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No one answered him.

Well, that was a bust. It surprised him, though. He thought for surethat at least one of the reapers would’ve had some idea what this place was. It made him further wonder precisely how old this city was. If it wererelatively new, then it would make sense that these reapers from the surface didn’t know about it at all, but as he stared at the crumbling infrastructure all around him, that didn’t seem particularly likely.

They arrived at a monument of some sort, and the first thing Hector noticed about it was that it seemed to be perfectly intact, unlike every building he’d seen so far.

It was an enormous flame, as big as a house and eternally still, being carved from pale gray stone. Around it flowed multiple streams of lava, all of which appeared to factored into the design of the foundation.

‘Oh my god,’ came Axiolis’ voice, and everyone who could hear him turned to look.

Yangéra was the one to ask it. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘Do you not recognize this flame?’ he said, looking over his fellow reapers. ‘This is Enkir, also known as Rathmore’s Flame. It was a famous marker of Hun’Sho royalty.’

Hector had multiple questions all of a sudden.

‘Wow, so this was a Hun’Sho city?’ said Garovel. ‘I suppose that would explain why it’s in ruins.’

Hector had to ask a private question. ‘Who’re the Hun’Sho?’

Garovel floated closer but didn’t have the opportunity to answer him.

‘Uh-oh,’ said Lorios aloud. ‘I’m not the only one sensing that, am I?’

‘No,’ said Axiolis. ‘It seems the worms have decided to come in here after us.’

‘Time to start run--’

A tremor cut Garovel off, and it was strong enough that Hector and everyone else had to fight to maintain their footing. The tremor did not dissipate, either, and indeed, seemed to only grow stronger with each passing second.

Hector reached out for an explanation. ‘Garovel, what’s happening?!’

‘Remember how we said not to disturb the mist?!’ said Garovel privately. ‘Well, the worms are disturbing the mist!’

And then Hector saw the monument from earlier come alive with molten light. Lava flowed up from the base of the stone and through the curves of the flame, igniting it in its entirety and glowing with such increasing intensity that Hector had to shield his eyes.

Magma gushed forth like a geyser, and crystalline ice materialized overthe party, protecting everyone but the cluster of Hun’Kui, who did not look terribly fazed by the sudden bath of lava.

The pool of liquid hot rock kept growing, and the group began to slowly move out of its path while they were either shielded from it or swimming through it.

That was when Hector saw something that he would not soon be forgetting.

The magma began to move against its own flow. It began to grow upward. And it began to take form. Two broad pillars connecting at the top--legs to a torso. Bulky and hunchbacked. Then came the arms. Then the head.