Heln did not like the new tunnel.

Not that he had cared for the other ones, but they had at least had some sign of life. The new one was all dust and stale, flat air. If the other parts of the cave had some sort of sentience then this was where it was dying. The sealing scripts felt old and slightly faded, underneath those it felt more like the rest of the ruins. He even thought he recognized some of the magical signatures, like faded pictures of people that died long before he was born. "I think this tunnel was resealed."

"What gave you your first clue?" Bel huffed a bit. They had abandoned walking single file. The tunnel was more than wide enough for all three of them. "Was it the weird door? The statue? The writing on the wall that said 'and ye that breaketh the door shall unleasheth a great evil uponeth the world'?"

"It didn't say that." Rhyss glared at her around Heln.

"Oh really? Well, it probably should have."

"I don't even think half of what you said were real words."

"Well, maybe they should be."

"Look I'm sorry I broke the door, okay? I didn't mean to." Rhyss didn't look at all sorry. "I thought that the seals would be stronger so I may have overdone it a little bit."

"Wow, Rhyss, and you're usually so reserved." Heln nearly tripped when she almost smiled at that. "It's done, Bel, we just have to… hope this is the right way. And if it's not then I'm very sorry."

"Well, it's not your fault." Bel folded her arms. "It's not actually anyone's fault. Probably. I just… I feel like this is the right way, but I have a bad feeling, too. It's just, y'know, sealing scripts are usually set in place for a reason. Usually the reason is preservation these days but… oh man, oh man what if there are dead bodies down here? I have dealt with enough. I am not dealing with dead bodies. Or the undead. Especially not the undead."

"Well, how about you practice being quiet just in case of zombies?" Rhyss did smile this time, but in a way that made Heln wish they were walking single file again. He preferred being behind her, where it was much harder for her to hit him or something else equally unpleasant to happen.

"Okay, first off, zombies are fictional. Flesh constructs, however aren't! Those are a thing! Second of all, me talking after you knocked a stone door down is really what's going to get us killed." Bel gestured wildly with her hands. "Third, I think they'd hunt by scent, not by sound, so it doesn't matter how loud I am, we're the only tasty morsels down here."

"Please let that go."

"Oh, like you let the door go?"

"I apologized for that."

"You did, so now don't tell me I can't talk."

Heln decided to ignore the continued flirting between them and extended his senses instead. Anything he could find in here would provide both more vital and more interesting information to him. He doubted that there was any variety of undead in the tunnels, but it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for anything. There was so much magic, it was hard to pinpoint one particular thing. The illumination bubbles stood out because they were new, warm and calming. Bel's signature was familiar and Rhyss's was much gentler than she was. His light stick still felt like his dad's magic and so did Bel's crystal. Rhyss's guard plate was a bare trace of magic in comparison. He yanked his awareness away from them.

Nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. As far as he could tell, so at least there was one good thing. It was possible they were too far away from whoever or whatever had sent them in the first place. Especially if Bel's theory was right. The cavern with the trees had been enormous, and they were deeper than they had been at any other point, he could feel it, like every ounce of dirt above them was pressing against his awareness.

Something touched his shoulder and he yelped and stepped back into Rhyss, who pushed him forward again. He stayed on his feet, somehow, but it was a close thing.

Bel snatched her hand back, her eyes wide. "Sorry. I was just going to ask if you felt anything."

"No, it's okay." He shook his head like he was trying to clear cobwebs. His brain felt like it was wrapped in cotton from the cocoon of magic around them. "I was… well, actually I don't sense anything. There's just too much magic, it's like… trying to see in thick fog."

Rhyss and Bel nodded like they understood, but Heln used to live next to a river in the industry sector. Whenever the wind had changed direction, the steam and smoke from the factories would drift sluggishly through the streets, turning the world into a muted, ghostly wonderland of milky-white. He'd had to wear a cloth over his face when that happened. Just stepping into it had meant that every part of him was damp almost instantly.

That was exactly what the magic in these tunnels felt like.

"I'm not going to be any help, I need my shields to be up around here." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, shoving his glasses up into his hair. Without them the world became a little fuzzier and that seemed to help the headache forming directly behind his eyes. Pulling up his shields helped even more. "Sorry, Rhyss."

"Well, you did find the tunnel." Rhyss conceded. "As a Guard Trainee I need to be ready for everything at all times, not just whenever my friend tells me to be."

"Aww, we're friends?" He grinned at her, not able to help poking just a little bit of fun at her. She took herself far too seriously.

She, of course, punched his shoulder in what she probably thought was a gentle show of camaraderie. "We jumped down a stairwell together, of course we're friends."

"I was actually trying to forget that…" Heln rubbed the spot and hoped that his arm going numb was temporary. Poking fun at her was really not worth it at all. He had no idea how Bel kept it up. At least they were friends, he'd hate to know how hard she punched her enemies.

"You'll live. Now stop distracting me."

Even Bel went quiet, apparently lost in thought. Heln would have rather kept up the weird conversation, he hated the way the silence seemed to be waiting to descend upon them.

The tunnel was darker than it had been and not just because the entrance and the eddying mists were far behind them. It felt darker, the air choking the already small space until it felt like the walls were caving in on them, even though he knew that the tunnel hadn't changed in size at all.

Heln was intimately aware of potential tons of rock and earth pressing down on them, enough that he pulled his shields down for just a moment, just to reassure himself that the scripts keeping the tunnels from collapsing were in place and they weren't in danger of being crushed at any moment.

They were there, thick and strange, but it was enough.

He was about to pull up his shields again when something tugged at the corner of his senses, something new. He frowned in concentration, trying to reach for it, but it was like trying to get a marble out of a thick pile of foam, his fingers just brushed it but it would slide away again.

He hadn't realized how long and hard he had concentrated on it until someone literally yanked him out of it. Bel and Rhyss had stopped and his sister had grabbed his arm.

"What?" He felt like he'd just woken up. Whatever he had been trying to sense was gone, so he reluctantly pulled up his shields.

"The tunnel splits." Rhyss gestured ahead of them. The tunnel they were in kept going forward, there were two tunnels branching off of the one they were in, curving away from Bel's illumination bubble. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." He did his absolute best not to snap at her. He almost succeeded. "I just thought… never mind. Tunnels. I'm guessing you were hoping I would have some sort of valuable insight? Because I don't."

"I'm thinking we each pick a tunnel then fight to see who's right." Bel grinned. "Of course, Rhyss would win, so Rhyss which tunnel do you pick? I'm getting a forge straight ahead vibe from you but tell me if I'm wrong."

"Shut up." Rhyss told her, but she started walking straight ahead, just as Bel had predicted. "Well? Are you two coming or are you going to live down here?"

"Don't tempt me, it's free!" Bel yelled back. She and Heln fell in line between Rhyss. She looked over at Heln again. "You sure you're okay?"

At least she hadn't yelled that part.

"Thought I felt something before Rhyss spoke to me. I don't think it's anything but it's too hard to figure out in this stupid tunnel." Heln wanted to kick the tunnel wall, but he decided against it. Breaking his toe was probably not conducive to fleeing for his life. Judging by their track record it was only a matter of time before he would have to.

The three of them took a quick break when Bel complained that her feet were actually going to fall off. Heln was tired, too, though it was more of a constant, all body ache that he had sort of grown accustomed to. He couldn't remember when he hadn't felt sore, exhausted, and hungry.

Luckily, or unluckily, Rhyss had shoved a bunch of moss into her bag and handed it around. It tasted even worse after being wrapped up for hours, but it was something and Heln wasn't going to be picky. At least the water wasn't awful.

"Question," Bel said.

"Possible answer." Rhyss looked at her expectantly.

"What happens when we run out of water? I don't know about you but my mouth tastes like cave already."

"We won't." Rhyss grinned a bit, setting the canteen down and twisting the cap until some of the marks on it lined up. They glowed briefly, a thin curl of mist swirling down into it. "As long as there's water in the air, we have water. And there is a lot of water in the air."

Bel let out a low whistle. "Okay, that's extremely fancy."

"Gift from my mom when I joined the Guard." Rhyss looked happy and smug. The expression looked out of place a bit, but it was nice.

"Second question." Bel smiled at Rhyss when her expression turned to annoyed. "What do we do when we run out of food?"

"You can live up to thirty days without food as long as you have water." Heln had to smile at the look Bel gave him. "Oh, relax, we won't be down here for thirty days."

Thirty days alive, anyway, but he decided not to add that. Honestly, between being crushed by a dirt pile or starving to death, he was pretty sure he'd rather be crushed.

"Okay, but assuming that I don't want to do that. Because I don't."

"If we run out of food and we are in danger of starvation, getting back to the other cave won't be hard,” Rhyss said. "We can rest, recuperate, and then try again. Does that please your highness?"

"Yes. Yes it does. I like having a plan and being referred to by my proper title; both are fantastic things." Bel ate the rest of her small portion of moss, surprisingly without complaint. She was even the first one on her feet, swinging her satchel over her shoulder. "Well, shall we?"

*~*~*

Heln was glad he hadn't expected Bel's attitude to stay positive because it probably wasn't even ten minutes before she started to complain again.

"It smells awful here."

"The whole tunnel smells awful, Bel, we all know." Rhyss paused, then glared at her. "Unless that was a jab at how we haven't bathed in a while, in which case I'll have to break your delusions because you don't smell like a rose garden yourself."

It didn't seem that bad to Heln, of course, he wasn't as sensitive as Bel and Rhyss were. To him, it just smelled like a shut in, closed place. The sour of damp stone, too, but it wasn't exactly offensive after he got used to it.

"No, I grew numb to that a while ago, this smells much worse than you ever could."

"Okay, so something probably got in here and died." Rhyss scrunched up her nose a bit. "Yeah, I smell it, too. We'll get past it."

"It must have been a big something." Bel was pulling the collar of her shirt over her nose and mouth. Heln doubted it was much of an improvement. "Because those sealing scripts would have kept it pretty well preserved."

Heln thought she was exaggerating until he finally smelled it, too, and did the exact same thing. No matter what his shirt smelled like, anything was better than the almost sweet reek of decay that hit him like a wall. "Maybe it was someone who worked on this place. Or blood sacrifice or something."

"There has never been any type of magic that actually worked that relied on sacrifice." Bel's voice was muffled by her shirt, but her disdainful tone wasn't.

"We've never encountered magic like this." Heln reminded her. "And that's just what they tell you in school, which is clearly not always right. Exhibit A, that statue back there."

Rhyss undid the button at her collar, pulled it up around her mouth and nose, and refastened it. "I don't care if someone tripped and broke their head open a hundred years ago, let's just go."

"Rhyss, that's cold."

"Shut it, DoVan."

The smell became almost unbearable when the tunnel opened up into a wide, dark space. Heln was on the verge of suggesting they go back. The stink was so strong his eyes were watering. Bel sent her bubble out again, cautiously. It was a large, circular chamber, made smaller by another circle of tall, roughly carved pillars that supported empty air. They threw slanted, angular shadows against the wall as the light passed them, like giants were dancing.

"Dead end?" Rhyss asked.

"No, there's a door." Bel said. "And… something in front of it…"

On the opposite side of the room was a small flight of stairs leading to a door that looked like the one Rhyss had knocked over. The stairs were flanked by the two tallest, widest pillars. Both of them were easily bigger than any tree in the Grove.

Something was between them, lying at the base of the steps. When Bel's bubble got closer to it, the light snuffed out, leaving them with Rhyss's.

"Magic eater," she said, softly. "Everyone back away slowly, we'll take the other tunnel, we—"

The thing moved, and even in the dark it was clear that the shape was all wrong for a magic eater. There was a clanking, the sound of something heavy and hard being dragged against stone.

"I don't think that's a magic eater." Heln took a few steps back. He pulled down his shields and the assault on his senses was so horribly wrong that he was on his knees before he realized it, his mouth bitter with the taste of metal. "Ugh. It. How did I not…?"

And then he realized why he hadn't sensed it before. The chamber was even more tightly sealed than the tunnel had been, each one of the pillars acting as a further seal.

The thing rose up, its head was somewhere near the ceiling. A deep glow started in its chest, lighting up the chamber just enough for them to see what it was.

It was a dragon.