Behind the High Throne, a heavy iron hatch led straight down into the subterranean belly of the mountain, groaning under thick plumes of scalding steam.
Sagiri, Grand Marshal Senraki, Kaka, and Lady Kiana stepped onto the massive circular freight lift as its heavy iron gears began to turn with a violent shudder.
The lift plunged five hundred feet into the darkness, the freezing mountain air rapidly growing suffocatingly hot and thick with the bitter stench of sulfur, ozone, and necrotic blood.
"This entire mountain is hollowed out like a rotten tooth," Kaka muttered, gripping the hilt of his battleaxes as the lift rattled against the stone shaft.
"It is where they buried the soul of Lanka sixteen years ago," Senraki answered, his sharp eyes fixed on the descending darkness below.
At the bottom of the shaft, the iron gates clanged open, revealing a vast subterranean sanctum that made even the veteran warriors freeze in their tracks.
