I faced the way toward my left and saw a narrow fissure behind a ruin slab that was broken into sections.

'Wolf?' I whimpered. My ankle throbbed in protest against my movements. Where the hell was Wolf?

'WOLF!'

'Neven?' Wolf's voice was but a faint whisper in my mind but it was enough to quell some of my fears. At least I wasn't alone.

A moment later, I saw the fur ball scamper down a jagged section of the wall-face toward me. His tiny body rested against my sprained ankle.

'Thank the cheese I found you,' Wolf breathed out. 'It's terrible back there.'

'What's back there?' I pictured a hoard of five-legged -four-eyed monsters rushing toward us to finish us off.

'No food. I'm hungry,' Wolf joked.

I breathed a sigh of relief and heard it echo around the room. Mists gathered around the fissure opening, drawing in light and dust until the room glowed a phosphorous green color. Wolf gasped and curled himself into a ball when he saw a figure appear within the fissures glowing space.

The figure was an impression of a queen, judging by the gleaming crown on her head and rows of sparkling gems woven into the braids of her free-falling hair. She stood with grand composure. The milk-lace gown, she wore, flowed down her body with its long train pooled around her feet like a pond of still water. She stared with fixed determination. I shuffled toward the right, hoping to hide away from her view and almost choked on my breath when her head follow my direction.

'I see you Waybearer. I see you as clear as the day I was alive,' her voice sliced through the patch of darkness between us.

'Wh-who?'

'My name is Seriphyn, Knight Commander of the Evadale Knight Order and Grand Queen of Creamoraesop. Years ago, I made a terrible mistake. I believed I could make our world superior and the human race the greatest beings in the universe. I was wrong. In my wrong doing, I allowed creatures from the Shadow world glimpse our own. They invaded our world. Claimed human souls for power. In one year they turned our most fruitful lands into deserts. Our river of life became the river for the dead. With all my power, I was only able to imprison them in-between. If you are here, it means the Lazareth are awake; scratching the walls of their prison for a way out so they can complete their conquest. They won't stop until every human soul has been devoured and our world depleted of life.'

The woman fell silent but her eyes still told a story of pain, regret and something else. I stared in her splendor and significance and felt sick in the stomach with the thought that her regret was anything but sincere.

'What's a Waybearer?' I asked candidly.

The woman smirked at my question. She began a lecture.

'A Waybearer holds the power to the doors of this World provided they have the key from the Keybearer. You are more than human thanks to the gifts given to you by the world's Weasquelle.'

So that would explain the weird magic crap coming out of my mouth at times and my dark sight? Was I only limited to these abilities? I had hoped so.

'What's a Weas-Key... what you said before?'

'I'm sorry, I do not recognise the question. Please ask again.' She fell silent, waiting for my response.

I frowned at the Queen, suddenly realizing what she truly was.

'What is a Keybearer?'

The woman's smirk widen. Her green-sea eyes glistened with a new story to tell.
'A Keybearer shows the Waybearer the way. They also keep the Tsazcuths hidden least the Waybearer finds them and corrupts their power. Like the Waybearer they are also gifted with power from the Weasquelle but of a different kind.'

'Why would the Waybearer corrupt power?'

'I'm sorry, I do not recognize the question. Please ask again?'

Her condescending tone was beginning to bug me so that my next question came out with a huff.

'Why are you here?'

The Queen's smirk went wide and her eyes burned with a fiery passion so for a moment I glimsped the person that she possibly once was.

'Now that is a question to ask.' She beamed with a knowing smile. Her impression glowed for an intense moment before it faded out of sight and the ruined room was dark doom and gloom again.

Neither Wolf and I moved for a good moment afterward. We were both still trying to comprehend what had just happened and what was going to happen.

'Neven, what was that?' Wolf piped up.

'Trouble,' I said sarcastically and offered a smile, hoping it was enough to ease his fear.

Wolf uncurled his body and took a few steps toward the fissure. He sniffed he air. 'I smell humans in there. Your friends.'

We both stared at the fissure's darkness. Of course, I had almost forgotten. We had friends to try and save.