“Bloody hell, I’m an idiot…” He pushed the door open before more doubts and justifications stopped him.

  The creak was deafening as the heavy door slowly opened. The statue stood exactly as he had left it – one hand extended, the other holding a torch. Its eyes seemed to follow him as he stepped into the chamber. Feeling watched, he shuddered and glanced around the room.

  There was nothing but the statue. It rested on a large, granite base, reinforced and decorated with a grey, shining metal. There were letters and symbols he could now read etched into the metal.

  He scowled as he approached. The metal lines formed seven circles, all intercepting at the statue’s feet. The base of the statue reached his waist in height.

  “Protection?” He mumbled as he tried to read the etched writing. He slowly circled the statue. “Warding…” He paused. This wasn’t really it, was it? His heart sank as he glanced at the statue. Had she repurposed the base to house the statue? Was it useless to them now? Biting his lips, he ducked under the ivory angel wing.

  The statue’s golden tail wrapped around its base formed a ring right behind it. “Nest? Is this it then?” The tail-ring was suspiciously mana core sized, and there was a fitting slot carved into the granite slab.

  This is it. His lips parted, and a tired sigh escaped. “Where did the mana core go?!” He cried out quietly. Without it, they had no hope. He sank to his knees. Where the bloody hell am I supposed to find a mana core? He clenched his jaw and squeezed his fists until his knuckles were white. Frustration bubbled up. He wanted to scream.

  He took a deep breath, filling his lungs, then slowly exhaled.

  There has to be a way. Think.

  A few more deep breaths later, he slowly stood up, passed under the ivory wing, and walked out of the chamber housing the Chthonian’s statue. As he closed the heavy metal door, a part of him felt relieved. At least he didn’t feel like he was constantly being watched anymore.

  With slow steps, he made his way two floors up, to the entrance, and sat by the stone steps connecting the gate to the courtyard.

  Sol and Luna, laying in the sun, seemed somewhat happy to see him. Their tails wagged lazily, and Luna flattened her ears and panted. He leaned forward to scratch beneath her ears, then pet Sol’s back before leaning his back against the stone columns.

  It wasn’t long before the others returned.

  “It’s the statue of the Chthonian,” he said before any of them could get a word in. “She made the base, inscriptions, everything.” As their faces lit up, he continued. “But there is no mana core. So… unless any of you know where we can find one, this was pointless.”

  Victoria’s shoulders dropped. Avery cursed under his breath. Lochlan just stared hopelessly.

  “I mean…” Martin piped up hesitantly. “We never were able to destroy three of the cores that appeared around us… It’s why our Hallowed Ground got destroyed.”

  Alaric’s head jerked up. “Oh, right!” He started on his feet.

  “But it’s full of enemies,” Martin quickly continued. “And they’re quite far away. It took us an entire night to even approach you on foot. How are you going to go, get the thing and come back before dusk?”

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  “Cinder,” Alaric quickly replied. “I can ride there and come back.” Seeing the doubtful faces of the others, he added, “…probably.”

  “I don’t think ‘probably’ is good enough.” Lochlan folded his arms. “Besides, that means you’re fighting whatever is guarding the mana core on your own. Need I remind you how much trouble we had every single time?”

  “Not every time.” Alaric gestured them to follow him and started crossing the courtyard. “One of the spires had murals. Getting to it took nearly half a day, but we didn’t fight a single thing, remember?”

  Lochlan pursed his lips.

  “You can’t expect the same luck now.” Victoria shook her head. “It’s too risky. What if you don’t go to the correct one? What if it’s full of those spiders?”

  He shuddered at the thought. “And if we don’t try, what then?” He signalled the wolves and the stallion to follow them as they headed down the stone path snaking through the woods. “We can’t fight them off, we’ll lose protection in…” he glanced at the timer. “Two days and a few hours. I’m out of ideas, so if you’ve got any, now’s the time to share.”

  The young woman lowered her gaze. “The system might give us a solution.”

  “’Might’ isn’t quite good enough, is it?” Alaric forced a smile. Victoria didn’t react to his words. Her gaze remained on the ground.

  “Even if you’re right,” Martin spoke up. “Say you made it to the spire, you went inside and were lucky enough to not meet anything that wants your head separated from your neck. You took the mana core, and… what? Started riding back?”

  Alaric shrugged. “That’s pretty much it, yeah.”

  Martin shook his head. “It won’t work, kid. We destroyed the northeastern spire, and the northwestern one claimed five of our men. The only person who made it back was a young woman, and according to her, it was teeming with monsters. They captured all the men and sucked them dry.”

  … great. “What about the southern spires?”

  “We never went to the eastern one. The western one was pretty large, but we didn’t see an immediate threat around it.” He folded his arms. “But that one was over half a day away from our camp, and our camp is almost ten hours away from yours. You can’t ride there and back in the span of a single day, kid. I’m telling you, it’s impossible.”

  He was right. A spire so far away would take more time than he’d have in a day. Cinder was a strong horse, but even he couldn’t maintain top speed for over twelve hours. “I still don’t see an alternative.” He admitted.

  “Neither do I, but you don’t go throwing your life away. Not when there isn’t a chance.”

  Is there really no chance? The knights didn’t appear instantly, and even if they did, Cinder could outrun them. Alaric wasn’t as heavily armoured as the knights after all. He wasn’t as heavy a load on the stallions back as the profaned legions knights.

  “I’m inclined to agree with him.” Avery finally spoke up. “We still have hours of daylight. Check the witch’s book again – maybe she has a hidden mana core somewhere.”

  Sitting on a fallen tree trunk, Alaric put the heavy tome on his legs and started turning the pages.

  “There’s a lot of information about random things,” he explained as he skimmed through the yellowed pages. “Herbs, rare animal parts and plants she used for some… honestly weird spells. Ah,” he tapped his finger on a rough map. “Look at this, it’s pretty similar to ours, right?” He rummaged through his pockets to find the sketch he made when they first started exploring.

  “Oh, yeah.” Lochlan scowled. “Maybe she drew it after we woke her up.”

  Then why is it in the middle of the damn book?

  He ran his fingers on the pages and over the ink. “I think its older.” Some parts of the map had faded, already. Only a few days old ink wouldn’t look so old. But how could she have drawn this before the world changed? Before Aetherfall even occurred?

  “…What’s this?” Victoria tapped on a structure to the east, blocking what looked like a passage through the mountains.

  “Castle Dorwan. Is that the structure we saw on our first day?” He turned his gaze eastward. It was too hazy of a day to see quite so far.

  “It’s got the same marker as the spires.” Martin muttered. “Look, she even marked our four spires. This one is the one where our people died,” he tapped on one, “this is the one we cleared,” he tapped on the other one. His finger slid down, to the southeastern structure. “This one we think is empty. But we’re not sure. No one went close enough to test.”

  “Can’t be worse than bloodsucking monsters, can it?” Alaric forced a smile, then turned his gaze back to the page. “If you’re right though, then this structure might have a mana core as well.” He tapped on the eastern structure. “And it’s close enough to reach on foot, since it’s just straight fields till the mountains, and there was an old road, according to Sarah.”

  Victoria’s face lit up. “Then forget about the spire – let’s go there. We can easily make it if we leave at dawn tomorrow.”

  Alaric closed the book and stood up. “Let’s head back to camp.”