Rellina watched as the scion left, then she turned to address the adventurers, but one of the adventurers dropped the crate he was carrying. A child started crying, and to make things feel even worse and more tense, Thovak drew his sword.

  IN the midst of all the chaos and fighting, they had attracted the monster and even worse, they had created the distraction it had used to get closer.

  Everyone in the courtyard turned to the battlement, and they all stepped back. The large monster was out there, and it was staring right at Rellina. Or it would have been if Damian and Darrow weren’t standing right behind her.

  Even Jorand, scion of the Brass-Throne, paused as he swaggered off. He was taken aback by the silence, and he turned only to notice the creature and stumble back, almost falling.

  Darrow's brows knit together as he noticed it first, and he didn't know if she noticed it as well. The adventurers definitely missed it, but the leg they had severed had taken less than a day to grow back.

  “We are not yet ready… they didn’t leave the barrier… why is it here?” she muttered aloud.

  The creature watched them, and Darrow instinctively took another step back. It tilted its head to the side, and, realising it was looking around her and at the brothers, she raised her hand and used her [Authority].

  The creature froze. Then it glared at her. It let out a warning screech and immediately disappeared back into the mist. Its large silhouette vanished behind it, but all the people saw was a noble and the beast.

  Mathric, leader of the White Dragons Guild, watched all this through a scrying mirror held by one of his guild members, and something in his bones told him that he had to get there as fast as he could. The white drake had a grin plastered on his face.

  —

  Back in the courtyard, Darrow looked up into the fog, just beyond where the monster had disappeared back into the mist.

  Darrow tilted his head to the side. He noticed how it had recoiled and remembered seeing faces in the fog.

  “Hey… these mists… you can control them?” he asked Rellina.

  Rellina breathed deep and sighed. That was something she couldn’t do. She shook her head slowly. The mists were an entity of their own, and her mother told her they would speak to her only when she was ready.

  “No, even if I could, they are not mine to control.” she said.

  Darrow narrowed his eyes at her this time, and to his intuition skill, she seemed hesitant or unsure. Yet again, she might have been right. He remembered seeing faces in the mists the first time they had made their way into the city.

  “Do they—the faces I saw—made of mists... then?” Darrow asked, speaking aloud more than anything else, tapping his chin.

  He didn’t believe that they were real, but Rellina thought otherwise. She stopped instantly, and Damian nearly walked into her.

  She whipped around to face him, and her eyes narrowed first in confusion, then widened in surprise. This must have been it. The mists were waking, which meant she was doing something right, not that she knew what she was doing, but she suddenly had an idea.

  “Where did you see them?” she demanded. She thought she had an idea, but first, she needed a bit more confirmation.

  Darrow swallowed. He resisted the urge to step back, surprised by the urgency in her voice.

  “In the mist outside. I thought I saw them when we first came into the city,” he muttered, trying to shrug away the discomfort and glancing at Damian, who also gave him an ached eyebrow.

  She looked out at the mists. She hesitated. She looked at everyone depending on her, and she knew she had to try.

  “Follow me. If it’s true, then this news may be of help,” she said.

  It could have been false hope, but if she got the mists listening to her, then the citizens of Mistwall would be better protected. She could ask the mists to hide the citizens of her district from the monster centipede. If she remembered her histories, the mists would be able to hide those still outside her castle. It would protect those in the many hamlets of five families and farmers on the edge of the city.

  Her pace quickened as she made her way through the crowded courtyard, and the brothers followed. They didn’t know what she was up to. If it would help them against the monster, then surely it was a good thing.

  They crossed through the courtyard with haste, and when Rellina reached the doors to her castle, she didn’t bother waiting or looking behind.

  She pushed into the castle, and after a few turns, she pushed a pair of inner doors open deeper in the castle.

  The castle swallowed them in cool stone darkness. Their footsteps echoed through the silent hallways, and Rellina didn’t speak. She didn’t speak, and she turned through the maze of hallways with purpose.

  Darrow glanced at the ornate jars and pictures that had been left to hang abandoned in the equally isolated hallway, letting cobwebs grow over them. This was one of the abandoned sections in the very large castle that was home to a single noble.

  The walls felt colder the further they went. They seemed thicker, older, and deeper.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Damian, on the other hand, made sure to note the several turns Rellina made. They passed long-abandoned doors covered in dust and descended some stairs before they came before a long, wide hallway.

  Damian felt the subtle change as they walked down the hallway. It was as though they had just gone below ground.

  Darrow thought he heard faint whispers and breathing as he walked, but the few times he looked around and behind them, he saw nothing but an old, dusty hallway.

  They reached an iron gate in the castle. It seemed older, like it was meant to protect something. Despite its size, however, Rellina pushed it open as easily as any door. It looked heavy, and if Damian really thought about it, it had to be because she was the rightful owner of the castle, and the door responded to her.

  Beyond that, the hallway looked like it was made of rough stone. The air was musty and ancient, and Darrow had to cover his nose instinctively.

  The torches were spaced farther apart here, but Rellina didn’t slow her pace. It seemed like she had been down here before, and she wasn’t bothered by the cobwebs and cold air.

  “This place looks bigger on the inside,” Darrow said, trying to get an answer from Rellina, but she didn’t reply.

  Even Damian was noticing it. With this many rooms, the castle, already larger than most estates in Principal City on the outside, had to be the largest building on the entire continent.

  “Are we underground?” Damian asked, but she didn’t answer him either.

  When they reached an alcove, she finally stopped. She looked around for a bit before a presence stepped out of the shadows.

  It was the same assassin who had brought them to meet Rellina, and whatever she was doing down here, it must have been under the orders of the young noble.

  She still had her hood on, and only her red eyes were visible underneath it. She bowed her head respectfully towards Rellina, and the young noble nodded back.

  Damian hadn’t sensed her, and Darrow had only done so a second before she appeared.

  “Has anyone made their way to the hidden chamber?” Rellina asked.

  “No. Not a soul,” she replied. Then she hesitated as she looked at Damian and Darrow, who stood behind Rellina.

  “They are with me,” Rellina said, and the assassin’s gaze flickered back to her.

  It seemed like the young noble had put her here to protect something. Whatever it was, Darrow guessed it was one way of using an assassin. After all, there was no better way to stop thieves than using another thief, or someone of a similar class.

  After that, Rellina began walking on again. This time, it was a short distance before they came across the spiralling staircase, which they inevitably began to descend.

  The stone steps were uneven from age, as Darrow took each one down one step at a time, and the stone railing crumbled as his fingers brushed against it.

  Rellina hadn’t forgotten the last time she had been down here. That time, the place was well lit, even warm. There were wall paintings that seemed alive. The stone had been even, and even the air was not so stagnant.

  Now, however, the place was decaying, and the entire castle was dying—or shaping itself to reflect her [Noble] class when compared to her grandfather.

  This was where the ancient vault was hidden, but more importantly, it was where the chamber of communion was also located.

  Rellina placed her hands on the two massive doors again, and like before, they responded.

  There was a slow grinding sound that echoed through the hall, and cold air rushed out as the doors opened.

  Damian and Darrow saw a vast chamber beyond the doors. The space was enormous and empty, and faded murals lined its walls.

  Their footsteps echoed on the marble as they made their way inside, and they came to a stop right behind her. Damian did his best to study the faded paintings. He was beginning to understand just how old this place was. And his gut was telling him that no matter how frail the young noble in front of her looked, he had to be wary of her.

  Darrow just took the entire situation in stride as he whistled and looked around.

  “This place is huge,” he said, his eyes going around and up the dome-like room.

  “This is the room of communion,” she said quietly, stopping in front of a polished white circle in the centre, which caused Damian and Darrow to exchange a look as they noticed her stop outside the circle and did the same.

  “Communion with what, exactly?” Damian asked, his eyes panning over the circle’s flawless smoothness.

  “The mist. If you saw the faces, then it means the fey have decided to show themselves.”

  “Could they help us, then?” Damian asked, his gut twisting with unease.

  Fey were dangerous, and most of the time they were only found in Overgrown dungeons, in which case the raiding party had three options. Give in to their demands, fight them or call enchanters to close the dungeon portal. This was ultimately a loss because overgrown dungeons were stable and less harmful, unlike corrupted dungeons.

  “I don’t know if the can help, but that’s why I am here,” she said, and stepped into the circle.

  They watched her as she stepped into the circle, and the air grew still.

  She lifted her chin and focused. Then she tried closing her eyes, but the room was so unnaturally quiet.

  “Uh… is it supposed to be this quiet?” Darrow asked. He was obviously trying not to offend, but the look the assassin gave him made him hesitate.

  Even after she had stood there for a minute, there were no ghostly whispers. No blinking lights or even mystical winds that suggested anything was happening.

  “Hello,” she tried calling this time, but nothing happened again. Oh, how she wished her mother were here. She had known how to call, how to sing and most times they had answered.

  “What is it supposed to look like?” This time it was Damian who asked.

  “They are supposed to appear,” she said, and Damian shifted uncomfortably.

  He exchanged a look with Darrow, then stepped closer. He didn’t know what she meant by “they,” but it wouldn’t hurt if they waited a bit longer.

  “Then keep trying,” he said, and Darrow arched an eyebrow.

  Rellina closed her eyes. This time, she tried remembering anything she was forgetting—anything her mother did when she communed with the mists, anything she saw her grandfather do. Nothing happened.

  After a while, Rellina stepped out of the circle. She was frustrated. Her face was in a glare, and her fists were clenched as she looked down at the circle with an offended look.

  Darrow was of another mind, and he stepped up, filled with curiosity, as he looked around the white circle on the floor.

  “How does it work?” he asked.

  She opened her mouth to stop him, but Darrow was already inside the circle.

  “Oh great,” Damian muttered, and the assassin tensed instantly, her eyes wide.

  In the next few seconds, the air shifted. The air grew wet, and a faint hum began. Mist started creeping in from the cracks in the stone. It spilt across the floor like a living flood, and in a matter of moments, it quickly rose to ankle height, then to knee height.

  Rellina’s eyes widened in shock. Then she saw it—a blurry figure rose, then its form sharpened. Darrow stumbled back, clearly startled by the sudden appearance of the figure, but that was not all. Another female-shaped figure shifted into existence.

  “You are not the one,” the first figure rumbled. The figure had thick, flowing hair, was dressed in some sort of leather armour, and feathers covered bits of its face.

  The female spirit moved around Darrow and nodded her head in agreement. She poked him, and Darrow tried not to move.

  “Who are you?” she narrowed her eyes.

  She had thick, messy hair like that of a child, and Darrow couldn’t tell where her hair began, and her feathers ended on her head.

  Darrow looked around helplessly, but still he didn’t move. He didn’t know how the creatures would react.

  Damian didn’t move as well. He glanced at the assassin, and she was also frozen. The shadows formed around her one moment, and then they flickered away as the magic around the two beings grew stronger.