As the four coursers had defeated the giant skull, they noticed that there was a cavern at the far end of the room. The room that they were in now had a pedestal in the center with the summoning circle in the middle and the red glowing candles leaving a scent in the air. Kai and kirito started to make their way to the cavern and lead the way this time since Iskra went ahead and almost got them all killed by summoning the skull. “I think Kai and I will go ahead and lead the charge on this one” the black courser stated as Kai brought his light over to the tunnel's entrance now that the magical darkness was gone. The passageway was wet and damp, trickling water was running down the walls as it made them appear to be sparkling stars in the night. “How long is this winding passage going to go for?” The golden courser got impatient as he wasn’t able to collect his gold from the boss and the doors had lied to him. Seigmyer sat in his holster and his googly eyes were shaking around up and down. “Hey Iskra since you almost got us killed, you should give me some gold for compensation!” he squints and looks over at the courser behind him, hoping that he would get some compensation for his efforts. 

Iskra x Graymoore

The corridor that the group of coursers walked down felt endless, and hearing the golden runt complain every few minutes made the trek even more arduous than it needed to be. She barely paid the stallion any mind as he spoke her name, wondering if the little fly would buzz off. All of his squinting and the glances over his shoulder earned him nothing but a flare of her nostrils and a sharp retort. “Listen well, you insignificant, little bug!” The ochre mare made sure she had his full attention before continuing,  “I will give you nothing. You should be thanking me, that I was skilled enough to bring forth such a legendary creature. Now, enough of this prattle. I will indulge it no longer.” The female’s face twisted with contempt, her lip curling upward in disgust as she lifted her nose just a bit higher. She had no time to dawdle with fools, simply craving the dungeon’s illustrious riches that would assert her value and title over all who dared to foolishly supersede her.  

“Aw, come now, Iskra! Surely he isn’t that bad, right?” Graymoore piped up, coming alongside her with a gaze that seemed to hold untold wisdom within as he smiled softly. “You mustn’t be so quick to rush judgment.” The mare shook her head irritably, avoiding the stallion’s gaze as she blew a piece of her golden forelock out of her face. “I did not come here to be lectured…” she muttered in response, giving the stallion an unamused look, but said no more as sounds began to fill the space, echoing hollowly within the passageway which made the ochre’s ears pricked forward. It was soft at first, the rhythmic sound of clicking easily catching the mare’s attention as she became more cautious, looking about as she tried to detect the source of the noise. “What is that?” She murmured, finding little else but damp, cold stone as she began to lead the way toward the sounds, recognizing that they were getting louder with  each step she took. “By my guess, it must be some kind of machinery,” Graymoore announced, looking rather pleased with himself, his book already open and on the page that described such noises, “If the Buried Kingdom already has a forge, then countless other apparatuses must’ve been used that were much like it.” Iskra seemed to nod in reply, but she offered very little acknowledgement to the fact that he may be correct.

As if in answer to his words, the small group came upon a giant mechanism in the wall, the soft, metallic clicks and clanks coming from it were almost a comfort in some way before everything suddenly stopped working. Huh?” Graymoore asked, flabbergasted, but before he could add on more questions, something large sounded as if it had toppled over, splintering and shattering against the ground as Iskra once again sighed. “Hmm, Let us see what we can do to get it working again.” Iskra quickly asserted herself, assessing what the issue was as Graymore came over to help her in her endeavor.