Anthony paced back and forth along the length of the wall, searching for anything that might hint at how to open the door. But as he moved, Elara raised a hand to stop him, moving back up to face the image carved into the stone.

  The demonic deity before her was depicted with two massive, antler-like horns jutting up from each side of her head, almost resembling a beastly crown of some sort. Flowing lengths of silky hair cascaded down both sides of the demon’s feminine face. Her upper body, equipped with four long humanoid arms, merged seamlessly into the eight-legged lower half of the demoness.

  “Look here.”

  Elara lowered her orb of illumination as she spoke, revealing a series of scratch marks around the seams of the stone door on either side. The marks hadn't damaged the stone itself—only managing to scrape away the layers of dirt and grime covering it.

  “There’s evidence of the cave’s former occupants attempting to enter the tomb. Fortunately for us if brute force alone could open the doorway, the tomb would have been ransacked long ago, and there would be nothing left to discover.”

  After pointing out the many claw marks and dents outlining the entryway, Elara’s fingers drifted up to a simple symbol near the top of the door. The symbol was composed of three wavy lines stacked atop one another, placed inside a curved horn shaped object.

  “The universal symbol for magic power—nested within the symbol for demonkind.” She explained.

  Elara turned to her companions, a small grin forming on her lips as she gestured toward the carving.

  “Can either of you guess the meaning of this symbol combination?”

  Anthony simply shook his head, not even attempting to guess, but Pom stepped forward for a closer look, adjusting her glasses as she examined the etching. Aurum followed closely beside her legs to remain at her side as she moved to study the markings.

  “Um, I think I understand. The magic symbol being inside the demonkind symbol should be a reference to the specific wavelength of magic that demons produce. Isn’t that right?”

  Elara’s grin widened as Pom’s expectant gaze settled on her, eager to hear if her answer was correct.

  “Well done—you understood the meaning so quickly! According to this carving, the doorway can be opened by a spellcaster with a demonic bloodline. What a coincidence!”

  Anthony’s brow furrowed as he listened to Elara’s explanation, his gaze shifting toward the menacing figure etched into the stone as an uneasy feeling filled his chest.

  “Does that mean you can open it?” he asked.

  Elara shrugged casually, tucking away one of her daggers before stepping into position in front of the demon god’s carving.

  “I’m only half-demon, but I’m willing to give it a try,” she said, placing one hand flat against the stone while glancing back at Anthony and Pom. “We came all this way, and we have the means to open the door. For those reasons, I vote that we go for it. Cast your votes now.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Pom took a few steps back, crouching down to wrap her arms around Aurum as she observed her companions. Her voice was soft when she spoke her answer.

  “My vote will be the same as Anthony’s.”

  Elara turned her gaze to Anthony, her hand still pressed against the wall as she waited for him to make the final decision.

  Anthony glanced between Elara and Pom before settling his eyes on the demonic engraving. Slowly shaking his head as he gave his answer.

  “I don’t really have a reason to say no. I just don’t like that the one person in Highwarden capable of opening this door just happened to be the one who found it. That’s too big of a coincidence, and it really rubs me the wrong way.”

  Elara narrowed her eyes at his response, lifting her free hand in a ‘so what?’ gesture as she replied.

  “I guess… but we didn’t find it on our own. Aurum led us here. Fortune Hounds have a magical sixth sense—many believe such abilities are tied to fate itself. When you take that into account, events like this one become far less remarkable.”

  Anthony rubbed the back of his head as he considered her words, casting a glance at Pom and Aurum before slowly letting out a sigh..

  “Okay. I’m in. There shouldn’t be anything alive inside, at the very least. I think we just need to be wary of traps, so as long as we move slowly once we get inside we should be fine.”

  Pom tightened her arms around Aurum and Elara’s grin widened as the two girls listened to Anthony making the decision to go ahead with opening the tomb. Wasting no time, Elara turned to face the doorway, a spiral of magical power suddenly flowing down her slender red arm toward the stone.

  As the magic seeped into the door, the image of the demonic goddess grew more lifelike. Vivid colors bleeding into the grey stone, filling in the details of the ancient malevolent being depicted there, as if the image itself was coming to life.

  Now it could be observed that the demoness’ long, flowing hair was actually bleach white in color, a stark contrast to the bright red skin of her upper body. The short fur covering her spider-like lower body, which had once appeared black due to the dark stone, also became a striking white, matching the hair on the demon gods head.

  The magic flooding the door spiraled around the carving, soon converging on the being’s glowing yellow eyes. As more energy poured into them, the demoness’ eyes became clearer—and more realistic—until they started to radiate an eerie, knowing light.

  Anthony took a deep breath as the eyes appeared to stare back at him. A wave of anxiety rippled through his body at the menacing vision before him.

  A moment later, a sharp crack echoed through the cave. A stream of dust burst forth from the seams of the doorway, rolling out into thick clouds around the companions. Elara stepped back, removing her hand from the stone as the massive slab slowly lifted up into the air.

  “It worked!” Elara clenched a fist in triumph, flashing a proud smile in Anthony’s direction.

  Anthony gripped his sword tightly, raising his free arm to cover his mouth and nose as the stale dust billowed past him. For an instant, the air became so thick that he could no longer see his companions—only the glow of their orbs of illumination marking their positions in his vision.

  Then—

  “AHHHH!”

  Anthony’s pulse spiked immediately as he watched Elara’s orb of light jerk violently into the air before vanishing into the dark maw of the tomb, her desperate scream lingering in the air as she was pulled away.

  Without thinking, Anthony rushed forward after her, racing past the threshold of the tomb’s entrance just as the heavy stone door came crashing down—sealing him inside away from Pom and Aurum. His boots slid across the dirty stone floor as he turned backward on the spot, pushing uselessly against the massive stone for a few seconds before realizing it was no use. All he could do was slam his fist against the cold stone while shouting toward the outside.

  “Pom! Can you hear me? Damn... what the hell is happening?!”

  Just as Anthony was feeling like things could not get any worse, the orb of illumination at his side suddenly blinked out of existence, leaving him all alone and blind in the inky blackness of the tomb.