or inside...

As he went out his vault the first thing he noticed was the omnipresent darkness neither moon or sunlight were reaching this place. Staying still for a moment his eyes adapted themselves to the ambiant dark allowing him to at least see his path and avoid the rock. He slowly pushed forward not sure of where he was going, only following the long rocky corridors towards a potential destination.

After what fells like hours wandering the empty path his nose picked something. Sniffing the hair like a hound, he smelled the scent of iron, of burning woods and another faint scent, like hot sugar. He decided to follow the direction his nose was guiding him onto hopping to finally meet someone or even something. Following the trail an other scent overtook the other, the odor of something vile. Taking embrenchement without thinking climbing up large stairs of stone he finally arrived at the places from where all the scent where coming from.

A true cathedral so large that its vault was lost to darkness. Barely able to see what was happening on the other side, the bull decided to climb onto a promontory that dominated the centre of the expanse. Once at the top, he saw light, two sources to be exact, the first seemed to be made of pure light projecting a white aura around it. The second was yellowish and cast dozens of shadows on the walls. His sense of smell warned him that the rancid odour he had smelt emanated from this second source. He decided to move closer, the smell becoming omnipresent the closer he got to the lights. Then he began to hear jerky breathing and sadistic laughter, the sound of bows whose strings snapped in the air and whose arrows struck stone or some other apparently resistant object. Eventually he reached an overhang from which he could observe the situation,

Two young women were running, one with an injured hip resting on the other who was sweating profusely. The one on whom everything seemed to be resting was wearing an outfit you'd expect to find on a witch - a loose-fitting dress and a pointed hat with a folded tip - and even if they had a good lead over the horde of goblins chasing them, it certainly wouldn't last and they were heading for a dead end anyway.

A shiver went through the Minotaur's body, he who had never been very brave during his previous incarnation, now had the power to change things radically, he didn't know exactly the limits of his new abilities but it seemed like a good opportunity to test those limits. On top of that, his instincts were screaming at him to come to the aid of the two women - he felt partly responsible for their safety even though he didn't even know them. He stood still for a moment, thinking of a plan, then smiled and took a decisive step towards the cul-de-sac.

Lyre

"It was supposed to be an easy mission, a dozen goblins, maybe one or two hobgoblins, but not an army of these things", they had arrived from behind, forcing her and her group deeper into the maze of tunnels. Edward and Liam had tried to buy them time to escape, apparently in vain as Lyre could feel their attackers gaining ground. The goblins were having fun, throwing arrows and stones in their direction without really caring whether they missed or ricocheted off the purplish barrier protecting the magician and her comrade. The latter's condition was becoming increasingly worrying, she was mumbling nonsensical words and Lyre was convinced that fever must also be taking hold of her friend. The poisons with which goblins often coated their weapons were generally only effective over time, but if the wound became infected...

Lyre shook her head at the thought, it would all be over soon, her comrades called her lucky for a reason, she managed to get out of situations far more complicated than chases after all at the next bend there would be a way out or a path leading to it, she was sure of it.

The shock was brutal when she took that last bend and realised that it was a dead end, but she kept going, looking at each side for a way out or a loophole through which to escape, to no avail.

"It's not possible", she kept saying, "it can't end here, there's still so much to do, so much to discover". She heard their pursuers coming, their vile laughter and their filthy smell. She turned back to her **** comrade, who was grimacing as she struggled against her inner demons. She looked up at the funereal column and resolved to face it. At that moment, the motto of her house echoed more clearly than ever in her head: "Victory or ****. She knew what happened to women taken prisoner by goblins and swore that neither she nor her friends would suffer such dishonour.

She clasped her hands together and spread them apart, revealing her mage's wand, which she gripped firmly with her right hand while her left plunged into a purse, from which she pulled out a ruby the size of her fist. The power contained within was such that a single dent would cause an explosion that would devastate everything for metres around her, a solution of last resort.

Lyre struck her stick against the ground and a dozen magic circles appeared around her, causing the goblins to hesitate briefly, but their sheer numbers were enough to motivate them, as was the chance to play with their prey once the fight was over.