A MASSIVE TREMOR vibrated beneath Ravenna's feet and her retort to Vyses' comment instantly died on her lips. Her gaze flickered around the room uneasily. Jagged cracks spread through the stones that surrounded them, turning the walls and floors into spiderwebs of terror. Another quake shook the room. The castle began to groan, the sound echoing throughout the halls, mingling with the chorusing sound of pebbles raining down onto the floor. Panic seared through Ravenna's core.

"We need to get out of here!" she shouted to Vyses.

He moved further into the room. His hands were outstretched, a meager attempt to maintain his balance as he walked. His right hand glowed bright red. "Hold on," he shouted back.

Ravenna watched as his glowing hand lifted toward the ceiling. His lips moved around a spell that she couldn't hear. A beam of red light shot toward the stones above their heads and immediately fanned out. It seeped into the cracks, glowing red spreading through the growing crevices like lava.

The entire castle seemed to freeze.

The silence that coated the room was an instant relief. Vyses straightened and lowered his hands to his sides. He sighed. "That should hold it for a while," he told her. "At least until we figure out what to do next."

Vyses walked closer to the corpse. He bent down closer and examined its face. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What exactly happened here, lass?" he asked.

"That used to be Tylat," Ravenna said, her tone matter-of-fact. Her jaw clenched and her nose scrunched up with disgust as she stared at the corpse's unfamiliar face. "I'm not sure who it is now. He snuck into my bedroom and tried to kill me."

Vyses frowned. He reached out, his fingertips lightly touching the dead man's chin, tilting his face to the left slightly. "I know this man," he said quietly. He stood and took a step back. "If I am correct, this used to be Tylat's assistant."

Ravenna arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It is common for wizards to take on assistants, especially as they grow older," he explained. He gestured toward Lyth, who stood in the doorway, completely unfazed by the corpse. "Lyth is my assistant. His purpose is to help me with whatever is needed, whether that be basic household chores or magical aid. This used to be Tylat's. I met them once before, years ago when I was much younger. I don't remember his name."

"Why didn't we see him around the castle earlier?" Ravenna asked. "Surely we would have noticed his presence lurking around. This castle is impressive, but it really isn't that big. He would have had to have helped with preparing the dining hall for dinner."

Vyses frowned. "I don't have an answer for that," he said.

"I also don't understand why he was disguised as Tylat," Ravenna added. She folded her arms across her chest. "I didn't know his identity before this discussion —so if he had managed to murder me, his actual identity would have been safe. Nobody would have been the wiser."

"This is all very strange," Vyses murmured. He lifted a hand to his face, the pads of his fingers rubbing small circles against his temples. "I will admit. I do not like the way that the castle immediately seemed to fall apart either. Do you know how much time passed between his death and the tremors?"

Ravenna hesitated. "It was almost instant."

Vyses pursed his lips. "There is really only one explanation for that," he said. "This man's life force must have been tied to a spell that maintained its upkeep. The moment he died, the spell stopped working and the castle began to age."

"We might find more information in Tylat's study," Lyth said.

"That's a pretty good idea," Ravenna responded. A wizard's study was sure to be filled with all sorts of answers. Especially if said wizard were anything like Caelan had been about his magic. "We might even be able to locate a spell that will help us get through the forest as well."

Vyses nodded in agreement. Lyth stepped back out into the hallway. Ravenna immediately followed him but hesitated when she noticed that Vyses hadn't moved. She arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you coming?" she asked.

"In just a moment," Vyses said. He waved a glowing red hand out in front of him, his gaze focused on the corpse. "It isn't right to just leave his body like this."

Ravenna watched as a sphere of red magic swallowed the corpse whole. She didn't say anything as Vyses joined her. Both started after Lyth. They followed him down the hallway, toward the massive staircase.

"I believe it is this way," Lyth told them as he led them down the stairs.

They walked through the great hall. Lyth lead them down another hallway and then stopped in front of a set of massive doors. Each door had intricate filigree patterns carved into its wood.

Lyth pushed open the doors. As Ravenna stepped inside, her eyes widened. The room was larger than anything she'd even seen. Caelan's entire house could fit within it, easily. There was a small spiral staircase that lead to the second level. It was shoved into the corner of the room, almost hidden behind a pile of discarded jars and a collection of dead plants. Small bookshelves and tables were pushed against the walls, overflowing with random items and unlabeled jars of ingredients. Just opposite of the entrance sat a podium, pressed against the wall with shelves of various items surrounding it. An opened spell-book was positioned on top of the podium, along with a quill and a vial of ink. On the second level, Ravenna could see numerous shelves lining the walls, overflowing with an assortment of leather-bound books and loose scrolls. It gave her an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, as it reminded her of the bookkeeper's shop back from Caelan's village.

"This is amazing," she whispered, almost entranced by the room.

Vyses nodded absently and moved toward the other side of the room. He examined the podium and then some of the shelves nearby. Ravenna walked toward one of the tables, scanning over the various things situated atop it. There were a few unmarked vials, half-used candles, and a random assortment of herbs. A few globs of some unnamable substance were also present, and almost dried into the wooden table top. She reached out and hesitantly poked at it. Nothing happened.

"This looks almost like a failed spell," she said, poking at the glob again.

"This room is littered with them," Vyses remarked. He gestured toward the other various tables and bookshelves. Globs of dried magic seemed to be stuck to almost every surface in the room, only partially hidden by scrolls and random objects. There were even a few splatters on the walls and floor.

Vyses frowned and turned toward Ravenna. "This is quite strange," he remarked. "These seem to be all from the same spell as well. I don't see any variations in the dried residue."

Ravenna eyed one of the globs closer. Vyses huffed. "There are way too many mistakes in this room. Even a beginner-level wizard doesn't mess up this much," he remarked.

"It's almost as if a human attempted to perform the spell," Lyth said. His eyes flickered around the room, filled with disinterest. "A non-magical human."

Vyses reached out and pulled at a small piece of dried magic. It almost crumbled in his hands. He rolled a small piece between two fingers. "I believe you are right," he said. "That is the only logical explanation that I can think of."

"So who is the human that tried to perform these spells?" Ravenna asked. She pointed over her shoulder, toward the door. "Do you think it was the assistant that just tried to kill me?"

"It had to be," Vyses said. His frown deepened. "I can't imagine Tylat would willingly allow his assistant to play around with magic like that. It's incredibly irresponsible."

Ravenna started to walk around the room again. She made her way toward the piles of discarded dead plants, curious to see what they were. As she neared the base of the spiral staircase, she froze. Her lips pressed into a wrinkled line.

"What if Tylat didn't allow him to perform magic?" she asked quietly.

Vyses watched her carefully. "What do you mean, lass?"

She pushed through some of the plants, careful not to step on top of any broken pot pieces. Her hand reached out, fingers curling around the handrail attached to the staircase. Just behind the mess, almost hidden behind the staircase, was a body. A withered, partially decayed body covered in dark colored flowers. The robes that almost drowned it seemed to be an exact match to the robes worn by Tylat's assistant when he was in disguise.

Vyses joined her. His nose curled with disgust. "Don't go any closer," he said. "Those flowers have a wide range of potential food, and that includes humanoid creatures such as ourselves. They are not picky."

"How long do you suppose he has been dead?" Ravenna asked off-handedly.

"Long enough," Vyses remarked. "I'm assuming that, before he died, Tylat placed a spell upon his assistant that tied his life-force to the castle. That way, when Tylat died, the castle would live on. Said assistant probably hoped that it would come along with magical powers as well and attempted to perform a spell of sorts."

Ravenna moved away from the staircase, toward the podium. "Do we know what spell the assistant was attempting to perform?" she asked.

Vyses stepped up beside her. His gaze focused on the open pages in front of them. "If I'm reading this correctly, these pages detail the spell that maintains the forest outside."

She frowned. Vyses turned the page and then paused. He looked around the room, at the collection of items that covered the tables around them. He chuckled. Pointing to a collection of scribbled, hardly legible words, his gaze flickered up toward Ravenna and he said, "That, my dear, is the spell that he was attempting."

"And what is so humorous about that?"

"The spell that this man was attempting was a spell that would allow him to get through the forest outside. Meaning, he was just as trapped as we were. We would have never escaped had we not discovered this."

hey sweet friends!

Thank you so much for your endless patience. Seriously, I really can't thank you all enough. I feel awful because I had finally found my groove again and was doing so good about updating at least once a week. Then boom. Life happened. These last few weeks really have not been easy on me, at all. I've been in a very dark place and I'm working on getting back on track again. I'm hoping that I will be able to update regularly again soon! 

Just thank you all so much for your continued support. It really means the world to me. I love you all so much! ❤