Tris : Ravenoir Guild’s Tavern, City of Edanis.

  BAM!

  I kicked Agon's heavy office door open, the wood slamming violently against the wall. I stormed into the main tavern. Every head turned at the noise, but the second the patrons caught my murderous glare, they scrambled to look away.

  I scanned the crowded room until I spotted a familiar, massive braided beard. I marched straight to his table.

  "Roger. Pack your gear. You're coming with me right now," I barked.

  "Huh?" He blinked, sloshing his ale. "What’s this about, Tris?"

  I slammed my hands flat on his table, leaning in. "Just shut your mouth and do it."

  He threw his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright! I’m packing! But where are we going?"

  "Pack for a week on the road. Meet me at the south gate in thirty minutes."

  He nodded.

  "Good." I walked away from the table and out of the tavern building.

  Goddamn it! I swear to God, Agon has lost his mind!

  My mind kept fuming as I walked. If I hadn't visited Hans this morning, I would never have figured out that Ramond’s first mission was the South Nirwall dark cave. The exact same unknown cave that had exterminated the White Ravens—a full elite Master squad from the South Nirwall Branch. They left only one survivor, who died from severe injuries the moment he stepped out of the cave. And Agon sent a squad of rookies to fix it.

  Please be safe, Ramond. Please. I’ll come to you soon.

  Thirty minutes later, I strapped on my travel pack and arrived at the city gate. Roger was there, shifting his weight nervously. Standing right beside him was Tessa.

  "Let’s move. We will take a cart through the merchant route. We can arrive there within three days." I looked at Tessa and Roger.

  "That’s way too slow," Tessa scoffed. "We ditch the cart and sprint the forest route. We'll hit South Nirwall in two days.”

  Roger looked back and forth in confusion. "Wait. South Nirwall? Why the hell are we going there? Will someone tell me what is going on?"

  I looked him in the eye. "We are extracting Ramond and his squad. They were assigned to the South Nirwall dark cave."

  All the color drained from Roger's face. "What?! Are you insane?! That's a death sentence! The White Ravens got butchered in there!"

  "Tell me about it," Tessa muttered, crossing her arms. "Agon kept their deployment completely off the books. I only found out they were sent there because Tris barged into his office and started screaming at him."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Save the chatter for the road," I snapped, my jaw locked tight. "Ramond deployed four days ago. They are probably already inside the cave." I looked at the Stalker. "We do it your way, Tess. Just get us there fast."

  She nodded. "Follow me. I know the fastest route."

  Ramond : Dark Cave – South Nirwall.

  The pitch-black void swallowed us whole.

  With every step, the sunlight behind us decayed into nothing. Sound died next. The heavy crunch of our boots faded into a muffled hum, then vanished entirely. The solid dirt beneath my feet ceased to exist. It felt like walking on invisible glass suspended over an endless abyss.

  The squad huddled tight. I couldn't see their faces or sense their presence. I only knew they were still there by the terrified, shivering brush of their armor against my arms. Total, suffocating nothingness.

  It felt exactly like being dead.

  I kept walking. Minutes or hours—time didn't exist in the void. Finally, a pinprick of dim light pierced the dark. I marched toward it. The light grew larger.

  Then, I froze.

  I wasn't walking toward the light. The light was rushing toward us. Faster. Closer. Expanding into a blinding wall.

  I squeezed my eyes shut as it hit us. Sound violently slammed back into my ears. My heart hammered against my ribs. The squad gasped for air, choking on the sudden, heavy stench of damp subterranean soil.

  I opened my eyes. Faint, blue luminescent minerals embedded in the rock illuminated a massive cavern. I glanced back. The rookies were hunched over, panting frantically, drenched in cold sweat. Even Mathilda, an elite Glider with centuries of experience, was hyperventilating in raw panic.

  I forced a deep, stabilizing breath into my lungs. " Gather yourselves," I ordered, wiping the freezing sweat from my brow. "Take a minute to catch your breath. Then we move."

  They nodded weakly, too exhausted to speak.

  I turned around to check our six. My blood ran cold. There was no tunnel behind us. No shimmering portal. Just a solid, unbroken wall of jagged limestone.

  Where the hell is the exit? I clamped down on the rising panic. Breathe, Ramond. Spatial distortion. The veteran logs said the exit portal should be around the entry point, we just need to find it.

  I inspected the only path leading forward. The walls were slick with condensation.

  A subterranean spring. We're definitely in a Saurian nest.

  I pulled the Wayward Stone from beneath my tunic, letting the heavy steel ring hang over my chest armor where I could see it the second it glowed.

  "Time's up. Let's move."

  They scrambled into their diamond formation, boots crunching over the slick bedrock. As we pushed deeper, the air grew suffocatingly humid. The jagged walls closed in on us, forcing the squad to break the diamond and fall into a single-file line. I took point, wedging myself through the narrowing gap.

  A soft, eerie blue light spilled through a vertical fissure up ahead. I squeezed through the crack, stepping onto a wide ledge overlooking a colossal underground chamber.

  My boots stopped dead. A cold sweat erupted across my neck. My hands started to shake.

  My... gods...

  Illuminated by the beautiful blue glow of the cavern, hundreds of massive Saurians lay scattered across the cavern floor.

  "No... no... no..." Mathilda whispered, stepping up beside me. I turned to look at her. Her face had lost all of its color; pure, unfiltered terror was painted across her features.

  Behind her, the rest of the squad was trembling, paralyzed by the sight.

  "It can’t be..." Mathilda choked out.

  We weren't trembling because we were surrounded by hundreds of apex Saurians. We were trembling because every single one of the massive, scaled corpses was charred black.

  They had been burned alive.

  Mathilda slowly turned her wide, hollow eyes toward me. Her lips trembled as she whispered the death sentence. "A dragon… There is a dragon nesting down here."