CH2

At first, neither the man nor the woman spoke. After being disturbed by the strange human's entrance, the Enerawyn eyed him suspiciously. She obviously needed no aid in dispatching the skeletons here in the catacombs. This was evident by the mounds of bone dust scattered around her. To say he was impressed would have been an understatement. Hazel eyes narrowed at the man as she looked him up and down. She was certainly not expecting anyone else here. Or at least no one alive, anyway. Her lips thinned, and she kept her sword ready for battle. She did not attack, however.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he said calmly, though held his own sword ready. He had no intention of harming the woman, and he hoped she would understand he was no threat to her. “I wasn't expecting anyone else down here.” He admitted. The woman narrowed her eyes at him further.

She was obviously regarding him with scepticism. “I wouldn't linger if I were you,” she said, her tone almost feral, “the dead walk here.”

The man tipped his head towards her, his look one of understanding, “I know,” he said, still keeping a calm tone, “I am here because of that reason.”

At his words, the woman raised a brow. She eyed him up and down once more before speaking again, “not a treasure hunter then. Still, I would advice against going further.”

Chuckling the man shrugged his shoulders. “And you? I cannot imagine that you are lost. You certainly seem to be sure of yourself down here.” He said, pointing to the lumps of dust and bones littering the woman's feet.

“I am here to stop this madness... quite like yourself, it seems.” She said, her tone icy. “I have no wish to engage you in battle, and you would be wise to not wish to engage me, either.”

“I don't desire a fight with you,” he agreed, nodding twice, “there would be little to gain from battling against you. We're here for the same thing, as you said yourself. I was hoping we might work together, actually.”

At the man's words, the woman raised her brow again, her curiosity showing easily upon her face. “To what end?” She asked cautiously.

“To kill whatever old God or demon that causes the dead to rise, what else?” The man said with a confused frown. Apparently, it wasn't obvious to the woman that they would have bigger chances at this task together than alone.

She frowned at his words for a moment before speaking, her tone harsh, “no mortal can kill a God, even an old one. That's the problem with humans, you are always so foolish to believe you can do the impossible,” she paused for a moment, rolling her eyes, “how you even managed to get this far, I know not. The path I took was littered with traps. A man as foolish as you, would not have passed through without setting them off.”

“I must have come another way in.” The man spoke with a shrug of his shoulders, “there were no traps for me.”

This seemed to irritate the woman a little. Her eye twitched and she stared at the man for a long while. She sighed heavily, then tipped her head towards one of the paths ahead. “I cannot tell if you are lucky, or stupid... but fine. If you wish your death so much, then you can come with me.” She said, offering the man a hand. Though she did so almost reluctantly.

“I'd go, even if you said you would not like my company,” the man said, grinning widely at the woman. He took her hand nevertheless and shook it. “The name is Fenryn, by the way.” He added, offering a polite smile.

The woman wrinkled her nose but nodded her head. “The name is Lynnette. If you must call me by name,” she said with an unamused tone. Fenryn was unsure if she simply distrusted him because he was a stranger, or if it was because he was human. The Enerawyn did not have much love for humanity, and he could not blame her for any distrust she showed. Her people had been enslaved once long ago, and even now they were still regarded as savages by most humans. Though that could not be further from the truth.

“Then let us continue on, Lynnette. I suspect we are not much further from the cause of all the undead here.” Fenryn nodded. He allowed her to lead them further down into the catacombs.

The darkness seemed to snuff out even the torches that Lynnette lit along the way, making their descent more intense with each step. The tunnels had widened into larger cavern passageways, which were more natural in build than the previous tunnels. Fenryn suspected these caverns predated the catacombs by hundreds of years.

Lynnette was not much one for conversation, Fenryn noticed. She would give him mumbled responses to his questions about the caves but cared little for idle chatter. Instead, she would give him a glaring look whenever he tried. He gave up trying after a while, and now the two moved in almost an eerie silence. The little information she had been willing to give him, was things he already knew about the catacombs.

Some of the old races of Terra often dug large crypts deep down in the earth to be as near the old God of Death as possible. Of course, these races were regarded as demons and evil creatures. The old God was no longer alive, or so it was said. The Goddess of Death had taken up the task, but she was no more monstrous than the Goddess of Utopia was. In fact, the new Gods were said to be neutral but were still unpredictable in their actions, and it was best to not anger any of them.

“We haven't seen any new corpses since we left the catacombs,” Fenryn spoke quietly. He held the torch out infront of himself, trying to see the path ahead.

Lynnette gave a mumble of agreement. She paused in her steps, then glanced towards him. “I was expecting more too.” She said finally. Her tone seemed unsure, and she looked back the way they had come.

“You do not think we made a wrong turn somewhere, do you?” He asked, following her gaze.

Lynnette shook her head slowly, “no,” she said quietly. “This is the way. The fact that it is getting darker is a good sign... but there should be more dead here, not less.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, confused.

“The reason behind the walking dead... it should be luring them towards it.” She explained, shifting nervously on the spot. “I suppose it could have gathered most of the dead already, and the ones we came across were simply slower, and had not yet gathered near it.”

Fenryn gave a thoughtful sound, then he nodded his head. “Then we can expect to fight a lot of undead when we get closer, correct?”

“Theoretically, yes... but something is strange about this place.” Lynnette quietly spoke. She seemed almost afraid now.

“Perhaps someone got here before us?”

“And did what? Killed the old God for us, wouldn't the dead return to the afterlife if that was true? Or maybe you believe they released it upon the surface?” Fenryn asked, now watching her curiously.

“There is no God here. Dead or alive.” Lynnette muttered. She looked back to the man and frowned deeply. “The reason behind all this is an artefact. Though it is true that it once belonged to the old God of the Underworld.”

Fenryn blinked in disbelief. He had not thought about such an item being behind such chaos. Though it did make things easier than trying to kill an immortal being without the God-slayer sword. Though he soon realised what she was implying. “You think someone got here before us and took the item for themselves?” He asked. He knew that if something like that were true, then he would have to find them, and quickly.

Lynnette nodded slowly. “We must hurry,” she said urgently, “we cannot allow anyone to use it. Only someone with evil intent would want such a thing for themselves. We must destroy it.”

Fenryn could not agree more and he continued to move forward. “Then we best hurry and find out if the item is still here or not. If they have already left, then we will need to backtrack as quickly as possible.” He spoke his words swiftly as he quickened his pace.

Lynnette watched him for a moment, her head tilting to one side. “Aren't you worried that I may want to use the item for myself?” She asked, following behind him now. “You know nothing about me, after all.”

“I am not worried at all,” Fenryn said, glancing behind himself with a grin. “The Enerawyn are a good people, and I doubt you would use such evil things for yourself.”

Lynnette found her cheeks flushing ever so lightly. This man was truly an idiot. Who would believe in her so easily like that? Though she was surprised to hear him call her by her true

racial name, and not by the common slang name of elf that humans often called her people.

Truthfully, most humans could not tell the difference between her people, the Malruthiia, or the Detharidu. The Malruthiia were those of her people that had lost their nomadic lifestyle after being enslaved for centuries. They were mostly a free people in this day and age but now lived as the humans did. The Detharidu were said to be followers of the Goddess of Death, for they lived deep underground, and were rarely seen at all. Not much was known about them at all. Her people, the Enerawyn were believed to be the truest and purest of the three. They had not submitted to human rule and had continued to live a nomadic lifestyle.

Lynnette let out a light sigh, then shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't going to admit that he had surprised her, and there were more pressing matters to attend towards. “Let us hurry then,” she said following after Fenryn. The way ahead led into a wide cave. It was almost completely dark here, and even the torch gave off little to no light.

“The magic here is even stronger,” Fenryn said frowning deeply, “it feels almost like it is strangling the life out of everything in the area.”

Lynnette nodded slowly, “this is a shrine to the old God of Death, so it makes sense for it to still hold powerful magic. Wait... do you hear that?” She asked, her voice growing quiet. She raised the torch helplessly in front of herself, but the darkness refused to relent to the light at all.

“We are not alone here,” Fenryn mumbled quietly. He stood still next to the woman, his sword ready for the first sign of danger. He struggled to see anything in the cave, however, and this caused him to tense up. He had expected a fight here, but he had not taken into account any kind of magic. He cursed himself inwardly for not being smarter in his plans.