The cat languidly sniffed the body of a a spider crab he had just killed. Seven more of those corpses littered the area near the teleportation pad inside the dark cavern.

Ghaleon didn't want the risk of having any of the monsters activating the pad while he was in the Frontier, thereby alerting the people of the outside world that the route to the Frontier was now open. So he had cast a warding spell over the pad. The spell was one of the strongest of its kind in terms of what it could keep out, but it would only last for two weeks, so as to lessen the drain on Ghaleon's magic resources. The young wizard believed that would give him sufficient time to search the Frontier, and then return to remove the Water of Mirage from the fountain of transmission.

And while Ghaleon rested in a deep sleep, his cat remained vigilant, and swiftly struck down any opponents. But now that he was awake and nearly ready to go, the cat stopped his pacing and sat licking his wounds. Ghaleon took note of his friend's condition and pulled a calm herb from the many folds of his tunic.

"Here," he said to the cat as he pried off a leaf from the herb's cabbage-like head.

The cat sniffed it, and then let Ghaleon feed him the herb leaf by leaf. The feline threw his head back frequently, trying to help himself swallow the leaves which he was so unaccustomed to eating. But finally everything passed down to his stomach and his wounds healed.

"You did a good job of looking after me," Ghaleon murmured, stroking his cat. "I owe you yet again."

The premier then picked a direction and strode into the depths of the cavern. His cat followed closely behind him, emerald eyes gleaming in the darkness. Ghaleon's eyes quickly adjusted to the dark, and he noticed that a sort of fluorescent fungi was dimly bathing random parts of the tunnels with an eerie greenish light. The light was more of a glow than anything, for though it outlined the rock it covered, it would shed light nowhere else. An ordinary human would have to use a torch and a lantern in these circumstances, but Ghaleon's inhuman eyes allowed him to find light where a normal person could not. So while he was still enveloped in darkness, the darkness had a shape and form he could dimly detect, and avoid tripping and falling.

Ghaleon's steps through the corridors were as silent as his cat's. He would occasionally hear the scurrying footfalls of the spider crabs that inhabited the cave. And unless the crabs ate the scarce glowing moss, that meant there had to be an exit to this cave simple enough for them to go out of, or for their prey to go into through. He thought that perhaps he could try following the sounds to the surface, because the spider crabs were more likely to congregate where food could be found, hence near the exit. But he decided against it. For one thing, the sounds were too infrequent and distorted because of the cavern walls, so he couldn't pinpoint the exact direction they were coming from, let alone if the scurrying creature was heading into the cave or out of it. And for another, he knew he was assuming the spider crabs were carnivorous and natural creatures. He couldn't be certain what they really ate, or even if they had to eat at all. Ghaleon would play it safe. He could only trust his senses and the instincts of his cat in this underground world.

Suddenly his cat paused and lowered himself into a crouch. Ghaleon noted his friend's cue and did likewise. He listened carefully, and soon heard what had alerted his cat. There was a clanking, knocking sound coming from the tunnel up ahead. The dry scent of an ancient death assailed him, and Ghaleon felt like his lungs were going to dehydrate. He sensed his cat tensing itself for a lunge, but he held out his arm in front of him, warning him to stay put. Ghaleon could tell the cat was uneasy with his command, but he would obey him.

A green glow, actually several of them, began emerging from around a bend in the tunnel ahead. Ghaleon's grip on his sword tightened as the aura began to take shape. They were humanoid, some of them pushing along huge levitating jelly-like blobs. But the dim light surrounding them would be fractured and split by their jagged ribs.

"Skeletons," Ghaleon muttered in recognition.

The undead warriors halted in a wider portion of the tunnel Ghaleon was heading down. Now he could see the the glow around them was coming from patches of the phosphorescent moss that grew on their armor. And the blobs were constructed of a transparent gel that covered the misty faces of tortured souls.

"Fleshling!" cried the cursed faces. "We can smell your blood! Come and feed us!"

Ghaleon glowered, realizing that he could not hide from creatures such as these. He proudly stood up and brandished his sword as his cat crept a foot closer to the unholy creatures.

"My name is Ghaleon! I demand passage through here," he said strongly. "On what terms do you guard this place?"

Lights flashed from the eyes of several of the cursed faces and the jaws of the lead undead warrior flexed as if testing the usage of its joint for the very first time. Then it spoke in a parched, wheezing voice. "We are what remains of the previous mortals who tried to gain entrance to the Frontier. Now we live only to prevent those from accomplishing what we could not!"

Ghaleon was sickened by the thought of a power that would do such a thing. What could have done this? And how could Althena have tolerated the existence of these tortured beings?

"Join us now," rasped the skeleton.

"Feed us...!" moaned another.

"Join our cause... for eternity...!"

The premier's gaze darted to his sides as the undead warriors began advancing on either side of him. His cat hissed, emerald eyes blazing. And the skeletons continued their wailing and pleading, creating a cacophony of pain and death.

Ghaleon realized he would have to pass through them and quickly. There were over a dozen of the warriors, and half again more of the cursed faces. How could there have been so many of them? Wouldn't he have seen them earlier? Their wailing increased as he decapitated the first one to reach him. But to his horror, the bones still staggered towards him, uncaring that it had lost its head. He half-turned, ready to run back the way he had come. But now they were behind him too! And there were more of them. Was the whole cave homing in on him?

"Cat!" he gasped. He saw his feline had already scattered more than a few bones and was trying to knocked aside the floating cursed faces that blocked the path they were heading down.

"Damn!" Ghaleon shattered the spine of another skeleton, and the skulls of two more.

He tried working his way towards his cat, knowing that the two of them would stand better chances together, but the skeletons were intent on surrounding him and keeping them separate. The premier sliced the sword hand of one skeleton only to find himself clubbed in the face by the bony stump that was left of its arm. Ghaleon screamed, feeling the intense chill of dead wash over him. He shivered, his flesh quickly warming up again, but his bones remaining chilled as if he had spent hours lying in the white dragon's frozen cave.

Suddenly a suddenly growl came from behind the skeleton in front of him as his cat yanked it to the ground. The undead warrior flailed madly, trying to strike the beast that attacked it, but Ghaleon swiftly separated its hand from its arm at the wrist. The severed hand twitched, trying to get the leverage to attack. Ghaleon kicked it away with a shudder.

"Join us...!" the skeletons continued to moan.

Ghaleon shot them a defiant glance and turned back to where his cat had come from. The feline purred deeply and Ghaleon followed his friend's gaze. His cat had cleared a path through the cursed faces, which apparently could not move of their own violation.

"Good!" he breathed. "Let's move!"

His cat instantly lowered himself into a half-crouch and Ghaleon smacked aside a skeleton that got to close to them. Then catching the feline's expectant gaze, the premier leaped on to his friend's back. The one ton feline's muscles coiled and he sprang forward in a berserk rush through the tunnel. Ghaleon clung tightly to his mount with his legs as the pair tore a hole in the skeletons' ranks. More green auras appeared further down the tunnel and Ghaleon became certain that they would have to fight for every stride to the surface.

The cat snarled his agreement to his humanoid partner's thoughts and leaped to rake down another undead warrior. Despite all the jostling of his cat's running attacks, Ghaleon kept his balance and cleared the path of warriors would would attempt to attack their flanks.

But more lights kept appearing ahead of them. Both of them were cut from various wounds and tiring fast. The cat would pounce on another warrior, and Ghaleon would decapitate or skewer yet more, but their numbers seemed endless. Pounce. Swing. Crash. Their deadly streak through the dark caverns became almost automatic. Dead end. Turn around. Back another way.

Finally, a bright white light shown ahead of them, and they could only hear the undead wails and screams behind them. Ghaleon urged his cat onward, adrenalin rushing and commanding him to leave these caverns as soon as possible. His cat needed no urging. Both knew the skeletons would not follow them into the light. The pair raced up the jagged climb leading to the light. His cat braced himself and made the final leap out of the caverns and into the blinding whiteness.

Ghaleon squinted, the light being too much for his darkness-conditioned eyes to see through. But his vision adjusted just in time to see a lone stalactite hanging from the lip of the cave rushing up to meet his head.