A few hours later, Amon and Medici finally stirred. Neither knew exactly how much time had passed, but Amon was fairly certain it hadn't been a full day. He'd been knocked out, after all… that shithead.

Medici walked beside him, a sphere of fire burning steadily in his palm, its glow throwing restless shadows across the narrow tunnel walls.

"Hey…" Medici's voice cut through the silence, edged with impatience. "We need to move. The Builder's statue will be here soon, and if we miss it, our only way out of Hollow Mountain is gone."

Amon's eyes lingered on the ancient engravings etched into the stone. His steps slowed, his thoughts elsewhere entirely.

Medici's brow twitched, irritation mounting with every second of silence.

"Are you even listening?!" he snapped, the flame in his palm flaring brighter. "If we don't leave now, we lose our chance. Then what? You want to waste months crawling your way to the Dark City?"

Amon sighed, shaking his head, eyes still tracing the carvings as though they alone mattered. "Don't worry. We've got a day or two before that statue arrives. Besides…" His grin flickered, sharp and mischievous. "We can't just walk away from the Dawn Shard."

Medici almost dropped his flame. His eyes widened in disbelief before he seized Amon by the shoulders.

"Are you insane?! The Dawn Shard? That crown belongs to Nephis. If we steal it… what happens to the plot? To the Forgotten Shore? To us?"

Amon turned, grin widening at Medici's stunned face.

"Well, what about it? I'm a thief. Did you really expect me to leave treasure lying around for its 'rightful owner' to come fetch?"

Medici stared, mouth opening and closing, then groaned and buried both hands in his hair, nearly ripping the strands out.

"What do you mean thief?! Are you saying you're… wait. Your flaw…"

Amon froze mid-step. The humor bled from his expression, leaving a tight shadow over his face. Blasphemer's Gambit… Was it his own desire that pushed him to steal, or the flaw forcing it into his bones? Maybe both. Maybe neither. He couldn't tell anymore.

He tilted his head, replaying that moment when a searing pain had lanced through his skull, right after he'd chosen not to desecrate a grave. At the time, he'd brushed it off, but the memory lingered. Was that punishment from his flaw?

He needed to understand it before it turned into something truly dangerous.

But that wasn't the only thing gnawing at him. This nonsense about the Dawn Shard being Nephis's… who decided that? Just because she stumbled across it first? That's supposed to mean it's hers? Fate? Plot? Hah. I'm the Blasphemer. Nobody, not even fate itself, gets to tell me what's mine and what isn't.

Still… he wasn't wrong. If he ruined the plot, they'd lose their only map of the future… and he would like fate to favor him, too.

Ahem. Miss Spell and Mr. Fate, I apologize for my blasphemous thoughts. Don't mind it, fr. I'm just a puny mortal, what would I know?

…Shit.

With a tired sigh, Amon shook his head. It didn't really matter. The plot was only convenient to the main cast. It saved Sunless, Nephis, and a handful of others but what about everyone else? What about the Dreamer Army? What about Antarctica? What about the people from both Domains who had been slaughtered like insects?

And honestly, why should he care? What mattered were Medici and Luna. This world wasn't his home. He wasn't even supposed to be here. So why should he carry its burdens?

With that thought, Amon kept walking through the dark tunnel. A cheeky smile tugged at his lips as he said:

"We'll grab the Dawn Shard and reach the statue in time too. I've got a plan, just trust, bro. Besides, you owe me. My jaw still hurts, why'd you punch me so damn hard~?"

Medici felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine. A plan? From Amon, that only meant trouble. His "plans" always had one thing in common, they nearly got both of them killed. But he bit his tongue and muttered instead:

"... Fine, fine. But if this plan fails, I'll make sure you lose all your teeth."

Amon froze, gulped, and forced a reassuring smile as the two pressed deeper into the dark.

They lingered before the engravings, tracing the ancient carvings in silence. The story etched into stone was haunting but kinda cool. Amon, thankfully, had actually bothered with classes back in the Academy: Archaeology, Dream Realm history, even runic language. So he could decipher their meaning.

The tale unfolded: a Nephilim cast from the heavens, struck down by mortal hands. From her wound spilled not blood, but all-consuming darkness, spreading across the Forgotten Shore, swallowing its sky and leaving behind a starless void. The Starlight Legion rose in defiance, and seven heroes forged an artificial sun, rekindling light for a broken world.

Amon tilted his head.

Sure, the novel mentioned this. Kind of. But I already forgot the boring details. What he remembered was simpler: the cohort had come here for the Dawn Shard, which rested on the head of the corpse of the First Lord. And without Cassie, they'd never reach it. That was why the little oracle was so damn valuable.

Well, Amon wasn't an oracle. Far from it. But that didn't mean he was out of cards.

Some time later, they entered a wide circular hall. In the center of it, a dark chasm opened into the depths of the mountains, leading so far down that Amon couldn't even see its bottom.

It looked like the gates of the Underworld.

Thousand years ago, there were wooden ladders and platforms leading down the main shaft of the mine, as well as a system of ropes and pulleys to lower the miners and lift containers full of precious ores up. Of course, all of that had rotten and collapsed a long time ago.

The two of them descended using Medici's wire. They couldn't hold it directly, steel would have cut through their fingers but Medici had tied it around the bones he had found. With that, the danger of slicing themselves disappeared. Yet the bottomless well they needed to descend was shrouded in absolute darkness.

Medici conjured a flaming sword and sent a few fire ravens ahead, their flickering light illuminating the abyss.

The ravens descended from above, leading the duo deeper into the mountain's belly.

After some time, they finally touched solid ground. Instantly, both summoned their memories, wary of every shadow.

Medici glanced at Amon, his flames casting long, trembling shadows across the stone walls.

"What do you remember from the novel? Did they encounter any nightmare creatures here?"

Amon frowned, struggling to recall.

"Don't know, really. Probably not, at least nothing I remember. The only real danger I can think of is the dark river they had to cross."

Medici nodded as they continued forward, still vigilant, ears and eyes scanning for any threat that might appear.

But as they took a step forward, both froze. A few meters away from them, the remains of a giant skeletal creature lay broken on the ground. It resembled a snake with hundreds of tiny claws growing from its belly and a terrifying, round maw. Glancing up, Amon judged that the length of the dead abomination was enough to coil around the whole shaft of the mine at least several times.

Medici crouched beside the carcass, studying it with quiet curiosity. A faint, calm smile crossed his face.

"Well, at least the First Lord cleared out all the nightmare creatures in this shithole," he said.

Amon nodded, contemplating the First Lord's strength. To slay such a sinister horror… they must have been extraordinary. He shuddered and carefully avoided the creature's bones as they continued walking.

Not too far from the corpse of the abominable worm, they stumbled upon an abandoned campsite.

A makeshift firepit was built on the rock floor, with five large stones surrounding it for the humans to sit on. A bit further, a low barricade was constructed out of the rubble, protecting the camp from unwelcomed visitors.

Soon, two of them took their seats and started eating. They needed all the strength they could muster for their adventure.

It was a bit strange to relax and cook food in the same place where the First Lord and his companions had rested and prepared theirs all those years ago.

After a short rest, they ventured further into the tunnels of the ancient mine. None of them could tell how deep underground they were exactly, but the feeling of countless tons of stone looming over their heads, ready to come crashing down and bury them under their terrible weight, was not a pleasant one.

Several hours of walking through narrow tunnels, Amon suddenly felt a soft breeze touch his cheeks. A few minutes later, a distant rustle reached his ears.

The deeper they went into the darkness, the louder that rustle became, until finally turning into an easily discernable murmur of running water.

Soon, they reached the dark shore of a wide underground river.

The running water was black as ink, but not in the way that the waves of the cursed sea had been. There was no smell of salt in the air, too. Wisps of mist were rising above the surface of the subterranean river, swirling in the silent darkness.

It looked like a boundary of the Underworld.

There was a stone pillar built on the shore, and tied to it, a beautiful boat made of pale wood swayed gently on the cold black surface of the dark river.

Amon stretched with a wide yawn, bored from all the walking. Then, with a cheerful smile, he glanced at Medici.

"Listen. All I remember is Cassie telling the cohort not to open their eyes or something terrible would happen. Sure, we don't have Sunny's shadow sense to navigate the river blindly, but we have something else."

Medici grinned, crimson eyes glowing faintly in the darkness as he understood what Amon meant.

"My danger intuition should be enough to guide us to our destination without crashing into anything. Meanwhile, your ability to sense treasures could help us locate the Dawn Shard."

Amon nodded, though a hint of fear lingered. Still, the plan wasn't bad. Technically, they could manage it.

"Yeah, but we don't have wax… so we need to be extra careful not to open our eyes accidentally."

Medici sighed, dismissing the weapon he had conjured from his flames, then jumped onto the boat, followed by Amon.

Before long, Medici managed to find an oar and pulled on it, propelling the boat across the dark river.

A chill mist slowly crept in, shrouding everything around them.

The deeper they sailed into the mist, the more it felt as though they were leaving one world behind and drifting into another... a world darker, older, and far more terrifying.

No one felt compelled to speak. The silence was broken only by the murmur of rushing water and the creak of the wooden oar.

At last, the bottom of the boat scraped against stone. They had reached the opposite shore of the dark river.

A few seconds later, Medici leapt onto the pier and tied the rope around a stone pillar. Then, they resumed their journey.

Medici relied on his danger intuition to avoid anything truly terrifying as they walked, while Amon guided him toward the Dawn Shard using his Superior Observation. He didn't know the exact location, but he could feel it.

A flicker of excitement stirred in Amon's chest, and he quickened his pace. But before he could take more than a few steps, Medici's hand shot out, gripping his shoulder and yanking him back.

Amon frowned. He tried to give him a weird look… or at least the air of one. Hard to say if it landed, he was blind, after all. Still, he asked:

"What's wrong, dude?"

Medici didn't answer right away. The silence pressed down in the darkness, making the place feel even more unsettling. If not for Amon's sense of the Dawn Shard pulling him like a beacon, they would have been hopelessly lost in the twisting maze by now.

Finally, Medici muttered, low and uneasy:

"I felt danger… just follow me."

Amon nodded reluctantly and trailed after him. After some time, the oppressive, sinister pressure that had gnawed at Medici's senses ebbed away. He slowed, then stopped, exhaling a deep sigh of relief before opening his eyes.

"Yep. We made it. You can open yours."

Amon grunted, more from irritation at being blind for so long than at Medici himself. Sensing the world only through the invisible pull of the treasure was strange, unsettling even. Medici's method was similar, yet opposite: he relied on what he couldn't feel, following the absence of danger rather than its presence.

Both ways were disorienting. Walking in utter darkness, stripped of ordinary senses, made even the simple act of moving forward feel alien.

Now Amon looked back and realized why Medici had stopped him. If he hadn't, he might have fallen into the dark river and who knew what fate awaited him then? Perhaps something far worse than death.

Shivering, he turned around and froze.

Just a few meters away, on the cold stones of the riverbank, a human skeleton sat upright, facing the water.

…This was the place where the First Lord of the Bright Castle had died.