Alexei and Risa stepped out of the passageway that they had discovered and into the main bulk of the room. Alexei hadn’t noticed it at first, but as well as the strange glyph writing on the pillars there were also tapestries hung up on all the walls. “Risa, you see what I’m seeing here, right?” Alexei asked, his voice was nothing more than a hiss now. “Yeah, I see it,” Risa replied, “Maybe you’re right… Maybe this place is a bit weird, but dungeons are weird. That’s their whole point… right?” He didn’t like how uncertain Risa suddenly sounded, but he liked the story the tapestry wove a lot less. Alexei reached out and touched the tapestry, right on the face of the man, and then his mind was cast into the aether. xXx[Three Thousand Years Ago]The Demon Lord awoke from his slumber. There was much that the Lord of demons despised. He despised goodness in all of its forms. He despised magery and its continued efforts to try to thwart his goals. He despised the weapon-bearers and

[The Present Day]Alexei staggered away from the second tapestry. His head was spinning and bile attempted to force its way up his throat and out of his mouth. “That was… unpleasant,” He groaned as he shook the dizziness out of his head, “Not as bad as the first time, but not great.” “It’s like you're getting more acclimated to the process each time it happens,” Risa said, “I’m not sure what that means for you going forward, or what it’s actually doing to you… maybe you should stop now, Alexei.” “I can’t stop now, I’ve already learned so much,” Alexei replied, “That tapestry… it showed me the Demon Lord’s ascent, how he actually did it… and what it unleashed.” Risa’s eyes opened wide, clearly, this wasn’t information she had either, “What it unleashed?” “The Demon Lord didn’t just summon the Shades, they were a byproduct of his own botched ascension… they used to be people,” Alexei explained, “And… They can turn more people into more of them. I think that’s what’s been happening

[Present Day]When Alexei emerged from the depths of the tapestry's vision this time it was without any pain at all. Whatever process had happened to him to make him immune to the debilitating effects of the first time he had immersed himself in the Demon Lord’s past. He wasn’t sure if he liked that fact, it implied that there was something going on behind the scenes that he wasn’t aware of. “What did you see that time?” Risa asked, “Did you gain any more insights onto what the Demon Lord was doing, or how this place came to be?” “I think I can figure most of it out now, yeah,” Alexei sighed, “And it’s as simple as it gets really. The Demon Lord was attempting to wipe out anyone who used the Power Divine, as they were the only ones who really stood a chance against him… but…” Alexei trailed off, he hadn’t seen the end of the fight that the Demon Lord had ended up having with whoever had attacked him and blasted him through a mountain, but Alandria still existed and this was the D

Alexei paced back and forth across the sand.He'd been trained for situations like this, but now he wasnt sure how strongly he trusted any of his training. All of that had been a ruse to fatten him up for the Shades, after all. If he were going to follow those instructions he would have hunkered down, made a defensible base of operations, and waited for assistance. It sounded logical when he thought it out, but it also sounded like a trap. Waiting would just allow Shades to creep up on you in the dark. He looked around with wild eyes at that thought before immediately calming back down. He was being paranoid now. Seeing potential traps and ploys where there probably were none. Either way, they still couldn't stay where they were. Someone had to warn the Mage Temple about what was happening. They were the only ones who could stop the plan of the Demon Lord and the Administrar."Any thoughts?" Alexei asked, "We cant just sit around here waiting to be rescued, too much is at stak

The final rays of sunlight had passed over the horizon, and Alexei could hear rumbling deep below the sand. He took a long slow breath and then said, “It’s time, Risa.” “Are you sure we have to do this?” Risa asked, “We can’t just hang about until the morning?”“The Mage Temple needs to know what’s coming,” Alexei replied, “We have no idea what the Demon Lord will do now that we know of his existence. He might do nothing or he might begin to wage war against the kingdom anew. We can’t be responsible for all those deaths, but we will be if we don’t try to at least warn them.”"And if we die without ever making it to them? Who's going to warn them then?" Risa shot back.“If we die then there’s no helping them, but if we don’t get back in time then there’s no helping them either, don’t you at least want to give them a chance?” Alexei said. Risa scowled, when the argument was presented like that there was no way that she could turn it down. “If we do die I’m going to be really annoyed