Isaiah together with Rigel and Ezio left for the place where the serpent-woman was. Instead of using a carriage, all three of them rode horses to reach their destination. Isaiah was on the front because he was holding the map given to them by the town's leader.
It only took them almost an hour before they reached the entrance to the mine. The surrounding was pretty much in a disarray as carts, shovels and other things used for mining were strewn all over the place. It was really abandoned, more like abandoned in haste that the miners did not have the time to take all their equipment with them.
Once they got down from their horses, Cygnus brought his hand to cover his nose. "This place reeks." He held the horse's reins and let it away from the place. He chose to tie it on a tree a few meters away from the mine's opening.
"Reek? I don't smell anything though," Isaiah frowned as he looked around but he did not see anything.
Cygnus laughed, "How can you smell it when you have not seen death yet? You'll understand what I mean once you go to the battlefield."
He walked past him and slowly trudged the dusty way towards the mine. Cygnus could already sense the dark presence inside mine and even the stench of death got stronger. This place was different from the one where he fought the wraith. That time the wraith was only a newborn but the malevolent spirit inside the cavern had evolved a long time ago.
Isaiah had seen death but he was not sure what kind of death the man had seen for him to be able to say something like that. Despite his confusion and doubts, he still followed the man behind. Ezio was not a step late and went along with them.
They could already feel the evil energy inside the place and it made the walls feel like it was alive. They could also hear some kind of breathing that was coming from the deepest part of the mine. The more steps they took the more difficult they were able to breathe.
The two of them were already panting and yet Cygnus was still walking normally. His hands were on his back and he looked like he was just walking in a park. He would look from side to side and show a face that seemed to be satisfied with what he saw.
They were right he was indeed satisfied and he was admiring how the mine turned out, "This place is exquisitely built. I could feel the souls trapped in these walls, it's amazing, isn't it?" He turned around with a smile on his face.
Contrary to his happy face the other two with him had their eyes wide in horror. Souls? That was not something they would hear on a daily basis. Trapped in the walls? Their eyes couldn't help but travel through the expanse of the excavated, man-made tunnel. Exquisite? It was only rocks and soil with souls trapped in it but the man was describing it as something beautiful.
Cygnus noticed that both of them were silent. He could read Ezio's mind but Isaiah's was still quiet as the quietest night he had experienced. He sighed and waved his hands towards them. After that, the pressure from the evil energy in the air disappeared.
Both Ezio and Isaiah were relieved because of what happened. Now, they could walk easily and did not have the problem of collapsing before they even reached their destination. After the amazement, Isaiah looked at Rigel's upright back and sighed. He was really something else, to be able to do that with just a wave and without a magic circle or an incantation, he was someone with power.
To what extent, Isaiah doesn't know because from the beginning, he had never shown his best. He could only wonder and wait to see what he could do, that is if he was willing to show it. They followed the long winding tunnel using the guiding light of the magic orb they were using and felt like they had been walking for hours because they couldn't see the end of it.
"Master, how long are we going to walk like this?" Ezio asked with a frown. Although the pressure exerted on them disappeared, the seemingly endless tunnel was making him uncomfortable and the breathing sound was making his skin crawl.
"Why are you so impatient, we are almost there, just bear with it for a while." Cygnus sighed then he even rolled his eyes in exasperation at the young man.
Ezio did not answer and just willingly followed the master's instruction. The tunnel became silent without their voices and it became creepier too. The sound of breathing started to get louder accompanied by some kind of a rattling sound that grew nearer the further they walked towards the center of the tunnel.
All of these made them alert of their surroundings. Ezio brought out his scimitar while Isaiah was ready with his lightning spells. Then there were footsteps, no it was not footsteps, it was more like someone was dragging their feet on the ground and they could also hear low growls coming from the dark corners of the tunnel.
"Have you ever encountered zombies?" Cygnus stopped walking and turned around to look at the two young men behind him.
"Zombies?" Isaiah asked as he was not familiar with the term. Even Ezio was at a loss at the master's question.
"Well, they are basically undead but they still have their flesh on and they eat humans. Human flesh keeps them alive and moving. They cannot go out into the sun and move through the blanket of the night. They are the reason why this place stinks." Cygnus answered as a large flame appeared on his hand. He then threw it behind his back and hit several bodies that caught on fire.
With the fire's help, Ezio and Isaiah saw that there were people behind Rigel but at a closer look they were actually not alive. Their bones were peeking from the parts where the flesh was missing. Their scalps were missing hair and even their teeth were falling on the ground. Their clothes were tattered but even their eyes made them look like they were in a daze.
They could hear the growling coming from them and the saliva that was coming from their mouth created the feeling of disgust. After the bodies that were caught on fire burned, several heavy footsteps could be heard that were going their way. In a desperate attempt to see their surroundings, Isaiah flung the magic orb in the air and infused a little bit of additional mana into it to make it brighter.
The moment the light became brighter, they could now fully see their surroundings and assess their situation. Their group was currently surrounded with hundreds of these 'zombies' as the master had called them. All of them looked so hungry and menacing that they started running towards them.
Ezio raised his sword and slashed diagonally at the zombie that was coming to him. He easily sliced that one into two but more were coming. He did not stop from brandishing his scimitar and hacking his way around the enemies.
Isaiah on the other hand used his lightning, that has a wide range of effect, and dealt with several of them at the same time. Most of them were burnt to crisp after having a taste of his lightning. There were others that were only chipped and were still moving towards him.
"Zombies are vengeful spirits, they died without justice so their bodies were easily taken over by evil energy thus tainting their souls." Cygnus explained while he was burning all those zombies who were aiming at him.
Ezio and Isaiah slowly took a step back until they met the center of the crowd. Both of them were already tired from killing a part of the zombie army.
