The air grew significantly hotter as they walked away from the Gut. The white stone of the canyon walls changed to a dark, burnt black. They walked toward the lowest edge of the market. A massive, open crack in the ground served as the entrance to the Smoldering Catacombs.
Thick gray smoke drifted out of the crack.
Two massive Beast-Kin stood in front of the entrance. They did not have fur. Their bodies were covered in thick, dark red scales that functioned as natural armor. They carried heavy iron axes.
As Elias, Chloe, and Vaelira approached, the first guard stepped forward. He blocked the path with the handle of his weapon.
"Stop," the guard said. "What is your business here? Where are you heading?"
"We are hunting a Cinder-Wraith," Vaelira answered.
The guard looked down at them. His yellow eyes showed complete indifference. "Seventeen groups have entered these tunnels in the past week. None of them returned. Most of them burned to ash before reaching the second layer. If you want to walk into a furnace, that is your choice. But the entry fee is five hundred coins per person."
"Why is there a fee to enter a dangerous cave?" Chloe asked.
"It is a body removal tax," the second guard answered bluntly. "When fools die near the upper levels, their burning flesh makes the market smell terrible. We have to pay workers to drag your remains out and throw them into the canyon. Pay the fee, or turn around."
Elias looked at Vaelira. He did not have any currency.
Vaelira did not argue. She reached into a small pouch on her belt, pulled out a stack of heavy gold coins, and handed them to the guard.
The guards stepped aside.
The three of them walked past the guards and stepped into the dark crack in the ground. The sunlight disappeared completely as they went inside.
"What exactly is a Cinder-Wraith?" Elias asked, keeping his voice low.
"A Cinder-Wraith is not a biological animal," Vaelira explained quietly. "It is a ghost made entirely of living heat. It does not have eyes or ears. It hunts by sensing the temperature of our bodies. The faster you move, the hotter your blood becomes, and the easier it is for the Wraith to find you. We need to stay low, move slowly, and keep our heart rates down."
Chloe looked into the dark, smoke-filled tunnel. "Dad, are we being too greedy?" she asked. "Should we not train first before trying to fight something like this?"
Elias did not stop walking. "We do not have time, Chloe," he said firmly. "I want to get out of this world and go home immediately."
They walked deeper for twenty minutes. The heat became extreme. Sweat poured down Elias's face. His heavy leather harness and stone plates became very warm against his skin. Chloe struggled to breathe the thin, hot air. Her dark blue silk suit absorbed some of the heat, but she still felt dizzy.
They reached a wide, open cavern. The ceiling was thirty feet high. Small pools of liquid fire bubbled on the stone floor.
Suddenly, the gray ash on the ground began to swirl in a rapid circle.
The temperature in the cavern spiked instantly. The air became so hot it burned the inside of Elias's throat when he inhaled.
A figure rose slowly from a pool of liquid fire. It was eight feet tall. It had the rough shape of a human, but it had no physical body. It was made entirely of blinding, white-hot fire. It emitted a loud, continuous hissing sound.
"Stay perfectly still," Vaelira ordered.
The Cinder-Wraith drifted forward. It hovered slightly above the ground. It turned its featureless, burning head toward them.
Chloe panicked. The intense heat terrified her. She took a fast step backward. Her boots scraped loudly against the stone. Her heart rate increased rapidly.
The Wraith reacted instantly to the sudden spike in her body heat. It rushed forward at incredible speed. It reached out with long arms made of white fire directly toward Chloe.
"Move!" Elias shouted.
Elias did not draw a weapon. He knew steel would simply melt. He ran forward, placing his large body directly between the Wraith and his daughter.
The Wraith crashed into Elias.
The flat, dense stone plates on Elias's harness absorbed the direct impact of the magic fire. The stone prevented the flames from touching his skin, but the heat transfer was immediate. The thick plates glowed bright orange.
The Wraith hissed loudly. It pulled its arm back and swung its hand with massive force. Elias tried to dodge, but the Wraith was too fast. The burning hand struck his chest. Elias was thrown through the air. He crashed hard into the far stone wall, slid down the rock, and fell to the ground.
The Wraith then formed a ball of fire in its hands and threw it at Chloe.
Vaelira moved instantly. She stepped in front of Chloe and created a shield of raw Aether energy. The fireball hit the shield and dispersed. Vaelira then thrust her spear forward, creating a huge blast of wind. The wind pushed the Wraith violently backward.
The Wraith crashed into a thin section of the cavern wall. The impact created a large, visible crack in the stone.
Elias saw the crack. He pushed himself off the ground. He grabbed a heavy, sharp piece of loose rock with both hands. Using all his remaining strength, he threw the rock directly at the weakened wall.
The rock hit the crack. The wall shattered. Large, heavy boulders fell from the ceiling directly onto the Wraith, pinning it to the floor.
"Take this!" Vaelira yelled. She threw a short, dark sword toward Elias. "Remove the core from its chest!"
Elias picked up the sword. He walked carefully toward the trapped Wraith. He bent down and pushed the blade into the center of the white fire.
The Wraith released a massive sound wave of pure pain.
Chloe stood completely still. Suddenly, the thin silver threads in her silk suit began to vibrate heavily. She felt a sharp, sudden heat signature moving in the darkness above them.
"Dad..." Chloe warned.
It was a trap. Before Elias could react, a massive fireball and two streams of white flame shot out from the dark ceiling. The attacks hit Elias directly. The force launched him across the room. He slammed into the wall and fell entirely unconscious.
"DAD!"
Chloe felt pure terror. Seeing her father lying motionless on the ground triggered a sudden reaction in her body. The silver threads in her Aether-silk suit began to hum loudly. The sound made the air vibrate.
Her hands began to tremble. Small, jagged violet sparks erupted from her fingertips. The Aether in the environment was reacting directly to her intense fear and grief. For a brief second, her vision turned entirely white. She could physically sense the heat signatures of two new Wraiths dropping down into the cavern.
She tried to release the energy, but her fear was too great. She had no control. The purple sparks died out instantly. Her hands turned cold and continued to shake. She could not use the magic.
The two new Wraiths formed fireballs and threw them.
Vaelira raised her Aether shield again. The fireballs hit the energy barrier, shaking the ground.
Chloe took a step toward her father.
"Stop!" Vaelira shouted. "Stay back! I cannot protect you both if you move!"
The Aether shield began to crack under the intense heat of the continuous fire attacks.
Vaelira dropped the shield and dodged a stream of fire. She lunged forward with incredible speed. She drove her spear directly into the chest of the first trapped Wraith.
The trapped Wraith exploded. The concussive blast of the explosion threw the two new Wraiths backward into the fire pools. Vaelira was also thrown back by the force.
She used the brief opening immediately. Vaelira scrambled to her feet, grabbed Elias by his harness, and grabbed Chloe by the arm. She dragged them both rapidly out of the cavern and into the cooler tunnels.
They ran until they reached the entrance of the Catacombs. They collapsed on the ground outside the dark crack, breathing the clean air.
Vaelira looked at Chloe. "We need to treat him immediately." she said.