into shadow. Water dripped from somewhere above, creating a constant echo on the stone, while stalactites hung from the ceiling like rows of stone teeth. Thin veins of metal shined when the steam shifted, but there wasn't enough light to see far.
Eron exhaled and raised his hand.
"Number Sixteen. Hovering Blaze."
A small flame appeared on his palm, then lifted off and floated beside him, casting soft, orange light. The shadows pulled back and he adjusted the flame with a thought, making it circle around him slowly.
This wasn't one of his offensive spells but something he'd made during the Time Pocket years. Fireball No. 1 was built to destroy while Hovering Blaze was made to see. He'd spent weeks carefully tuning it, balancing mana flow and keeping the orbit steady. Tilt it too much and it dropped, spin it too fast and it went out. He'd cursed in that white void every time the light died. Sometimes all he needed was a flame that stayed lit, one that wouldn't explode and one that kept him company in the silence.
Now he could see, and wished he couldn't.
Deep scratches marked the cavern walls, long cuts carved into stone and taller than him with edges burned black and jagged. Whatever made them was strong enough to cut through solid rock.
Damn, what kind of creature could do this?
His eyes moved toward the tunnels ahead. No choice, had to face it.
Eron ran his hand over one mark. Not from the serpent since it didn't have claws, and the marks were too big anyway, too high up. His gaze followed the scratches toward the ceiling.
What made these?
Eron frowned. "Whatever, standing here won't help."
The bag adjusted on his shoulder and he started walking. The floor sloped down, covered in sharp, loose rocks that made him watch every step while mist curled around his boots. Each footfall echoed, feeling too loud in the empty space.
After a while his flame revealed a chamber ahead. The tunnel opened into a wide hall filled with bones, hundreds of them piled against the walls and half-buried in ash. Ribcages bent at wrong angles and skulls had too many eye sockets. Fangs didn't fit any creature he knew and spines ended in sharp hooks. One skeleton had six legs twisted backward while another had three jaws stacked together.
A cold chill crawled down his back. "This is getting creepy, I just hope it's not like the ones i saw in the movies," he muttered, swallowing hard.
Mixed with the bones were scraps of metal: broken blades, melted chains, and crushed armor, everything covered in soot.
Eron crouched beside a carcass the size of a horse and brushed ash off a rusted plate stuck to its ribs. The metal crumbled under his touch as his Hovering Blaze circled above, making shadows dance across the walls. Empty sockets stared back at him.
His grip tightened on the pack. "A graveyard of bones," he muttered. "A graveyard of bones. What the hell did this?"
No answer came, only the drip of water.
Something shined under a ribcage so Eron reached down and pulled out a red shard, warm and smooth. It pulsed faintly against his palm and the warmth spread up his arm, a slow, strange beat matching his pulse. He almost dropped it but shoved it into his bag instead and wiped the feeling off on his jacket. The heat stayed under his skin.
"Guess I can sell this too, lucky me," he muttered.
Then the ground shook, once and then twice in a steady, deep tremor. Something huge was moving far below. Dust fell from the ceiling and bones rattled.
Eron clenched his fist, sparks flickering around his knuckles before he forced them down. No, not yet, stay sealed.
The shaking stopped and the dark fell silent but the feeling of what was waiting below remained.
Eron took a slow step forward and then another. Boots scraped against the stone as he forced himself to keep moving.
The chamber opened wider ahead and light spread across the walls, revealing two wide tunnels leading deeper. The left dripped with water and smelled of wet earth and rot while the right breathed cold air and carried the scent of ash.
Standing between them with the Hovering Blaze circling above, its light flickered over piles of bones and metal. Boots crunched against the ground as he thought, knowing that whichever way he chose there was no going back.
"Great. Left smells like death, right smells like burning. Well, at least I can handle the fire."
He breathed out, eyes moving between both paths. The left meant wet earth and rot while the right meant ash and cold. He'd spent twenty years with fire so maybe it was time to face something else.
"Keep moving. That's all I can do for now."
The left tunnel waited. He walked and the Hovering Blaze floated beside him, guiding him into the dark.