As it turns out, the dark isn't dark, at least not for me. As I enter, I intend to go in as far as I can without light and then use the light crystal I took from Bart's goons. However, even I after I turn several corners that should plummet me into total darkness, I find that there's a sort of faint red glow coming from all around. The glow fades as I go deeper into the earth, but never fading so much that I lose my footing as I make my way over the damp rocks.

It's comforting being here in the red glow. Usually in caves I've always had a sort of anxiousness, that someone might appear at the edge of light, but now I just feel… I don't know. Protected at least.

I don't know what's going on exactly, but I can only guess it's from the ridiculous boon I'm under as the books I read about this place didn't mention the light. That the boon has somehow enhanced my vision so much as to expand the category of the visible rather than just the quality of it. If so, it's a pity that it'll be temporary. Perhaps I can acquire a magic item to replicate the effect. Though there's probably little point since expansive caves like this would be the only place I would need one. Then again, it may be worth it if the other orbs are in similar places.

The cave is moist. Drops of slimy liquid splat from the ceiling in relaxing rhythms. I go from passage to chamber to passage to chamber, sometimes crawling over mounds of rocks that look like wax but feel hard and smooth and cool. There's an undulation to it – a pulsing breathing that I somehow feel without being tied to any specific perception.

…There's a shadow on the wall in one of the passages.

I instinctively look for a light source before remembering that the wall is the light source. There's something hanging there, like a sheet or tapestry. I activate the light crystal to get a better look.

"SCREEEE!"

It flings itself at me with shrill scream. I draw my sword before I even realize it and strike it mid-air. Blood sprays the wall as I cut a wing half off and direct it past me to the ground. It flutters briefly then stills.

I examine it with the light. It's bat-like but much bigger than any I've seen, and the wings are far too thick. They're rough and leathery calloused things that imitate the colour and texture of the walls. How many people wouldn't have noticed it in the light? They're not much else to it besides a lamprey mouth and long barbed tongue. I look on the wall where the mouth would have been and see a divot melted into the stone.

Was it eating it? Then why did it attack me if its dietary needs were met? For that matter, how did it react to the light? It doesn't have eyes. Is the skin sensitive to it? And why was it darker than the surrounding walls in the red light?

I turn off the light and see that the blood is glowing brighter than the walls. I crouch down and touch it with my gloved hand and feel a faint warmth to it. Is that it? I take off my glove and stare at my revealed hand glowing like… maybe half a candle. I press it against the wall for a second and see a glowing handprint after I retract it.

So, the glow is heat. Or rather, light from heat not normally visible but made so by Anar's boon. I didn't realize this before because I'm covered in enchanted clothes that insulate me. I only knew the stone was cool because my gloves transmit sensations as if I were not wearing them, even if no heat transference takes place.

What about the creature then? It's clearly chimeric, but what is the purpose behind its design? Long term protection probably. Perhaps it was hibernating in a sense, taking sustenance from the stone needed to sustain itself over years. But for anything more than dormancy, such as procreation, it would need more. My blood, no doubt. Its semi-slumber combined with thick skin would explain the lack of heat.

Mystery solved, I move on, but sigh as I hear scratching sounds all around. More chimeras, no doubt drawn to the blood.

I could doubtlessly fight anything that's coming, but I see no benefit in doing so. Rather, I lean into an alcove and let my concealment spell do its work – making sure not to let any skin be uncovered in case the new creatures have similar perception to my own.

Several rat-like creatures the size of a medium or small dog (I can never tell what people mean by that) scurry past my hiding spot shining as bright as candles. It's hard to make out details with the heat light, but I can deduce large bony plates around the shoulders from how those regions are cooler the rest. There are also smaller cool spots randomly spotted throughout their bodies. Cancer or fungal growths maybe? Low quality or rapid breeding chimeras are prone to those.

The rats get to work gnawing at the stone bat thing, but suddenly scurry away as vibrations approach. A second later there's a hulking blur as bright as a torch leaping down the passage followed by a squelch. I peek around the corner and see a muscular thing primarily on two legs but hunched over and using one front leg as support as it grabs one of the rats with other. It dangles the prey over its mouth then drops it in to eat whole.

Whatever it's supposed to be, it's bigger than me and has more of the bone plates obstructing the heat. Very fearsome looking. It shouldn't pose too much threat on its own, but…

Stepping out of the alcove I cast animal communication on it. "Hello there. I'm a bit turned around. Could you be so kind as to lead me to where the divine artefact is." I transmit the image of the orb.

It screams in rage, transmitting the concept of 'sacred' or 'separation' or 'home' and that I am a 'defiler', then leaps at me.

Expecting this, my hands go to the symbols on my clothes for extreme cold defence and manually activate them. The chamber brightens with the heat light as my exterior flares up to the temperature of a bonfire, causing the chimera to stumble back mid stride.

Well, I suppose that confirms my theory about them having the same ability to see heat as me.

"Now then, there's no reason for that, is there?" I say through the spell.

Stolen story; please report.

It's harder for the spell to translate than normal, most likely due to its chimeric nature. Chimeras are of course notoriously aggressive as their base parts war with each other. Something with just added traits like Pelliphos can be bad enough without a spell smoothing things over, but an entirely new made to purpose creature? Bloodthirsty is the norm, though I think maybe literally in this cave.

Still, the spell manages to adequately convey the sense of it being cowed by my display.

"Take me to the orb," I command.

It glances side to side, clearly nervous, but nods and obeys – muttering something like "leader will take care of." There's an image of a much larger version of the same creature.

As it leads me, I take a moment to do a divination for Ser Terry's location. It seems that I've gotten ahead of his group and am only a few chambers away. I had planned on finding then following him to the room, but I doubt Bart would attack before they retrieve the orb. After all, it seems his style to let them do all the work dealing with the defences before snatching the prize away.

So, there should only be benefit to getting the orb first. Besides, I might even decide to take it.

As we go along, I can't help but notice the creature, which incidentally is twice my height with limbs as thick as my waist, making very high pitched whistling sounds. I almost can't hear them even with my boons. I ask about them, which seems to surprise it, but it pointedly ignores the inquiry. Doubtless it's calling for help.

No matter. Despite its fearsome physique, I doubt even a hundred of them could handle me right now.

Still, I can't help but be a little disturbed as I start hearing them rustling in the distance. Then we get to a chamber with a half dozen of them laying on ground. At first, I think they're dead given their temperature, but as we progress heat suddenly pulses through them, and they stir slowly to life. Clearly, they were in some sort of hibernation and were sapping minute nutrients from the stones like the bat thing.

It doesn't matter though, as they don't stir quickly enough to hinder our passage. Eventually we come to a much larger chamber with over two dozen of the creatures fully awake and led by a much larger specimen at least three, possibly four times my height. I quickly cast communication on it and step into the ring of chimeras awaiting eagerly the instruction to tear me apart.

"Hello! I'm here to take a look at your sacred orb," I convey through the link.

The creature predictably snarls in rage and lowers itself for a charge, but I'm already leaping at its face. I slam my blunted sword into its temple, staggering it back, but it keeps its feet. I retain the attack though and hit again, this time holding back less and spawling it on the ground. It tries to get up, but I move around and kick it in the stomach, lifting it into the air nearly up to my height. I take the opportunity to punch it in the stomach full strength, breaking my hand but sending it flying into the stone wall.

"…yield…" it whimpers, exposing its neck, rolling on its back and urinating in sign of submission. Seeing this, the rest of the pack withdraw slightly, uncertain what to do.

"Good, now take me to the orb."

It complies, taking me through one more twisting passage. The red glow fades, or rather is overwhelmed by a blue light up ahead. The source of the light is revealed with the destination being thousands of silver symbols embedded into a clearly artificial perfectly square chamber. The symbols are on the walls and ceiling, but mainly in a circle on the floor creating a perimeter around a pedestal with one grey orb the size of my head.

It feels comforting to be here, and I'm tempted to deny both parties their prize. It would serve Ser Terry right for excluding me. Maybe I would give it to him once he actually invites me. Unfortunately, I don't think I can.

The circle is obviously an elaborate security array, set to kill anyone who tries to cross over it. There's enough room around the circle for me to walk around and examine it, so I quickly find that it is well beyond me. I might have a decent chance of scaping away the correct symbol to safely collapse it, but It's more likely I'd cause a cascade that would blast me with several times the normal power. Well, I suppose it would technically be disarmed after that, but besides being dead it would likely collapse half the cave system…Well, at least the nearest couple of chambers.

Maybe if I had a couple of hours but… sigh, I don't even recognize some of these symbols and I suspect… Yeah. I invert the Eye, and while the swirl of harmony nearly overwhelms me, I can just barely make out three dimensional symbols embedded beneath the surface. There's simply no way I can handle those.

Still, the orb and the primary array isn't the only thing of interest in the room. I examine the symbols on the wall and quickly find what I'm looking for. As expected, there's mental magic at work here, attuned to the three species of chimera that I've encountered on the way in: The bats, the rats, the…I guess you could call them cats if cats were five meters tall, semi-bipedal, had opposable thumbs and a lamprey mouth. Maybe cat-bear-moles would be more fitting, but even that is wrong. Anyways, the wall prescribes a crude ecology between them, forcing one species into hibernation whenever it has preyed on another too much.

The result might be a crude ecology, but the magic used to achieve it is elegant and precise; fascinating both in its economy and graceful carving style. Still, I think I can do something with it – even something intentionally. If I'm wrong, the worst that can happen is I break it, which wouldn't be altogether bad.

I have three options, it seems, besides leaving it. First, I can simply break it. The creatures would no longer be contained to the cave and would venture out. It would be an ecological catastrophe as the hostile creatures gradually spread out and cause chaos while slowly building in population. Maybe not so slowly if I'm right about their reproduction needing blood.

The second option is much the same as the first, but instead of breaking it for a gradual expansion, I efface a set whose absence would cause the effect to reverse. Rather than drawing them in it would drive them out to the world. The immediate destruction would be much more, but possibly less in the long term. With such an overt crisis they might dispatch mage teams to hunt them. In the meantime, it could result in hundreds dead. More if they don't react promptly.

I'm leaning towards the second one. The direct damage might be less over time, but sudden damage has its own way of compounding.

But then there's the last, more intriguing option. I know a certain simple blood rune that, if I'm right, I could paint over certain symbols to replace the compulsion to stay here with one to follow my commands. I think I could even construct a crude ritual to establish a permanent telepathic bond with them using my animal communication as a template.

But what would I even do with a chimeric army anyway? Ironic, since I know exactly what I would have done with one just a few months ago. But now? I don't exactly have a good place to put them. I could try to just take the rats or bat things for more subtle tasks. But even then, giant rats with bone plates would be quickly noticed and traced to me.

Still, if I'm reading it right, the enchantment will hold even after the orb is gone. While I'm tempted to just cause opportunistic chaos right now, the possibility of coming back and grabbing an army when I need it is appealing. But when would I even need it?

Well, anyways, whatever choice will have to be made after the orb is taken. I leave the chamber and instruct the giant… whatever they are… What twisted imagination could have crafted them? Anyways, I instruct them to retreat from the area to give Ser Terry and co. a clear passage. I'll use them later, but there's no point in wearing them down on the approach.

With them retreating, I proceed with my plan and find a recessed corner to hide in and wait for them to come. About ten minutes later I see a steady white light gradually fill the chamber from one of the many passages leading to it. A moment later Ser Terry steps into view.

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