…
Morning, if it could be called that down here, came as a soft shift in the dark. The distant glow from the shaft above changed tone, from black to a faint, colourless grey.
They broke camp quickly.
Rope checked. Packs tightened. Lanterns lit.
Gold was the last to rise from where he'd been sitting against the wall. The threads in his chest hadn't let him sleep deeply, but his body felt ready. Too ready. Power coiled under his skin as if waiting to be spent.
"Back down," Ajit said quietly, rolling up his map. "Follow the ledges until the pull takes us to the centre."
Gold gave a small nod and led them back through the tunnel.
…
The drowned city greeted them again with its quiet movements of water.
From the tunnel mouth, they retraced their way along the right flank. They had to be careful, these structures were in no way new or sturdy. Yet to get down they had to somehow climb or slide, risking the collapse of their foundation.
They cut across a slanted rooftop, then dropped down onto a wide balcony whose railing had long since fallen away. From here, a series of broken walkways led inward, stone bridges that had half-collapsed, leaving only ribs of support beams to step across.
"That's our path," Ajit pointed towards the heart of the city. "We follow that direction. Even if the streets below are flooded, the upper levels still trace the same roads."
"Good," Fritt muttered. "The less wading, the better."
They progressed in small bursts. A roof, a balcony, a jump to an exposed beam, then a careful shuffle across a half-fallen arch. Once, they had to pass through an open hall whose floor had sunk in the middle, forming a circular pool that reflected the ceiling like a dark mirror.
Gold took lead for a stretch across an interior corridor lined with cracked tiles. The air was drier here, less touched by lake mist. Light drew in from a hole in the outer wall, casting a rectangular patch on the floor.
He stepped into it-
-and the stone gave way.
The slab under his boot dropped an inch with a grinding crack. He jolted backward on reflex, weight shifting in time. The slab broke free and plunged straight down, a rush of cold air following before a loud splash echoed at the bottom.
"Careful," Gold said as he looked down, "The floors up here aren't meant for Restrana weight anymore."
Ferra peered over the edge and swallowed her own spit anxiously.
They rerouted through a side chamber that they eventually found.
…
As they drew closer to the city's centre, the architecture shifted subtly. Columns grew thicker. The carvings became more ornate, spirals and sigils wrapping the stone like tattooed skin. Statues appeared.
At first, they were simply part of the scenery. Figures of robed men and women, warriors with long spears, beasts with multiple heads. All carved from the same pale stone, blank-eyed and still. Many had pylonic veins threading through their bases, feeding up into their bodies and vanishing beneath the sculpted surface.
"It's like they worshipped the palace," Kavi murmured.
"Or maybe they were proud of what they built," Ferra shared her opinion. "I'd carve my face into a wall if I made a city like this."
They entered a wide square of balconies, its centre a drop into a now flooded courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard were many statues, slumped all around the ground, sinking to the bottom.
What felt odd to Gold were their irregular poses.
Gold, halfway through the balconies felt his chest tighten, not from the palace, but something else. A different resonance.
He slowed.
"Something feels wrong." Gold shared his worries but it was too late. Barely, but most definitely, he saw the statues twitch.
The pylon veins brightened. A faint glow pulsed under the stone statue's chest.
"Run…" Gold felt like he knew what was gonna happen, "Run!" He shouted.
Everyone quickly realised their predicament when they saw the stone statues clawing the submerged pillars, slowly climbing their way out of the water.
They ran for the nearest exit - a broken arch leading to a higher terrace.
Stone feet hit the ground heavy behind them, each step a dull thud that vibrated up through the earth. Shields slid up, swords lifted, the motion smooth, practised. These were not crude constructs; they had been designed to move like trained soldiers.
Fritt reached the arch first, planting a hand on the jagged frame and vaulting up. Ferra followed, leaping and grabbing the edge with one hand, hauling herself through. Ajit and Kavi scrambled behind her, packs rattling against the stone.
Gold halted at the rear, counting the beats of the approaching steps.
Four warriors. Then six.
He watched the angle of their arms, the timing of their stride. His new sight, the golden haze behind his eyes - caught threads of energy running through the cracks in their stone. Lines of force flowed from the cores in their chests into their joints.
"Gold!" Fritt called from above. "Move!"
Gold stepped backward toward the arch, then lunged forward instead.
The first golem's sword swung horizontally, a clean, disciplined cut aiming to take him at the waist. Gold shifted just enough, bringing his blade up in a tight parry instead of his usual broad slash. Steel scratched stone with a harsh scrape, knocking the sword's path off his ribs by inches.
He didn't follow through with a usual slash. Instead, he let the contact guide him, the vibration travelling down his arm. He turned his wrist and drove the point of his sword inward - aiming not at the chest centre, but at a faint, thinner line of light where the shoulder met torso; he wasn't sure why but the golden threads felt like they were guiding his blade.
The blade's point dug into the joint.
Stone splintered around the pylon vein. A heat fizzled out, then light dimmed in that arm entirely. The golem's sword arm sagged, suddenly dead weight.
The golem raised its other arm, ready to grab Gold with its polished fingers but Gold grabbed its forearm and pulled it away, with the golem's torso undefended he drew his arm back. A single deep breath is all he took before slamming his pommel into the Golem's chest and cracking it into pieces.
Letting go of the crumbling arm, he moved to meet the next one, ignoring the burning build-up in his skull for now.
Ferra dropped back through the arch.
"I've got your flank!" she shouted, zweihander coming down in a roaring arc.
She met the third warrior's vertical strike head-on. Stone greatsword slammed into her own blade. The impact shuddered through her entire body, pushing her boots back centimetres.
She grinned through clenched teeth.
"Finally," she muttered. "Something heavy."
She twisted her hips, turning the deadlock into a shove, using her strength to redirect the golem's blade to the side. With its guard thrown open, she stepped in and slammed her shoulder into its chest, using her whole body like a battering ram.
The construct staggered back a few paces, almost tripping over its own feet, before stabilising unnaturally quickly, stone joints adjusting.
However, by the time it was upright, Ferra's blade already towered above it, dropping onto it like a brutal hammer, crushing it under the weight of her sword.
"Two down," she said, breathing hard but excited.
"Four more," Gold answered, eyes narrowing.
He met the next warrior's thrust with a powerful two handed slash, staggering the golem back as Fritt leaped from above and slammed his fist down on top of it, the explosion of his punch cracking the golem's chest. Seemingly malfunctioning it as it could do nothing more than twitch about. "What happened to running!" Fritt glanced at Gold with a half joking look.
Just as Gold wanted to respond, a spike drove through his temples without warning, like a nail being hammered from the inside. His vision haloed at the edge, light smearing.
He stumbled a half-step.
The next golem used that opening, shield ramming forward.
Gold brought his sword up too late to fully deflect. The shield slammed into him, driving him back a few paces. Luckily he too jumped back to not take the full brunt of the attack.
"Gold!" Eyviria called. She had stayed near the edge of the square, hands half-lifted, measuring space. "Your influence - pull it in. You're overextending."
Her voice cut through the hammering in his head. He understood, he hadn't stopped since the lake. He had kept his influence constantly channelling, senses flared, power constantly feeding his movements.
"Is this the migraine she talked about?" It felt like his head was ripping open.
He gritted his teeth and forced his focus inward, taking a deep breath. He imagined the threads retracting, golden lines that had stretched out into the world drawing back into his chest, coiling close to his heart instead of radiating out.
He released an exhale of relief as it calmed down slightly. The pain didn't vanish, but it eased from a blinding spike to a pounding ache.
He stood and raised his sword again.
"Good!" Eyviria said. Then the last two golems turned toward her as they used the shield golem to launch themselves above Fritt and Ferra.
"Shit," she cursed.
They came at her together, stone blades cutting the air in lethal efficiency.
Eyviria's tentacles tightened around her waist and leg. She planted her feet, raised one gloved hand, and aimed it not at them, but at the empty air a few paces in front of her chest where they would eventually reach.
"Cover your ears!" she screamed.
Fritt was closest; he slapped his hands over the sides of his head. Ferra did the same with her forearm and shoulder. Gold clenched his jaw and turned slightly, trying to shield his damaged ear.
Eyviria clenched her fist.
The space in front of her folded. Air compressed in a heartbeat, a dense sphere forming and then expanding at once.
The explosion was brutal and close.
It detonated outward from that point in a tight, controlled blast. Fire and pressure punched into the approaching golems, gouging stone from their chests and faces. The shockwave hit Eyviria, too - it slammed into her front and flung her backwards, her coat snapping around her like a sail.
She flew.
Her tentacle around her waist lashed out, catching any protruding piece of stone and anchoring her spin. She swung in an arc and landed roughly but intact on a ledge, scrambling back to her feet with a cough.
The two nearest golems weren't as lucky.
One had its head entirely blown off, the upper portion of its chest hollowed. The light in its core flickered and died. The other lost half its shield and one leg, the pylon veins running through them severed. It toppled sideways and crashed onto the flagstones.
Everyone else stumbled and felt rattled, the wind alone felt like it shook their bones. Ferra even froze from the shock and trembled.
The last golem with its shield wasn't too difficult, Fritt grabbed it and held it still whilst Ferra 'bludgeoned' it with her zweihander.
Silence followed. Dust drifted.
Fritt shook his hands out, skin still smoking faintly. "Well," he huffed. "That was pretty fun."
Ferra propped her zweihander against her shoulder, breathing hard but grinning. "I liked them," she said. "Solid foundation. Good test of strength."
"We can't fight every group we meet," Ajit said, voice tense. "If they're spread throughout the city…"
"We don't," Eyviria replied from above, slowly making her way down again. "We avoid them when we can. Awake only those we must."
"And if we trigger too many," Gold added, pressing his fingers briefly to his temple as he groaned in pain, "we run."
They shared brief looks.
The city felt less dead now.