Into the depths we go.

There was nothing but barren stone and the occasional snow patch as Damaskinos flew over the corridors of the first floor, hugging the ceiling to avoid any leftover trap. Pit falls, the occasional pressure plate were popped up all over the place, the dungeon immune to the ravages of time even on its current abandoned state. Images and pictograms dotted its walls, telling alien stories of forgotten times and ancient tales, things Damaskinos would try to commit to memory so Melanoche could pass information on to Mundus and make the past if a little less forgotten, less lost.

He landed on the safe zone near the stairs, looking at the completely dark lower floors, a certain weariness as he looked at magical crystals that once made this place an inviting resting place, now dark and bathed in shadow, the light of the entrance a distant memory. He shook his head and dove down unseen, the same tale repeated and retold until he reached the entrance of the 6th floor, where the walls were scarred with the echos of battles that happened just before the Dungeon was fully violated and the vitality which repaired its walls gone.

He landed besides a large gash on the rock, his diminutive fingers tracing the scar leftover from what he believed was a blade skill of some sort, the stone wound deep enough he could fit inside. He knew his current magical might couldn't even crack the dungeon rock, much less carve it. The world was vast and he was still small. He flew down, finding the ancient crystal chamber the aftermath of a war, thousands of echos from the distant age forever carved into the lightless walls, whatever painting on the walls melted away in a fit of hatred for the truth. He didn't even know how high level he would need to be before his spell fire could melt rock in such a way, and deep inside imagined if he could repeat the feat on one of the precious Cathedrals of light.

Still, he came here with a mission, and stared at the massive bisected white crystal embedded in a column on the middle of the room, a relieved smile on his merry face. He broke invisibility to cast commune, but noticed movement near the crystal crack, beating his wings to make distance.

A large scorpion clicked its pincers, its tail waving menacingly as it emerged from its lair within the hollow crystal, its light blue icy exterior clear in the Imps Dark Vision. Unfortunately for the arachnid and fortunately for the Dark Champion, he was on the list.