I studied the small key in my hand, it had only taken the removal of three fingers to get the old priest to cough it up and the location of the door leading into the basement. After that, I had cut his throat before heading for the hidden basement. I looked at the heavily reinforced door, like the shrine it blazed with light as I studied it with my Spirit Sight.

The keyhole was empty, but almost every last rune and line of magic were linked to it. I inserted the key and turned it as I closed my eyes and braced myself but other than the dimming of the wards on the door nothing happened as I pushed the door open. I pocked the [Ancient Bronze Key] and followed the stairs down under the shrine. 

The stairs led into a room lit by six braziers with only two things of note, a bound woman and a small weapon stand with an odd staff. "Well, come to play again?" the woman asked, and I as I studied her [Kallet, Dragon Queen of the Black Dragon Flight] appeared above her head.

"I am not here to play with you Kallet." I told her as I made my way over to the staff and pulled up its information.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the Dragon asked and while she was bound in her more human-looking form, I had no doubt she could crush me like a bug if I did anything wrong once I freed her.

"That is complicated," I told her as I shoved the staff into my Inventory, I already had three other Divine items what was one more, and walked over to the chained and collared woman. I pulled the hood off of her head letting her look at me. "I want to free you as was asked of me, but I want something in return from you," I told her.

She jerked at her chains but did nothing else. "What exactly do you want?" I smiled as I leaned closer and well within her reach, as I sign of good faith.

"Your word to not harm my companions or me," I told her.

Kallet cocked her head to the side as if she was studying something interesting, or insane. "You could ask for almost anything, eggs, great wealth, undefined favors, even my body, but you ask for peace." she prompted, and I felt the familiar tug of a smile on my face.

"While I don't mind taking pleasure from a woman, your one of those I want that will come to me and ask for it," I whispered as I leaned closer before drawing back. I grabbed her hand and put it around my throat, "Now do we have a bargain, or do we have death?" I asked her.

Kallet licked her lips as she eyed the bronze key held in my hand, no matter what she would have it. "I Kallet, Queen of the Black Dragon Flight swear upon Hades, High God of the Dark Pantheon, Lord of the Underworld, that I will not harm you or your companions if you free me," she replied, and I smiled as I quickly unlocked the collar around her throat.

I stared at the collar, it was forged with an odd metal and engraved with dozens if not hundreds of small runes. Before I could pull up its information two strong arms grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. Kallet gave me just enough tongue, not too much, and pressed her breasts against my chest. Naturally, I palmed her ass earning a gasp of surprise that turned into a moan before I was released.

Kallet stepped back and snapped her fingers, suddenly she was clean and wearing a nice dress, "You are a very bad boy, but as you are, I would break you. Once you grow stronger...perhaps I will ask. Now for helping me, I will grant you one boon, you have two items on your body. One is a small vial the other is a ring. I can tell you what the vial will do to you, or I can identify the ring?" the Dragon offered.

I rocked back on my heels, we didn't have much time and I wanted to do one more thing before we fled the shrine. Knowledge was always welcome, but the item might be useful. I pulled out the vial and hope I choose right. "Ok, what is this?" I asked her.

She smiled and took the Essense of the Dark Heart. "This is an extremely rare potion, crafted by the Dark Gods themselves. Only a small handful were created before the war started, and I am unsure if it is the only vial anymore, but it could be." Kallet studied its glowing contents before handing it back to me. "If you consume it, it will turn you into an Undead, one of the higher forms that are sentient, not a mindless beast. However, it's completely random, and once transformed, there is no going back." she finished causing the Echo of the Past quest to update.

A black and purple portal opened up behind Kallet, "I would suggest you leave, Pelor will be angry that you have freed a prize. Enjoy my gifts Arthur Payne, know I will be watching your progress closely." the woman stepped back and through the portal leaving me alone to my thoughts. Right...I focused on the vial and collar and pulled up their information.

I shoved both items into my Inventory, the first might have potential for later use while the second might be a literal game-changer. I turned to walk back up the stairs and noticed a table with a black crystal sitting on it. It seemed to absorb the ambient light from the braziers, but it just seemed out of place. I walked over to it and grabbed it as I pulled up its information.

I frowned, it looked like it was crafting material, but I had no idea what I could craft from it. I shoved it into my Inventory and made my way up the stairs. The others and my Undead were waiting for me. Before I could do or say anything a bright red prompt appeared before me.

FUCK!

I knew I would get some heat for freeing her from Pelor, but this was something else and it made me glad I had my cloak now. "Ok..."Ruby quipped and I looked over to see Penny had paled while Rob just chuckled and shook his head. 

"You guys get clear of the shrine, I have one more thing I have to do before leaving." With a mental command to the Undead, two of the warriors broke off and drew their swords to remove the heads of all the defenders while I moved to the pool of blood on the floor. 

"What crazy thing are you going to do now?" I looked over to see Rob ushering his sister out of the shrine, the Undead flanked the siblings. 

I smiled at Ruby, "Nothing over the top...I think, just a statement." I told her before going back to my grisly work. Blood, like paint, was thick when it was dry, so I had to be quick. Once it was done, I stood and walked over to the simple stone altar and pulled The End from my Inventory. From my research, it was almost impossible to destroy altars, either you have to be a Priest, High Priest, or First Acolyte to do it or have a Divine Item. 

Since the Dark Priests had gone into hiding in Dark Conclaves, they hadn't done anything to antagonize the Pantheon of the Light or their followers. Freeing Kallet was the first step, it was time to make another statement. I climbed onto the altar and put the sword tip against the stone of the altar. "Are you sure you want to do that boy?" I looked up to see a golden armored figure standing there.

Anger was apparent, but so was a worry. [Pelor, (Avatar) High God, Sun God] appeared above the figure's head. I gave him a tooth-filled smile as I drove my weight behind the blade, it sunk through the stone as the Avatar's eyes bulged in surprise as lines of corrupting darkness crawled over the altar causing the Avatar to scream and shatter. The tendrils of dark magic crawled along the floor and snaked into the few bodies I had left intact causing them to rise as Undead as I received a notification of a Prompt waiting for my attention, but I ignored it as a shadowy figure and clapping grabbed my attention.

"Bravo, bravo, while Pelor more than deserved that, you might have grabbed too much attention too soon." Hades Avatar warned as I jumped off the broken altar. 

"It needed to be done, he needed to know I couldn't be pushed around and bought off," I told the High God as I gestured around us. "This is a statement, that if they push us, we will push back. Now if you will excuse me, I am sure Pelor has already dispatched reinforcements. We have to retreat." I told Hades as I walked away as he laughed behind me. A slew of notifications was waiting for me, and I had a little time, so I bought them up.

I activated Stealth once I was clear of the walls, the list of notifications was long, and the Outcast of the Light was a pain in the ass but understandable. The Cold Magic was something completely unexpected considering the deal I made with Kallet but I wasn't going to whine about it. The last note made sense if they didn't want Travelers to become all-powerful, they had to gimp a player's development at some point, and if it was like when I unlocked Plague magic it probably only augmented my Passive's. Either way, it didn't matter at the moment, I needed to focus on getting to Vamoria and what I would do when I got there.