Odessa's phrase hung in the air.
'To find a demon to hunt others.'
"So? Who are we going to see?" Lucian asked, unable to hide a tremor in his voice.
Odessa didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she guided them out of the Monastery, away from the holy walls and into a maze of alleys that stank of trash.
The opulence of the Church felt a world away.
"Wait here," she ordered, stopping at a dark corner.
She disappeared into the shadows, leaving them alone.
Lucian pressed himself against the wall. "Do you think this is safe? They could rob us blind here."
Raziel wasn't even listening since his mind was racing at a thousand miles per hour.
*'An informant. A snitch. Someone the Church doesn't control. That's good... and VERY bad, because if they catch us meeting someone like that, there won't be a trial. Just a cell with the Inquisitors and a lot of painful questions.'*
Just when nervousness started eating at him, two figures emerged from the darkness.
One was Odessa.
The other was a woman with the same Paladin armor, but her bearing was different.
She had a scar crossing one eyebrow and a gaze that missed nothing.
"Paladin Kiera," Odessa said by way of introduction. "One of the best and most importantly, trustworthy."
The woman, Kiera, analyzed them from top to bottom. Her eyes lingered a second longer on Raziel, though she said nothing.
"Lady Odessa, you told me it was urgent," her voice was deep, direct. "And that it involved two novices?"
"It is," Odessa confirmed. "This is my cousin, Lucian Valerius Nyxian, and his friend, Raziel."
Both bowed.
"Raziel has information about the disappearance of Sister Seraphina," Odessa continued, cutting straight to the chase.
Kiera's eyes locked onto him. "What kind of information, novice?"
Raziel felt the weight of two Paladins on him. One wrong move and everything would go to hell.
*'Calm down. You are not a regressor. You are a scared novice who found something, so act like one.'*
"I... think her disappearance is connected to..." he hesitated, because the word itself was a death sentence, "to necromancy."
The silence was total.
Kiera's hand moved instinctively to her sword hilt and her face turned into a mask of ice.
"That is the gravest accusation that can be made within these walls, novice. Do you have proof?"
"I found a symbol drawn in blood at the place where she disappeared," Raziel explained, his voice trembling but firm. "And... texts in the library that spoke of forbidden rituals."
"Texts you shouldn't have been looking at," Odessa intervened, though her tone was more to keep up appearances in front of Kiera.
Kiera exchanged a look with Odessa.
"It's madness..." Kiera muttered. "But with everything happening lately... What do you suggest, novice?"
Here came the dangerous part. He had to guide them without looking like he knew the future.
"I think... the answers aren't on the surface but we have to look in the tunnels under the city. In the secret chambers."
"Absolutely not!" Lucian jumped in, pale as a ghost. "Those places are forbidden! Sealed! We can't just...!"
"Actually, we can," Odessa cut him off, looking at Kiera. "As Paladins, we have the authority to access those zones if it's an existential threat and necromancy is one."
Kiera nodded slowly, her decision made. "I will use my authority to open the seals, but listen well, both of you," she said, looking at Raziel and Lucian. "Those tunnels keep ancient secrets for a reason. One single mistake down there and there won't be anything left of you to bury."
---
The air in the tunnels was dense and the silence was such that Lucian, who normally couldn't keep his mouth shut, walked glued to Odessa without saying a word.
A piercing pain drilled into his head.
As they passed a stone arch covered in worn runes, a vision hit him with the force of a hammer.
CRACK!
He wasn't in the tunnel anymore.
He was back in the cathedral, during Zion's attack.
The smell of smoke, the screams... but this time, the memory distorted.
Instead of Zion, in front of him was a massive stone door, covered with the same runes as the arch.
A voice resonated in his mind, a whisper of a thousand dead souls.
*"The Crypt of the Ancients..."*
The vision vanished and returned him to reality with a slam. He stumbled, and if not for the damp wall, he would have fallen on his face.
"Raziel?" Odessa's voice sounded worried. "Are you okay?"
He blinked, disoriented, his heart pumping like crazy.
"Yes... I... I think I know where we have to go."
Kiera raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "And how do you know that, novice?"
How the hell did he explain it?
"It's... hard to explain, but I think we are looking for something called the Crypt of the Ancients."
Odessa and Kiera froze. They looked at each other, and Raziel saw genuine panic in their eyes.
Lucian, who had been quiet until now, let out a nervous laugh. "The Crypt of the Ancients? That's just a scary story to frighten novices, right?"
"It's not a story," Kiera said, her voice somber as a grave. "But it is forbidden knowledge. How is it possible that a novice like you knows of its existence?"
Odessa's gaze sharpened. She watched him as if seeing him for the first time.
"A vision... Raziel, did you just have a vision?" her voice was an amazed and terrified whisper. "Could you be an Oracle?"
*'SHIT, NO! NO, NO AND NO!'*
Panic rose up his throat.
Being an Oracle was worse than being a heretic.
It meant the Church would lock him up, study him, and use him until there was nothing left of him.
"No, of course not!" he hurried to say. "It was just... a strange dream I had. A nightmare. It felt very real, that's all."
Lucian, bless his ignorance, saved him without knowing it.
"Raziel an Oracle? Come on, Odessa! The only one with the gift of prophecy is the Luminar. It's impossible."
Kiera nodded, though she kept looking at him with suspicion. "The boy is right. The gift is exclusive to Zhalyr's chosen."
Raziel was saved by a hair.
"Exactly," he said, forcing a smile. "It was just nonsense so we should concentrate on finding that Crypt."
Odessa studied him a moment longer before nodding, although doubt didn't leave her eyes.
"You're right. The Crypt is the important thing."
As they went deeper into the darkness, Raziel stumbled again.
This time was different.
The tunnel walls seemed to fold inward.
Odessa and Lucian's voices turned into distant echoes.
[WARNING: FORCED MEMORY COST APPLIED]
[SEVERE MENTAL FATIGUE DETECTED]
[SYSTEM ENTERING EMERGENCY MODE]
His legs gave out.
And then, everything went black.