The empty tunnels echoed with each step, forcing Rayna to move slower than she wanted to. The monsters in the tunnels were weaker than the ones in the forest above, but there were more of them. Rayna carefully peeked around each corner, pausing as often as was necessary to be sure she didn't run into any unwelcome surprises.

She kept her invisibility active as she followed the tracking line, passing several small caves and tunnel forks along the way. Once she was forced to inch her way along the wall to avoid a full nest of Vulpinoxes. The only thing that kept her from panicking was their relatively low levels. None of them were above Level 35, which wasn't ideal for a confrontation, but it wasn't the instant death that Rayna would expect from a Level 150 Vulpinox like the one Naomi saved her and Corban from.

She walked along the line for what felt like hours, wishing, not for the first time, that she had access to a clock.

Then she came to a dead end.

Rayna placed a hand on the solid stone, her brows knitting together. It wasn't an illusion, nor did it have an obvious mechanism to open some secret passage. It glowed slightly with magic, but everything in the tunnels glowed, and Rayna was pretty sure it was just an excess of Essence in the area that caused the effect.

Now what?

She tried backtracking and taking another tunnel for a bit, but the line didn't reroute her. She returned to the dead end, pacing in the wide tunnel. There had to be some way to get through. Her tracking wasn't the most reliable when it came to obstacles, but it didn't usually try to drag her right through a solid wall. Was it another System glitch?

After several minutes of poking and prodding, Rayna decided to try backtracking again. Maybe she just hadn't walked far enough to pick up another entrance.

She turned to leave as the faint sound of conversation echoed toward her up the tunnel. Rayna let out a hiss of air and shrank into the shadows, checking to be sure that her invisibility charm was still active.

Two tall figures ambled down the hallway. They looked almost identical to humans, the most notable differences being their long pointy ears and sharp fingernails. Rayna's eyes widened as they grew close enough for her to recognize what they were.

Lerians. There were two Lerians coming up the tunnel toward her, a man and a woman.

The woman looked to be in her mid-forties, her long auburn curls framing her tan face. Her brown eyes looked worried as she conversed with her companion.

"That's the second time this month," she said. "Forget the shadowfoxes, what if a larger demon makes it down here? We don't have the strength to deal with anything larger than a jerika."

Her companion was an older gentleman with long gray hair and dark blue eyes. His skin was lighter than the woman's.

He scoffed, flicking his hair out of his eyes with a relaxed hand. "The larger demons can't get past the entrance to the tunnels. There's a reason we live underground, Larsha. The demons above protect us from the sea and those small enough to find us below serve as training. It is all as the Great Keeper has designed."

Larsha didn't look convinced. She held the oil lantern she was holding higher as they reached the end of the tunnel.

"Complacency is a dangerous thing, Kunder," she said. "The smaller demons grow stronger by the year. Someday they might be too much for us to handle as well."

"I am anything but complacent," Kunder countered. "Do you think I train every morning to while the hours of my life away? I'm simply trusting in the Great Keeper, as you should, Larsha, considering you carry her spark."

Larsha shook her head. "Don't pretend that light magic is rare. Practically half of Eeren can use it in some capacity."

"But not everyone can create it," Kunder said. "You understand the Great Keeper in a way I never shall."

Larsha rolled her eyes. "You're just deflecting from the actual problem. The demons are—"

Rayna pressed herself against the wall, barely avoiding getting clipped by Kunder's elbow as he swung around.

"Do you feel that?" The man narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the tunnel.

Rayna froze as well, her heart thudding in her chest.

"Feel what?" Larsha asked in a low voice.

"Magic," Kunder said quietly. "Light magic. It was used here recently."

Larsha frowned at him. "We're standing at the Keeper's gate, and you just finished lecturing me about how I should feel closer to her because I have her spark. Of course you feel light magic. Did you hit your head?"

Kunder shook his head, not turning away from the tunnel. "No, this isn't your magic. It's different somehow. Can't you feel it?"

Larsha shook her head. "I'm a scenter. And no, I smell nothing but the dusty tunnel and the Great Keeper's gate."

Kunder continued to survey the tunnel for another nerve-racking moment, then he straightened his posture, turning back to Larsha.

"You must be right," he said. "Though I don't appreciate your tone."

Larsha shook her head. "Should I entertain your ill humors when we are already late for check-in? Youna is going to be furious."

"She'll be much angrier if we lead a shadowfox into Eeren," Kunder said, pressing his hand against the stone on the left side of the wall. A rune lit up under his fingers and the stone slid aside, revealing an empty passageway.

Unlike the tunnel that Rayna and the others stood in, the passageway on the other side of the gate was too smooth to be a natural tunnel, and the air was warmer than the cold damp tunnels that had made it hard for Rayna to dry off after her plunge into the ocean.

"If it was a shadowfox you would feel both magics, not just light," Larsha pointed out, starting down the passageway.

Kunder sniffed. "I did."

He followed her into the narrower passageway and Rayna slipped through the gate just in time to avoid getting her hair caught in it as the stone slid back into place. She wasn't going to risk getting caught on the other side since she wasn't sure if her touch would open the door or not.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

She followed the pair as closely as she dared, silently wishing they would turn into one of the side passages, but from what she could tell, wherever they were going, that's where Corban had ended up. They trampled the white line with every step, continuing their conversation.

"What ever happened to respecting the elderly?" Kunder asked in an annoyed voice. "I'm nearly a century your senior. That experience gives me an edge when it comes to using my senses."

"I might respect your experience," Larsha said, turning a corner. "If you didn't dismiss my worries about the demons above. Your experience doesn't trump my instincts just because you're older."

"What about my instincts?" Kunder complained. "You dismiss my senses while upholding your own? That's hypocritical."

"You're always feeling magic where there isn't any," Larsha complained. "Three times this month you've insisted you felt a recent trail, only to find a demon three days into rotting away. Not to mention, your senses always flare around the Great Keeper's protections. What you're feeling is the halo effect, nothing more."

Kunder harrumphed. "If I was sensing the halo effect, then explain to me why the feeling is still following us."

Rayna's heart nearly stopped. She took several steps back from the pair, freezing in place in the darkest shadow she could find.

They turned around and peered down the tunnel.

Larsha's brow knit together as she breathed in through her nose. "I admit, something does seem… off…"

Rayna didn't move a muscle. Nali said the invisibility wasn't perfect. An ill-timed twitch could give her away.

For a brief moment, Rayna thought she was going to get away with it, but her heart skipped a beat when Larsha looked directly at her.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "You thought you could trick us with that flimsy spell, little one?"

Larsha drew a rune in the air. It hung there for a moment, glowing a light blue color before it rushed through the tunnel.

Rayna let out a yelp as her invisibility spell popped, leaving her skin tingling and her ears ringing.

She tried to run back down the tunnel, but Kunder drew a dark red rune in the air and Rayna smacked into an invisible wall.

She fell backwards. Using the boost in grace that her Dexterity gave her, Rayna shifted her weight, turning her fall into an awkward roll that brought her back to her feet, facing the other direction.

She attempted to run past Larsha, her momentum checked by the woman's hand on her upper arm.

"Calm down—Ow!" Larsha released Rayna's arm, staring incredulously at the bite marks Rayna had left.

Rayna sprinted up the tunnel, but her freedom was short lived as another one of Kunder's barriers blocked her path.

Rayna crouched into a ready position, pulling her staff from her Soul Realm. She didn't know if she could get past the barriers, but from the strength of Larsha's grip, Rayna was at least a match for them physically. The trick would be finding a way to match them magically.

Larsha watched Rayna with raised eyebrows, holding a cloth to her bleeding arm.

They stood in a stalemate for a whole minute, Rayna's heart racing in her chest as she tried in vain to come up with an exit strategy that wouldn't get her killed.

Larsha burst into laughter, earning herself a disapproving glare from Kunder.

"Don't encourage this sort of behavior!" he admonished. "The child will think it's perfectly fine to go skulking about the tunnels without an escort."

"Well, she would do Youna proud," Larsha said, wiping away a tear. "She nearly had us."

Kunder scoffed. "She only got that close to us because you didn't believe me at the Keeper's gate. I would have had her in one spell instead of two."

Larsha waved a dismissive hand, combining the motion into drawing another rune that sunk into her hand, healing the bite marks that Rayna had left there. "She's quick. If she knew the way back in, she would've waited for us to leave before making her escape."

Larsha crossed her arms, turning her attention to Rayna, who had lowered her staff in her bemusement. "I suppose you didn't want to get caught out in the tunnels before your official assignment. That was foolish of you to go out without a partner."

Kunder tsked. "The youth are prone to folly," he said, his voice loaded with mischief.

"I'm hardly a youth," Larsha objected. "And perhaps I would show you more of the respect you so desire if you stopped treating me like one."

Rayna kept her face as neutral as possible. She was completely lost in the current conversation. She was pretty sure she was in trouble, but not for the reason that she thought. They thought she was from their… settlement? Town? What exactly was down in these tunnels?

Rayna adjusted her grip on her staff, still not willing to return it to her Soul Realm.

"Oh, calm down," Larsha said, grabbing Rayna's staff and yanking it out of her hands. Rayna lunged for it, but Larsha held it out of reach. "You're in trouble, but we're not going to attack you for sneaking past the Great Keeper's protections. Everyone does it at least once. Most come back alive."

The significant way she emphasized the first word was obviously meant to be a warning.

Rayna straightened up, frowning at the woman. "Can I have my staff back… please?"

She could probably just take it from Larsha, but Rayna didn't want to show too much of her hand before she had a chance to escape.

"You can have it back after your scolding," Larsha said, slipping the staff into a sling that hung across her back, holding her own staff in place. "This'll keep you from skipping out on punishment. Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean there won't be consequences for breaking the rules."

She grabbed Rayna's shoulders and flipped her around, so she was facing down the tunnel, giving her a gentle prod forward. "Lead on, troublemaker. I plan on offering you as an excuse for our tardiness."

Rayna started walking, the strangeness of the situation throwing her off-balance. They certainly weren't Lord Myre's people. He would lose his mind if he knew there were Lerians left on Ember. They might be with Shela's group, but most of the people that had roamed the mountain village looked like other species, their Lerian blood being weaker in terms of physical appearance and stronger in terms of magical traits. Shela had even mentioned that she had a Soul Realm, which Rayna had already figured was a Lerian thing, but the confirmation was appreciated.

The other thing that was odd was their method of using magic. Rayna was by no means an expert, but she hadn't seen anyone draw glowing runes in the air, even when she was in Shela's village. The couple of spells she had seen used before running away were all the usual glow that came with using System magic.

Rayna glanced back at Larsha, confirming what she had only vaguely noticed when she first saw the two.

They didn't have name tags. Were they not part of the System? How was that even possible? Rayna was under the impression that everyone was brought into the System at birth. Was there a ceremony that had to be performed? Or was there something else blocking these people's inclusion?

Rayna gave up wondering about it after a while, listening to Larsha and Kunder's banter as she tried to glean some information about the underground Lerian community. From what she could tell, they were part of some sort of security force that hunted monsters—which they called demons—in the tunnels to control their populations. Unfortunately, their conversation never strayed in the direction of where they were going, nor anything else about the underground society besides the name.

Where's a good expositional conversation when you need one?

Rayna didn't try to run away, though she considered it at a few of the intersections they passed. Larsha never corrected her direction as she followed the white line toward Corban, which meant he was probably being held in Eeren. This was both convenient and inconvenient. If the town was too small, it would be difficult to sneak around in a group of people that could sense magic. She would either have to sneak around the old fashioned way, or she would have to come clean and hope the Lerians down here were benevolent.

The tunnel finally opened into a large cavern and Rayna paused on the edge of a steep cliff, her breath catching in her throat.

Below her, a sprawling city stretched so far back that she couldn't see the last few buildings in the distance. Tens of thousands of Lerians—maybe more—bustled about the city, going about their days without a care in the world. Animals that looked like a cross between a horse and a camel pulled carts along full roads, heading toward what looked like a marketplace. On the near edge of the city, a large wall stretched across the perimeter, protecting not only the city, but also the extensive farmland that lined its eastern border. The wall merged seamlessly with the sides of the cavern and the slight shimmer of magic revealed a barrier that stretched all the way from the top of the wall to the ceiling above.

Rayna's heart dropped. Finding Corban and getting both of them out of Eeren was going to be harder than she thought.

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