Slowly and carefully Galandir flew down into the black chasm, his ball of light being the only thing splitting the darkness apart.

  "Are we sure there is a bottom to this thing?" the elven boy asked, peering down.

  "I really am not sure," Morrigan replied, trying to discern anything in the darkness below. But her enhanced night vision did nothing to help her. "Fly slowly so we don't bump into anything."

  "Aye, aye, Captain," Galandir smirked, and she rolled her eyes. She understood that he was trying to ease her tension, no doubt feeling how her hands were trembling ever so slightly. She felt nervous each time she visited a sacred site but the feeling was stronger this time.

  Maybe it's because of the dark. It's just so unnerving being unable to see anything. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm expecting to see yet another black orb at the bottom. I mean—I don't know who would willingly crawl down here, but there must be a reason there were black orbs at previous sights.

  They kept descending deeper and deeper into the chasm, but it felt like there was no bottom to the hole they were flying into. The only noise Morrigan could hear was the flap of Galandir's wings and their nervous breaths.

  "Are you not getting too tired?" she asked him.

  "No, I can fly for much longer but I'm really starting to feel as if there is no bottom," he replied nervously.

  "I know what you mean. To think that Azrael wanted me to climb down here. He truly is a sadist," Morrigan grumbled.

  "I heard that!" resounded Azrael's annoyed voice from the top. Apparently, their voices had been echoing right out of the chasm for everyone to hear. That wasn't really pleasant, since they had been talking a lot during their descent. To think that everyone had been hearing their every word.

  "Good! Then you can hear when I tell you that we still have not reached the bottom," Morrigan called out.

  "You really are a sadist. If they still haven't flown down how much longer would climbing take," Morrigan heard Deziara's voice and then a distinct grunt coming from Azrael. Her sister must have slugged him again which brought a smile to her lips.

  "Ow! Well, demons can't really fly so what choice do we have?" Azrael argued and Deziara replied something, but their voices became too muffled and distant for Morrigan to hear.

  "Something changed…" Galandir said, slowing down his descent.

  "Deziara, can you hear me?" Morrigan called out. They listened for a moment but the answer never came. Either they couldn't hear it or there never was one in the first place.

  "Seems like we're nearing the bottom," she said once it was clear that nobody would answer.

  "So it seems."

  Suddenly the elf flapped his wings furiously, flying upwards. Morrigan looked down and saw how they had almost landed inside the water. Or no… it wasn't water but some sort of odd dark liquid that was shimmering ever so slightly in the darkness.

  "What is that?" Galandir asked.

  "I have no clue. Can you try and find a ledge?" she asked, and the boy nodded. He flew to the side and soon enough they found a rocky shore on which to land on.

  "This doesn't seem right. Like I am not a demon, but even I can tell that this place should be something… more," he said, looking around in the darkness. But all they saw was the slightly shimmering river and the dark cliff edges.

  "Yeah, you're probably right. I bet it's that black orb again. It must be messing with the magic in the area."

  "You keep mentioning this "black orb" but what is it exactly?" the elf cocked his head to the side.

  "We don't exactly know, but there has been one at every sacred site and it seems to suck the magic out of the area and transport it to someplace else," she explained as much as she knew.

  "I bet it's the same guys who are after you that put those things there."

  "But how did they manage to sneak past the guards unnoticed? And how did they create those black orbs? They are basically indestructible. If not for my paint magic, then there would be no way to get rid of them," she grumbled.

  "Good questions, but sadly I do not have answers," the elf shook his head. "In either case, what are we supposed to do now?"

  Morrigan looked around them, in hopes of finding an answer but of course, it wasn't just conveniently written on the cliff. They couldn't hear the people from up above anymore, so asking for help from Azrael was not possible.

  "I'm supposed to submerge myself in that liquid for the ritual, but I don't think it's going to do what it is supposed to do in its current state," she frowned, looking at the barely shimmering liquid.

  "Then we have to find the orb and get rid of it?" Galandir asked.

  "Yeah. But I need our painting supplies for that. Do you think they're going to get lowered soon? We haven't moved away too far from our starting point have we?"

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  "I tried to fly straight down, but in this dark, it is quite hard to tell."

  "Let's wait around here for a bit and if they don't come down, then we'll walk around the shoreline here and search for it," Morrigan said and the elf boy nodded in return. They both sat down on the hard rock and waited, looking into the shimmering liquid in silence. After a few minutes, Galandir spoke up.

  "You know this is kind of insane if you think about it."

  "What is insane?" she raised her eyebrow at the sudden pronouncement.

  "An elf taking a demon princess down into one of the Underworld's sacred places," he explained with a chuckle.

  "Oh, I think there are some crazier things in this world," she smirked.

  "Like what?"

  "Oh, I don't know. Like people being reborn from another world. That is pretty crazy if you ask me," she chuckled.

  "Yeah, that is pretty crazy. Pretty cool too. Say, could you–" Galandir didn't get to finish his sentence as they suddenly heard some scraping and noticed a bag being lowered not too far from where they sat.

  "My painting supplies!" Morrigan called out and ran up to them and checked the contents inside. Everything was in place. She smiled and tugged on the rope indicating that she had received the package. "This should tell them that we have reached the bottom safely."

  "Yeah. So now we just search for that black orb thingy… in this absolute darkness," he said, and both of them looked into the darkness around them. Galandir's light orb did a good job illuminating the surroundings, but the cliff itself was dark as was the liquid, its shimmer being the real differentiating thing in the whole scenery.

  "I think we should go in a direction where it feels like there is less magic. If that makes sense," Morrigan said and concentrated on her surroundings. The magic in the air didn't feel thick like it did in the Glittering Cave or Frozen Garden. In fact, it felt normal.

  "It all feels the same to me," the elven boy said.

  "Yeah…" Morrigan admitted and sighed. "I guess we'll have to find it by sight."

  "Don't worry, we'll find it," Galandir said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She nodded, feeling relieved to have her friend alongside her. His presence was much more comforting than that of Azrael who no doubt would make light of the whole situation.

  "We will," she nodded and reached out to take her painting supplies. Galandir however, grabbed them before her and flung them over his shoulder.

  "A princess should not be carrying heavy weights. Let me handle this," he said with a smile.

  "Thank you."

  They continued through along the dark shore, carefully watching their steps so as to not fall into the shimmering liquid. Initially, Galandir wanted to walk closer to the edge, but Morrigan insisted on switching positions. If she were to accidentally fall in, then it wouldn't be such a big deal, but if he were to fall in then who knows what might happen. What if the shimmering liquid killed everyone who wasn't a demon? Nobody exactly explained the dangers hiding within these sacred sites.

  They kept carefully scanning the surroundings, Galandir increasing the intensity of his light, however as they kept walking further and further, they were unable to find anything out of place. It didn't help that the river of shimmering liquid seemed to stretch on and on without any end in sight.

  "I don't think we'll have any luck finding the black orb this way," Morrigan said after they had searched for about half an hour.

  "Yeah, it doesn't seem likely. How long is this river anyway?" Galandir asked.

  "No idea. Azrael never bothers to tell me anything," Morrigan said rather loudly, hoping that perhaps the demon could somehow still hear them.

  "How has he still not been fired yet? Demon King doesn't seem like the kind of guy to handle incompetence. I've seen him fire staff over the smallest things sometimes," Galandir said, and Morrigan chuckled awkwardly. Her father indeed demanded perfection from his employees, but then again with the amount of gold they got paid, it was a reasonable demand.

  "Well, my mother, the late Demon Queen, took him under her wing—I suspect that is the reason why Father is so lenient with Azrael."

  "So he had a soft spot for your mother just like he has for you. That makes sense. Without you, I'm pretty sure the Demon King would have long since sent me to the dungeons," Galandir snickered.

  "You really do like to push his buttons sometimes," Morrigan grumbled, remembering all those times when he had acted friendly and casual around her in front of the King. Everyone else was required to refer to her by her title, except for her sisters, but here he was – just calling her by her name. She understood why he did it – they were friends, but he could at least adhere to etiquette when the King was around.

  "I don't mind putting you on a pedestal, but I am not going to grovel in front of anyone anymore," he said stubbornly, no doubt remembering his time together with the fallen.

  "I swear sometimes I wonder if you're some elf noble yourself with how proud you are," Morrigan chuckled, trying to dispel the unpleasantness.

  "What if I were?" The elven boy suddenly stopped and Morrigan had to turn around to look at him. His expression was serious for a moment, then he grinned and waved dismissively with his hand. "Yeah, as if that were possible."

  And then he kept walking forward, not looking at Morrigan anymore. She got the distinct feeling that he wasn't completely joking.

  "Who are your parents, Galandir? You never told me," she caught up to him and asked.

  "It doesn't really matter anymore. They're both dead," he replied bitterly, and she dropped the topic.

  I shouldn't have asked. He's always been sensitive when it came to his past and where he had come from. I should have known that it would bring out some unpleasant memories.

  For a while, they walked in silence, until Galandir suddenly stopped and peered into the river.

  "What is it?" Morrigan asked curiously.

  "Is it me or is the shimmering more intense here?" the boy asked.

  "Is it?" Morrigan asked, looking carefully at the liquid. The shimmering was still rather weak, but it was indeed a bit stronger than before. Although the difference was miniscule.

  "Let me try something real quick," the elf said and took Morrigan's hand. Then the light ball he had created disappeared and everything went completely dark.

  "I can't see anything," Morrigan grumbled, not daring to move.

  "Wait a moment. I don't think I'll be able to see it, but your demon eyesight should be able to adjust," he replied. For a moment, they stood there until finally Morrigan was able to discern the shimmering liquid among the darkness. It stretched on rather far, and she was clearly able to tell apart the river from the surrounding darkness. As she gazed at it, she realized that the shimmering was more intense in the direction they were going in and less intense in the other direction.

  "You're right! We've been walking the wrong way. The shimmering is weaker on the other side and I bet it's because the orb is draining away the magic," Morrigan exclaimed.

  "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Galandir said triumphantly, then added. "But you'll have to lead me because I can't see anything."

  "Don't worry. You're in safe hands with me," Morrigan replied and began to guide Galandir along the shore of the river slowly. He squeezed her hand tighter and carefully they made their way forward – to the place where the shimmering grew weaker.