Seth's fears were realized when their flight took almost two days. Granted, they may have been able to arrive faster, but at their cultivation level, even the strongest of their group was still burdened by the need to eat and sleep. Seth spent the flights in silence, trying to burn landmarks into his brain as they blasted by.

  Their destination turned out to be a mountain with the peak ending fifty feet short of the shell surrounding their world. They landed on a shelf three-quarters of the way up. The entrance they needed to use was almost invisible until you were right on top of it. It was barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through. Sideways. Holding their breath.

  "Thank you for the ride. Look forward to seeing you in two weeks." Seth hoped he projected a confidence he definitely didn't feel.

  "I look forward to your success," Johan replied without a hint of sarcasm. It would have been almost believable, if not for the chuckles coming from his group. Without waiting too long, the board raced off into the distance. Seth looked down, and immediately regretted it. The cliff was a sheer drop for several hundred feet. There was an uncomfortably cold wind blowing. Thankfully, it wasn't strong. Turning away from the ledge, he prepared himself to squeeze into the entrance.

  "Not quite what I imagined," said Therus, looking at the entrance warily.

  "What did you imagine?" asked Seth.

  "Just walking in, maybe having to deal with a couple traps. Not...that."

  "Want me to go first?"

  "Sure. Let me tie a rope to you. Can't see where this entry squeeze ends."

  "Good idea."

  Taking one more look at the crevice, Seth exhaled, and squeezed himself in. He could feel the rock immediately in front and behind pressing in on him. Thankfully, he had just enough room to take shallow breaths. The only place for his pack was on top of his head. The act pushed his abdomen against the crevice wall. Thankfully, it was so narrow he didn't have to worry about balancing it up there. After checking to make sure he wasn't stuck, he began creeping along.

  It took five steps for Seth to start wondering how smart it was to shove himself in here. Only five steps in, and already it was dark enough for him to have a hard time seeing ahead. The first time he stumbled on a rock, the cavern was pushing so tightly he couldn't completely fall. Just far enough for some of the rocks to dig painfully into his abdomen.

  The first time he couldn't squeeze himself forward, he almost panicked. Thankfully, he could still back out. It took all too long for him to realize he needed to climb up about three feet to continue forward. One time, he needed to contort himself so his back was slightly arching backward.

  Eventually, he squeezed himself out into a cavern wide enough for three people to stand shoulder to shoulder. It glowed with a dim directionless green light that illuminated everything equally. There were no shadows, just minor variations of brightness. He tried his qi sight. The world transformed into a technicolor, writhing mess of qi flows joining and splitting and whirling in every direction. The throbbing pain in his head and eyes forced him to cut the sight early. The headache turned into a bout of nausea, and then into fatigue. After taking a moment to recover, Seth called out that he was safely through. He felt a tug on the rope, and gave the two tugs they agreed on to let Therus know the route was passable.

  It took Therus an hour to squeeze his way through. The dazed, vacant look in his eyes told Seth the trip through had been equally harrowing. Letting Therus recover, he checked both of their packs to make sure they hadn't lost anything.

  "You good to move on?" Seth had finished inspecting their gear.

  "As long as we don't have any more squeezes like that."

  They were able to walk shoulder to shoulder through the winding caverns. The lighting made it impossible to identify what kind of rocks they were passing through. After an hour or so, the bare walls gave way to walls filled with abstract designs that Seth couldn't recognize. They looked like the symbols he'd use for various arrays, but far more angular, with a logic Seth could only begin to guess.

  "Wow, these really must be sorcerous ruins. I've only seen sigils like these in books." Therus was reaching out to touch the walls, slowing his pace.

  "Any idea what they mean?"

  "No. Not sure if they have an actual meaning, or if they're simply part of some ritual."

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  "So sigils that are in rituals don't have meanings?"

  "Well, they do, but the original meaning has been lost over time, overridden by the energy transfer needs, according to theory anyway. No way to confirm. No sorcerers have been seen for millennia." Therus' eyes seemed to sparkle as he spoke. He was gesturing energetically enough that he accidentally hit the wall a few times.

  "Why?"

  "Official story is they were using evil sources of power. The actual history is a bit muddy, but sorcerers were on average more likely to hit higher levels of power than cultivators, so that made them a threat."

  They discussed more history as they walked. Well, Therus talked, and Seth listened. He was happy to see his friend so energetic. It was all too rare a sight these days. The enthusiasm reminded Seth of his son Mark. Mark also loved history. Without realizing it, he had pulled his wallet out, and flipped it open to the photo of his kids.

  When he was paying attention, Therus was no longer speaking. He was looking at Seth's photo with naked curiosity.

  "Wow, the craftsmanship on this is remarkable; how was this made? Also, why is there a section removed from this masterpiece?" asked Therus.

  "Where I come from, these can be made by machines. As for the square cut out, that's my ex-wife."

  "I've heard of places with machines that can do impressive feats like this. It's my first time seeing one in person, though. Who are the others?"

  "My kids."

  "You'll see them again. We'll get through this." Therus placed a hand on his shoulder as he said that. Seth just nodded, not wanting to speak.

  The next several hours in the caves were uneventful. Most of the time, the tunnel was large enough for them to walk side by side comfortably. There were also parts where both Seth and Therus needed to squeeze through. Nowhere near as bad as the first part, though. They kept an eye out, but the tunnel never split at any point. It snaked around, always going deeper.

  The green glow was also unchanging. Seth was grateful for the lack of shadows for anything to hide in. He also wished for the lighting to change just a little bit. Even when he closed his eyes, he could still see it as if it were going straight through his eyelids. They tried to give each other breaks by one navigating while the other kept their eyes closed. It didn't help. At all.

  They stopped for the night when they reached a bend in the tunnel that was wider than normal, giving them just enough room to set up a tent. Their dinner was some kind of dried meat, thought he green light made it difficult to identify what it was.

  "Who has first watch?" asked Therus.

  "Flip for it?" Seth pulled out a worn nickel from his wallet. In the cave's lighting, the features were barely visible.

  "Is that a head on the front?"

  "Yeah."

  "Of whom?"

  "No clue," Seth said with a shrug. "Which side do you want?"

  "I'll take the side with the head."

  Seth flipped the coin, and it landed on tails.

  "Damn. Was hoping to get a break from this glow. Hope we make it to the ruins soon," said Therus after a brief pause.

  "How do you know we're not already there?"

  "You mean we'll have to deal with this the whole time?" Therus' face screwed up in mock horror.

  "Hey, you were the one excited about trials earlier. This is definitely a trial."

  "This isn't a trial. It's just torture."

  They wished each other good night, and Seth went into the tent. The tent was still filled with the green glow, but the shadows cast told him that it was only coming from the floor. He smiled, having been worried that the glow would penetrate the tent. He closed his eyes, and slipped off to a world without green for a while.

  A hand shook him awake all too soon. Therus looked like he had been awake for days. He didn't keep Therus waiting for sleep any longer, and left the tent. The cavern was more tolerable now that he had a few hours of sleep. He spent that time working on martial forms. Time slipped by, and eventually it was time for them to leave.

  The next day of travel was as uneventful as the first. They walked in silence, having sped their pace in the hope that they would see something different. Therus was no longer fascinated by the sigils. They still rotated who was responsible for navigating while the other had their eyes closed. Seth wasn't sure if it was effective or not. He also didn't like not knowing. It had unfortunate implications for his sanity.

  About five hours into their walk, the tunnel opened up into the largest cavern Seth had ever seen. The omnipresent green had been replaced by a kaleidoscope of colors, refracted by large crystals lining the cavern. They were standing at the top of a cliff that went hundreds, if not thousands, of feet down. A smooth stone path wound down the side of the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff were grasslands that stretched for miles. A few miles into the grasslands was the temple.

  The temple loomed over them, even from their vantage point. The onyx walls sucked up all light, as if it wanted to steal it all for itself. Before the temple there was a courtyard with onyx columns that rose up to half the height of the temple. It reminded Seth of the photos of ancient Greek architecture he'd see in history books. The walls were featureless, except for large doors that were visible, even at their distance.

  On top of the tower was a mansion-sized, spherical gem. The gem's light was so bright it was hard to look at for more than a second, and lit the entire cavern. He got the impression of a living organism that breathed out pure light. In exchange, that light picked up colors and brought them back to the temple.

  The longer he looked at the temple, the stronger the idea of it being alive gripped him. It loomed like an angry god, and it was only by dumb luck he hadn't been noticed yet. His throat went dry and his hands went cold. He could feel his heart beating in his throat.

  The feeling ended as soon as it had started. Shaking his head, he turned to Therus, who looked equally troubled. He was about to ask Therus a question when he noticed something off out of the corner of his eye, back the way they came.

  When he turned his head, all he saw was stone. The path behind them had vanished as if it had never existed. He reached out his hand, feeling the cool stone beneath his fingers. What was going on? Without thinking, he activated his qi sight, remembering the entrance a moment too late.

  Pain flooded his skull. Something trickled from his eyes. And nose. Eventually, the pain faded. Along with his consciousness.