Lilee finished stuffing the last of her books into her pack, double-checking straps like she was preparing for the end of the world.
"Alright," she said. "Let's see what ancient death door we're dealing with."
She grabbed the stone handle and pulled.
Nothing.
She braced her foot against the frame and yanked harder.
Still nothing.
"…Yep," she muttered. "Pure carved stone. Figures."
Rex stepped forward, already slotting his earth focus. He placed his gauntlet against the ground and said calmly,
"Terra."
A stone spike erupted upward, wedging into the seam of the door with a grinding crack. The door shuddered—and finally groaned open just enough for them to slip inside.
They stepped through.
Immediately, the tip of the stone spike—now inside the structure—began to rot.
Not crumble like normal stone.
Decay.
The surface blackened, flaked apart, and dissolved into drifting dark-green particles.
The spike collapsed.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Rex froze. Slowly crouched. Made a much smaller spike this time.
They watched in silence as it met the same fate.
The stone darkened. The particles lifted. The spike fell apart.
Lilee swallowed.
"…Does this place eat magic?"
Rex frowned. "Drain. Nullify. Corrupt. Something like that."
They moved deeper.
The interior was encased in ice—thick, ancient layers—but beneath it was clearly a storage hall. Frozen racks of swords. Armor locked mid-fall. Chests half-buried in snow-packed stone.
"This was an armory," Lilee said quietly.
They searched the entire structure.
One hole remained.
A broken section of floor, dropping into darkness.
They exchanged a look—and jumped.
They landed hard.
Bones crunched beneath their boots.
Skeletons.
Dozens.
Some still wearing rusted armor. Others slumped in piles, weapons scattered around them.
At the far end of the chamber stood a single skeleton—upright, intact—holding a staff in one hand.
In the other… a lantern.
Inside it burned a dark red flame.
Still alive.
"…That's not normal," Rex whispered.
They took a step forward—
Click.
Both of them froze.
Too late.
A pressure plate sank into the floor.
The lantern flared.
Blue fire ignited inside the skeleton's eye sockets.
It raised its staff—and slammed it into the ground.
Every skeleton around them twitched.
Then stood.
Rex reacted instantly, slotting his lightning focus.
"Fulgur!"
Bolts leapt from his gauntlet—
And vanished midair.
The lantern pulsed.
Rex tried fire. Gone.
Air. Dissolved.
Heal. Suppressed.
"…Oh," he said flatly. "That's bad."
Earth worked—barely. Stone spikes formed, then disintegrated seconds later.
Meanwhile—
CLANG.
A skeleton flew sideways.
Lilee had already moved.
She wasn't cutting them.
She was beating them.
Using the sword like a club—flat side, pommel, guard—smashing bones apart with raw strength. Technique didn't matter. Momentum did.
"WHY are you so strong?!" Rex shouted while punching skeletons with his gauntlet.
"I LIFT HEAVY THINGS!" she yelled back, shattering a ribcage.
The control skeleton raised its staff again—
Lilee sprinted.
She leapt, swung, and obliterated its skull.
The lantern clattered to the floor.
The blue fire died.
Every skeleton collapsed at once.
Silence.
Rex stared. "…I was completely useless."
Lilee leaned on the sword, panting. "You distracted them."
"…I got counterspelled by a lantern."
They moved forward.
At the back of the chamber, the source revealed itself—
A massive dark-red flame, embedded in the stone like a beating heart.
Rex frowned. "That's the anti-magic field."
He slammed his earth focus down and collapsed the floor beneath it.
The flame sputtered.
Then died.
The air changed.
Magic rushed back in like a held breath released.
A hidden chamber opened beyond.
Inside—
Frost crystals.
Dozens of them.
And gold.
Lilee's eyes lit up.
They grabbed what they could—but the structure began to shake.
Cracks spread through the ceiling.
"RUN!" Rex shouted.
They bolted.
The exit collapsed behind them just as they escaped into the snow.
Breathing hard, laughing, exhausted.
Lilee checked her pack. "No gold. But I saved my books."
Rex nodded. "I got frost crystals. And…"
He lifted the lantern and staff. "These."
They exchanged a look.
"…Meet-up point?" Lilee asked.
Rex nodded. "You know where."
They split.
The snow swallowed the ruins behind them.
And whatever else had once lived there.