Chapter 86
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"What was that?" I asked quietly.
Rhaevan didn't answer immediately.
He lifted one hand, magic gathering at his fingertips as his gaze swept across the surrounding forest. A faint ripple spread outward from him, passing silently through the trees before fading into the distance.
He frowned.
"...Whatever it was, it's gone."
"You can tell that?"
"My detection spell isn't finding anything nearby." His eyes lingered on the tree line for another moment before he lowered his hand. "That doesn't mean we're alone. Stay alert."
Somehow, that was significantly less comforting.
Before either of us could say anything else, the fox nudged my arm with its enormous head.
I looked down.
It gave another gentle nudge, then turned toward the deeper tunnels of the abandoned mine. It paused after a few steps, glancing back to make sure we were watching.
"Umm..." I looked at Rhaevan. "I think Muffin wants us to follow him."
"...Who?"
"Muffin. The fox."
The fox's ears immediately perked up.
I pointed triumphantly.
"See? He likes it."
Rhaevan stared at me for a long moment.
"...You named a corrupted magical beast."
"He looked unemployed."
For a brief second, I thought I saw him considering whether that sentence deserved a response. Apparently, he decided it didn't.
Muffin huffed impatiently and started walking again, weaving confidently through the abandoned tunnels as though he knew exactly where he was going. After a few more steps, he stopped, looked over his shoulder, and fixed us with an expression of pure, unadulterated impatience.
"...He's judging us," I muttered.
"I believe he wants us to move."
"That's considerably less funny."
With neither of us having a better plan, we followed.
The deeper we ventured into the mine, the stranger our surroundings became.
Support beams were warped and splintered; purple veins spread through the surrounding rock like roots beneath skin; twisted, colourless plants forced their way through cracks in the stone.
The air grew heavier and thicker with every breath, making it easy to see why the miners had fled.
Eventually, Muffin stopped before what appeared to be a solid stone wall.
I blinked. "Muffin? Did your sense of direction break?"
Muffin turned, looking profoundly offended. He let out an exaggerated huff before raising one enormous paw.
THUD.
His paw struck the stone. Purple light flashed beneath the surface, racing across the wall in an intricate web of glowing runes.
Rhaevan stepped forward immediately, his entire demeanour changing. "This isn't a wall."
He placed his hand against the stone, causing the hidden runes to blaze brighter than before. The mountain itself seemed to hum with dark, heavy, oppressive magic.
"It's a barrier," Rhaevan said quietly, his brows furrowing. "...And an exceptionally powerful one."
He gathered a spell around him, causing the air to ripple. The hidden runes responded, blazing with brilliant purple light as the two forces pushed against one another.
Then Rhaevan thrust his hand forward.
The barrier shattered like glass across an entire mountainside, dissolving into glittering fragments and revealing a concealed passage.
I blinked, genuinely stunned. I hated how impressive that looked.
Powerful men performing powerful magic had absolutely no business looking that attractive while doing it.
There really should have been regulations.
Rhaevan glanced over his shoulder. "You coming?"
I cleared my throat immediately. "Obviously."
Very professional.
We stepped inside a cave far larger than expected, cluttered with hastily abandoned worktables, maps, scrolls, mining records, and open wooden crates.
Rhaevan picked up documents one after another, his eyes scanning each page with growing intensity. "This is wrong. They're building a weapon. One powered by Solithium."
My smile disappeared.
"And from what I can gather..." His expression darkened. "...they've already begun testing it. On the beast."
"Muffin," I corrected automatically.
He still didn't sound convinced.
While Rhaevan collected the maps, I examined the room and noticed a faint draft coming from a section of stone that was slightly darker than the surrounding rock. Fine scratches marked its edges, and a heavy iron lever was tucked into the upper corner behind a wooden beam.
I moved closer. "Rhaevan, there's something here."
He looked up. "What?"
I followed the draft to the lever and reached for it.
"Cassiane-"
I pulled it before he could finish.
The entire wall shuddered with a deep grinding groan. Ancient mechanisms stirred behind the stone, and a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a smaller, surprisingly well-organised room beyond.
At its very centre, mounted upon a reinforced metal stand, was a strange, terrifying construct resembling a mining drill-turned-cannon, pulsing with a vivid, unnatural purple energy.
Without thinking, I took a step closer.
"Cassiane."
Rhaevan's voice cracked through the silence. Every trace of calm had vanished from his face, replaced by pure urgency.
"Don't touch it."
"It doesn't look that-"
Before I could finish, Rhaevan crossed the room with startling speed, his hand closing firmly around my wrist to guide me safely behind him.
"Don't go near it," he said, his voice terrifyingly calm.
Beside us, Muffin had flattened his ears against his head, his tails hanging low. For the first time since we'd met, the enormous fox looked frightened. That finally erased any temptation I had to joke.
"What is it?" I asked quietly.
"It's a Solithium weapon. There is far too much Solithium energy concentrated inside it."
"You make it sound unpleasant."
"At that concentration... It's instantly fatal."
I took two more steps back. I was beginning to notice a deeply concerning pattern in my life choices. "How do you know so much about it?"
Rhaevan didn't answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the weapon. Then, almost absently, he spoke.
"Do you remember the day I arrived at Miss Ann's inn?"
My stomach tightened. I remembered the door bursting open, his robes soaked with blood, scorch marks burned into the fabric, and the frantic rush to keep him alive.
Rhaevan's jaw tightened.
"That weapon," he said quietly, "...that's what was used against me."
The room seemed to lose all warmth. My eyes drifted back toward the machine. Moments ago, it had looked bizarre. Now, it was the thing that had nearly killed him-the same man standing beside me who constantly lectured me about staying alive.
Without taking my eyes off the weapon, I quietly put another step between it and me.
Because suddenly... it wasn't a machine anymore. It had become an enemy.