That fucking singing again. Mina winced against the screeching that assaulted her ears without any kind of warning at all. She had no idea where it was coming from. It sounded like it was bouncing off of the walls.

She turned her attention to Boris, but he was already walking away from her—William and Renault hot on his heels. 

“Fuck.” She bolted after them, not bothering to see if Frederick was going to be able to follow her. 

She knew better than to try to stop William, there was no way she’d be able to physically stop him, and her fire hadn’t worked either. She’d tried with Boris on the surface, and that hadn’t worked either. Maybe she’d be able to stop Renault. He walked in the middle of the two bulkier men. 

Mina grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to a stop. It almost worked. He missed a step and almost fell forward before he was able to catch himself. He jerked his arm from her grasp and continued to walk. He didn’t even turn to look at her, there was no snarky remark or snide insult. 

Whatever they were hearing, this fucking song, it was controlling them. She glanced back to find Frederick following after them. He was slow, having to stop to catch his breath, but he was coming. 

She reached out and grabbed Renault’s arm again.

The screeching grew louder and louder and louder. Then it stopped. The silence was almost deafening after hearing it consistently, even if it was only for a short while.

What the fuck was going on? The three men stopped and looked at each other and then back to her. 

The swordsman looked down at her hand and then to her face with one brow arched, his lips turning up into a smirk. “If you wanted to hold me hand, all you had to do was ask, wench.”

“It happened again?” William asked, concern lacing his voice. 

Mina let go of Renault’s arm as though it was made of vipers. She nodded at William.

“I don’t remember anything. One minute we are talking, and next we are here. I don’t like this. Don’t like thing messing with head.” Boris’s ears flattened against his head and his tail thrashed against his legs. 

Frederick finally reached them and stopped next to her, his lips thinned into a line. “I don’t know what’s going on. I have some theories…but none of them would make sense. Not for where we are. Why is it only affecting them and not us?” 

“Fucking…” Mina ran a hand threw her hair. “I don’t know. I think we may have figured out what happened to the men in the outpost though. If they heard the same song as they are…and it had the same affect on them…” Mina trailed off and crossed her arms and moved so she was standing between the three and the direction they’d been headed. 

“Do you remember the song at all?” Frederick asked.

“Nyet…not really. I remember feeling of serenity and peace…and the overwhelming need to know. The latter is not new.” Boris glanced at his shoulder and frowned. “Percy is not showing up. He would be here for weird thing.”

Renault glanced around and scowled. “Kenshin isn’t answering either.”

“Neither is Jormund,” William said. He began to pace, tapping his fingers on his arms. 

“Do either of you remember feeling anything?” Frederick asked Renault and William.

“Aye. Passion and intense lust, for fighting or fucking, I’d have been down for either.” Renault’s hand went to the hilt of his sword. 

“Acceptance.” William’s voice was quiet. “I felt complete acceptance.”

Frederick smiled at William and crossed his arms. “Alright, so you all felt something different from that…singing.” 

“All I felt was pain and rage,” Mina spat. 

The prince nodded, “Yeah, can’t say I disagree there.” He blinked and then turned to Boris and Renault.

“This is going to be a weird question, and I apologize for it’s personal nature. Are you both into women?” He asked them.

They both blinked and stared at him. 

“Aye…”

“Da?” 

“I think I know what this is…but it doesn’t make any sense at all! Why would one be here? How would it even get here? How would it survive?” He rubbed his fingers across his forehead. “Maybe I’m missing something.  I have to be missing something. It’s the only thing that makes sense though.” The prince began to pace. 

“But how would one even get here…how is it surviving? Is there something similar that could survive in these conditions? Shit, whatever this is…if it’s happening to the other outposts along the Fissure…this is bad. We won’t have anyone left to make sure that nothing comes out again.”

“Again?” Boris asked, his ears perking forward.

“The Fissure appeared a couple hundred years ago, according to records. When it split the earth we lost thousands of people that lived along the line, and then several thousand more as the biggest demonic force came pouring out that the country had ever seen, or has seen sense. We were barely able to keep them at bay,” Frederick said.

Mina had known about that, the village elders had spoken of it often in hushed voices. Finally something she’d known that at least one of the others hadn’t. 

Boris walked to the wall of the ravine and placed a hand on the glistening walls and ran a finger across the jagged stone. “Perhaps is portal?” 

Frederick nodded. “That’s what we think. We’re not entirely sure how exactly they did it, to be honest. Every attempt to investigate has been met with failure. None of the research parties we’ve sent down here have come back.”

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that,” Mina muttered. She wasn’t going to die down here. She’d burn the fucking walls to a ramp to get out if she had too, no matter how long it took.

“Neither do I,” Renault agreed, sliding a glance at her.

“Hey, I’m sure we’ll be the ones that somehow manage to make it out and figure out why people keep going missing! After all, none of the research parties had the unique talents that we do!” Frederick’s voice wavered and Mina wondered if he was trying to convince them of that, or himself. Perhaps both.

“Da! Keep that enthusiasm!” Boris called out. He’d pulled a small metal file and a small paper bag from his pocket and was scraping it against the rock, letting the particles drop into the bag. 

How much shit did he have in his pockets? He always seemed to be pulling something new out of them. He pocketed the stone dust after a moment and began to walk. 

“We should keep going,” Boris declared. He placed his hands behind his head and began to whistle.

Mina glanced at the others and sighed before she started to follow him. 

The singing still hadn’t come back, thank the gods for small favors. 

She glanced around the ravine. There wasn’t any moss or vegetation growing, despite the constant streams of water that cascaded down the walls. Where was it coming from? They hadn’t been near a lake or a river. 

Mina almost ran into Boris as he froze in his tracks.

“Bozhe moin…”

She peaked her head around him. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped. What the fuck was a temple doing down here?

Pillars reached for tens of feet up. Statues of creatures she didn’t recognize sitting atop and at the base of each one. The walls of the fissure were dark, but the stone the building was made of seemed to absorb the light around it. 

Boris all but ran to the pillars, examining them and muttering to himself. She followed after, staring up at one of the great structures. 

Vertical lines ran up the entire length, and at the base of this particular pillar was a language painted in blue she didn’t understand. It looked like a bunch of scribbles. 

“Well…that is something,” Frederick muttered as he stopped next to her. 

“Should we go in?” Mina asked, glancing in the direction they had been headed. She could see the end of the fissure not far off. They didn’t have much farther that they could go.

“Da! We should! Could hold many interesting things! Maybe is where singing is coming from?” Boris was already headed for the entrance into the temple.

Was it a temple? It looked like ones Mina had seen in cities, not that she’d ever actually gone into one. 

“Wait! We don’t know if it’s dangerous or not! It could be demonic!” Frederick reached his hand out to try to stop Boris, but he wasn’t fast enough. 

“I mean…I’m not sure if we really have much of a choice.” Mina glanced at Frederick. “We go in there and possibly die, or we stay out here and die.”

The prince swore under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I guess…there could be interesting things in there…but there could also be a slow death if there are demons in there.” 

Boris had stopped outside of the door and was examining some more of the scribbles, his tail swishing. 

Mina chewed on her bottom lip and looked to William and Renault. They hadn’t approached the temple. She gestured at them and they both headed for her. 

“Not a dog for you to heel to your side,” Renault grumbled. 

She just rolled her eyes. He’d come when she’d asked, hadn’t he? Was he sure about that. It wasn’t the time for arguments though. 

“While he’s distracted by the writing on the door. We’re trying to decide if we should go in or not,” Frederick told them.

“Oh aye, let’s just waltz into the obviously demonic building. That’ll turn out great. I’ll be sure to thank you as me guts get munched on by a basilisk or some shit,” Renault said dryly. 

“I’m not sure if we have much of a choice. There could be a way out in there.” William inclined his head towards the end of fissure. “We don’t exactly have much further we can go, and I’m not sure if turning back is the best idea. We don’t know what else could be living down here.” 

The swordsman scowled and threw his hands up. “Fine, if I die I’m blaming all of you.” He stalked forward and just strode through the door of the temple.

“Yeba! Don’t go walking in before me. Is my find!” Boris darted into the building.

She let out a breath and shook her head. She glanced at Frederick and William and then joined the other two in the temple.

The interior had been dark but torches had jumped to life as Renault entered with a light blue flame. The inside was much the same as the outside. The same dark stone made up the walls and more of the strange statues. The floors were a stark contrast, though, being a brilliant, stark white with gold racing through the tiles.  

More pillars lined the walls and the high, vaulted ceiling had been painted a bluish green. These pillars didn’t have the vertical lines, however. They did have writing that stretched to the top, the same writing she hadn’t been able to understand. 

She didn’t think it was demonic, but it would be safe to assume they had more than one dialect, much like humans and Fera had. 

She cringed as her ears began to bleed as that fucking screeching began again. Why wouldn’t it just stop? Hadn’t it had enough of whatever fucking game it was playing? 

Shit.

She whirled around, but the three men were already headed deeper into the temple in that damnable trance again. 

Fuck it was so much louder now. She could barely hear herself think over it. It was easier to pinpoint where it was coming from though. It didn’t bounce off the walls. It came from further within, in the direction they were headed.