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'My tallies increased again, Wolfie.' said Iphigenia as she checked her own statistics after waking up satisfied with her head in his soft neck. She rubbed her cheek affectionately against his. 'What ability did you receive?'

He looked at his list. 'Black swan.' he said. 'So, wings, a long neck, or maybe webbed feet?' He wiggled his toes to see if they felt different.

Iphigenia giggled. 'You'll just have to try it all.'

Conchim gasped. 'My wind magic has always been minimal, and now it's more than I've ever heard of before.'

'That's the power of Wolfie for you.' said Iphigenia and giggled again.

Conchim turned her head to smile gratefully at Ulric and stroke his muzzle with the back of her fingers. 'Thank you, my strong husband.'

He chuckled and kissed her fingers. 'I'm just the lucky owner of an ability to make that happen, my dear.

'But you still have a heart big enough to enable it for all of us, my love.' said Valdys as she sat up and stretched, and ran her fingers through the fur on his taut abdomen.

He returned her loving gaze. 'How could I not give all of you that I can, my beautiful girls.'

Kaui sat up and bit her lower lip while she ran her fingers along his thigh. 'Could you do it again now, Master?'

He raised an eyebrow as a question, and the blushes and expressions of anticipated pleasure were all the answers he needed. 'I can most certainly, my cutie.'

***

When they arrived later in the kitchen space, complete with a large fireplace to roast large pieces of meat on a rotating skewer, Isazea sat at the table with several metal tubes and stones in front of her. She looked up from under her hood. 'I made something.' she said with her slight lisp.

Everyone sat down at the table to see what it was. She held up one tube, a little longer than the width of her hand, and pointed at the end with a black surface. 'This side is where the light comes out. I made it from a material that lights up when mana's channelled into it.' She turned the tube around, twisted off the end, and caught the roughly cylindrical mana stone that fell out. 'I selected strong mana stones that should provide the strongest light for weeks, just in case it comes in useful.' She returned the stone to the tube, twisted the cap back on, and rotated the end with the light stone. It lit up dimly at first, then became stronger as she rotated the end further, until it lit up bright hot and bathed the kitchen in an eerie white light that suppressed all other colour.

'You sure know how to build things.' said Ulric as he squinted. 'I've never seen anything like that in my world.'

Isazea gave a shy smile as she turned off the light. 'if you pinch the black marks on the end, it'll light up as well. The harder you pinch, the brighter it'll be.' She slid the mana stones across the table towards Ulric. 'I'll need you to charge these for the other lights.'

He took two in his paws and gripped them. 'Like those other times?'

She nodded. 'I think you can control it well enough to not need my help.'

Ulric concentrated on the image of streams of mana pouring into the stones, and sensed how saturated the stones became as they filled with his mana. He relaxed his grip on the stones. 'I can see it more clearly now and feel the potential in the stones.'

Isazea nodded with a smile, and he charged the other stones while the girls began preparing meals.

***

Later outside, Ulric concentrated on the image of wings on his back, but nothing happened. 'It might not be what I expected it to be.' he said, carefully tried the image of a long neck, and was glad nothing happened as well for once. He looked down at his toes and wiggled them, but even webbed feet wasn't the result of his new ability.

'It'll probably manifest itself in the right circumstances, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'We just can't imagine what it could be right now.'

He nodded. 'Yeah, I'll just have to wait and see.' he said and turned to Conchim, who stood a little more to the side and concentrated on her hands. 'How is the new power for you?'

'Slowly becoming used to it.' she said and thrust her hands forward as if the push something away, and the leaves of a bush in front of her rustled. 'I think I can do the basics in a few days with full power.'

'Let me know by then.' said Valdys. 'I'll open up all wind magic books for you.'

Conchim gave her a smile. 'That would be great. I'd love to see what I can do with this.'

Ulric looked at Iphigenia. 'Are you ready?'

Iphigenia checked her flashlight. 'Yes. Let's find out what's at the bottom of the stairs, Wolfie.'

'Wait!' said Isazea as she stepped out of Cat with several small golems resembling pale stone tarantulas. She moved up to Iphigenia and handed her a small, blank stone tablet. 'You can control these with this.'

Everyone looked at the little spiders waiting next to them, and Ulric noticed the pair of large black eyes. 'Are these for scouting ahead?'

Isazea nodded. 'They have lights built in, only not as strong. I thought it might make things easier if you didn't have to hold yours all the time.'

'That's a great idea, Isa.' said Iphigenia. 'They'll come in very handy.'

Isazea smiled, and Iphigenia, Elzbieta, and Ulric headed into the tower while the others went back into Cat to wait and listen to what the three would find.

Ulric looked down the musty stone steps of the stairs, old but not worn, the moss growing in scattered patches between the dark blue and grey stones of the walls reminding him of Dungeons and Dragons adventures in haunted castles. He sniffed the slight and cool updraught wafting up the stairs, and although there was something wrong about it that he couldn't explain, it didn't seem dangerous enough to call off the exploration. They needed to find the next ring piece, so there wasn't any choice either. 'We'll go slowly.' he said over the link. 'The spiders first.'

Iphigenia sent the spider golems ahead with a thought directed at the tablet, and their eye lights lit up the stairs well enough for a clear view. She was impressed at their ability to move along walls when two of them climbed up and moved along them on each side of the steps.

Ulric swallowed to relieve the pressure against his eardrums after descending the winding stairs for a while. 'The air not just feels heavy, but we went deep enough for it to press against my ears.'

'Indeed.' said Elzbieta. 'But these circling stairs make it hard to tell just how deep we are now.'

'It also feels a lot cooler.' said Iphigenia when a cooler gust brushed her lower legs. 'The only time I experienced something similar was during a goblin extermination quest. I think we went down ten or twelve layers of tunnels then.'

'Deep enough to feel claustrophobic.' said Ulric as he touched the cold wall at his side. 'As if the stairs didn't have a ghostly enough aura.'

Iphigenia giggled silently. 'Is the demon wolf afraid of ghosts, Wolfie?'

He grinned. 'Did you forget I also have an undead beauty with spirits and skeletons for friends as my mate? Ghosts don't surprise me.'

'Don't forget Trixy either.' said Valdys, and chuckled when the supernatural squirrel chittered her reminder.

'We reached the bottom.' said Ulric when he spotted flat ground at the end of the bend.

They looked down a short passage in the rock with darkness at the end. Ulric sniffed the air again, and apart from a stronger earth fragrance, it had the same unsettling scent as at the top of the stairs. 'Wait here.' he said, and moved carefully towards the end of the passage, and looked out of it when he heard no sounds. From the little light cast by the spiders waiting by the girls, it looked like there was a large passage, and he turned on his flashlight.

'Looking at a circular tunnel here.' he said while he swept the beam of light in every direction. 'About five times my height, solid rock as far as I can see, bending slightly and far enough that I can't spot an end. I don't sense any real danger.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta followed the spider golems towards Ulric, and observed them for a while as they spread out over the tunnel surface. 'This is new to me.' Elzbieta said.

'Same here.' said Iphigenia. I can't remember hearing about anything like this.'

'I have nothing matching what you describe.' said Valdys. 'So be extra careful.'

'Will do.' said Ulric, and the three went left since neither direction mattered.

They walked at a cautious pace and at the edge of the light coming from the spiders ahead of them, crawling up and down the sides as they moved forward. The air smelled clammy and old to Ulric, and the faint gritty sounds of their feet on the ground seemed to stick in it.

Elzbieta examined the walls while they walked. 'I wonder how or what made these tunnels. the marks along the length suggest something scraped along them.'

'Maybe they used a machine to do it.' said Ulric.

'I'd expect the walls to be smoother than this.'

He looked around again at the uneven rock surface. 'True.'

'Something's up ahead.' said Iphigenia when light reflected faintly in the distance, and they moved towards the apparent end of the tunnel.

'It looks weird.' Ulric said as he looked at the wide groove running all the way around the tunnel, marking the bulging wall at the end. 'As if they stuffed the end of the tunnel with a huge stone pillow.'

'Pillow might be correct.' said Iphigenia as she pressed her fingers against the blocking wall. 'I can press slightly into this stone.'

Ulric tried it. 'It's like some of the parts those golems were made of.' he said, and the wall wrinkled vertically, and moved sideways at once.

The three jumped back and the two spiders clinging to it dropped quickly to the ground. 'What's this!?' said Ulric.

The wall slowed down and seemingly compressed itself, rushed sideways again, and repeated.

'Some sort of door, maybe?' said Elzbieta as she unsheathed her sword. 'There could be something big behind it.'

The wall retracted when it moved sideways again, and the meaning began to dawn on them. Ulric rushed forward, and shone his light into another tunnel to the side upon the end of the giant worm moving away. 'Oh, crap. I've seen this in movies, and that was not a good sign in them.'

Iphigenia heard a faint scraping behind her and shone her light towards it. 'I think I know what you saw.'

Ulric and Elzbieta shone their lights on the undulating worm heading towards them, the segmented round mouth at its red-grey tip gradually opening and closing, revealing rows of teeth inside it.

'Follow the worm or whatever it is!' said Ulric as he pointed at the retreating one. 'We might find another one coming our way if we take the other tunnel.'

The three and the spiders ran into the tunnel where the other worm had went and caught up quickly enough, but still had to keep up a good pace to match its speed.

'What can you tell me on what it looks like?' asked Valdys, and each of them recalled what they saw. She kept silent for a while before she spoke up again. 'All I can come up with is that whoever lived in this tower, found a way to grow regular small rock worms into giant ones. Probably another combination of alchemy and magic.'

'Any notes on how to deal with rock worms?' asked Ulric.

'A few plants that keep them away, but then we're talking about worms who usually grow no longer than a finger.'

'So, unless we come across plants in the same relative size, we'll have to stay out of their ways.'

'I'll keep looking for something together with Kaui.'

'Thank you both, my lovelies. I hope we find a way out of here soon.'

'We'd better do.' said Iphigenia and shone her flashlight at the worm behind them. 'That one is gaining on us.'

'We'll have to risk taking a side tunnel if we come across one.' said Elzbieta. 'It might be unavoidable to have to fight one, but I'd rather delay for as long as possible.'

'Agreed.' said Ulric. 'Let's keep an eye out on both sides for an opening.'

He fell back behind Iphigenia and Elzbieta to shield them, and it only took a few more undulations before the breath of the worm ruffled his back and tail fur. 'I'm really hoping at some time a worm became bored by now in this stretch and decided to go a different direction.'

'Here!' said Iphigenia when another opening became visible to the right of the worm's tail.

They veered off to the right, waiting for the tail to move forward so they could run into the other tunnel, and Ulric tucked in his tail when he looked over his shoulder because the worm behind him retracted before it would thrust its teeth filled tip forward for the next step. 'This is worse than waiting in a long line at the supermarket with a full cart and full bladder.'

The tail of the first worm inched forward at first and the spiders slipped along the wall through the growing opening into the tunnel.

The worm behind them extended its mouth forward.

Ulric hardened his back and placed his hands on Iphigenia and Elzbieta's backs to push them away if needed, while they tensed to run as they locked their eyes on the tunnel entrance.

The moment the first worm's tail shot forward and revealed an opening large enough, Iphigenia bolted towards it and jumped face first into it. Ulric pushed hard enough on Elzbieta's back to help her jump in after, and before the second worm reached Ulric, he shot forward.

The three ran through the tunnel behind the spiders that had gone ahead. 'Are you all right, Wolfie?' asked Iphigenia.

'I'm fine.' he said. 'Although it did get a mouthful of tail fur. Thankfully more like my mouth, and not his.' He looked back and grunted. 'It's coming after us!'

The worm slipped into the tunnel, but was faster than before after the slight taste of new prey.

'Crap! These things are fast.' said Ulric when he looked back over his shoulder again.

'And this tunnel looks like it's long as well.' said Iphigenia, running in front.

'If it comes down to it, you two keep running while I fight it.' said Ulric.

'No way, darling!' said Elzbieta. 'We're not leaving you alone.'

'I have a better chance taking it on alone while armoured. You should run to safety.'

'We don't even know if there's any safety we can reach, Wolfie.'

Ulric sensed the worm closing in. 'Please don't argue! You mean too much to me!'

'And you do to us, darling! You have no say in this matter.'

Ulric groaned but couldn't help feeling happy about their feelings as well.

'Wait!' said Iphigenia when she sprinted a little further ahead and noticed the spiders standing still at a crack in the wall. 'There might be something up ahead.'

She reached it first and was happy to see it was a human sized passage. 'We can hide in here.' she said, and followed the spiders into it.

Elzbieta rushed in after her, and Ulric grabbed the wall to swing himself in after her, just in time for the worm to scrape against the wall as it slid past the entrance.

'Damn.' he said. 'Now I understand what being a character in a horror story feels like.'

Iphigenia looked at the spiders deeper into the passage, and at an iron door with a flat, faded surface. 'We may have found something.' she said, and moved towards the door.

The three examined the door for possible traps, but it held nothing more than a simple handle. Ulric grabbed it. 'All right, let's see what's behind door number one.'

He slowly opened it with little effort, and carefully peeked into the darkness behind it while the door grated softly in the dead silence. With nothing than more old air as a clue, he opened the door completely, and the spiders crawling through the doorway lit up a large, circular hall with shallow domed ceiling, and a pedestal in the middle.

After letting, the spiders explore a little longer inside the barren hall, the girls and Ulric went up to the pedestal. 'It's here.' he said when they laid eyes on an opaque cube with a ring piece embedded inside.

'The next piece?' asked Valdys.

'Yes, but it's encased in something.' he said, and examined the cube and pedestal closer. 'I can't tell if it's safe to touch it though.'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta had a good look as well. 'I don't see anything special, but I sense magic of a sort.'

'It's probably better if at least I take a look at it.' said Valdys and looked at Kaui. 'If it's anything like the tower door, Kaui needs to come as well.'

Kaui nodded at her. 'It's likely they used magic and alchemy to secure it, Master.'

Ulric looked at Iphigenia and Elzbieta. 'I don't want to risk anything going wrong if we try to break it free, but I also don't want to risk you as well to those worms.'

'We don't have much choice, my love.' said Valdys.

'Maybe we can figure something out about these worms if we observe them for a while.' said Iphigenia. 'Maybe we can even map out these tunnels in that time.'

Trixy chittered on Valdys's shoulder. 'I think we have a volunteer to help out with that.' she said, and gave her a pet.

'Having several spirits monitoring the tunnels would be great.' said Ulric. 'Can the both of you organise some while we look around a little more here? I've seen enough worm for today to run into one while we try to come back up.'

Valdys chuckled. 'Sure. We're on it.' she said, and Trixy hopped down from her shoulder to begin her search.'

***

Later, back in the kitchen space and after a chance run through the tunnels back to the stairs, Kaui and Valdys looked at the sketch Iphigenia had made of the pedestal and the cube. 'I'm pretty certain it's protected by both methods.' said Valdys.

'I agree, Master.' said Kaui. 'I've seen a reference about encasing objects in a clear material to preserve them.

Ulric nodded. 'Then we have quite the task ahead of us.' he said, and leaned back in his chair.

'Especially because we have no defence against those worms.' said Kaui. 'I've looked at possibilities to create enough or very strong poisons, but we don't have the means.'

'We'll just have to tread carefully and hope for the best then.'

Trixy hopped onto the table and chittered excitedly as she invited everyone to take a look outside.

Day had begun to fade away, making the presence of the nearly hundred faintly glowing spirits an even bigger contrast against the background of nature. Ulric smiled and stroked Trixy's head while she sat on his shoulder. 'That's a great help you brought here.'

She chittered proudly as she puffed up her chest.