The trek through Hydra's sands was always a tiring one. So to slip into the darkness of this desolate cavern was for once a nice chance of pace. The dust however, Kaizer could do without.

Sneezing as his hooves and feet kick up dust, he brightens up his spots, casting a soft glow over the dead rock. "It's like a home of ghosts," he mutters, coming across a chrysalis snuggled against a boulder.

Even so, the Merchant had asked for sacrifices - things to give as tokens of magic. So it casts out its magic, searching for anything left in these abandoned halls.

And he finds... nothing. Nothing at all flares bright with the scent of magicka, except for the chrysalises bundled around like tombs. "Kooru..." he bleats woefully, the unsettling nature settling in.

What happened here? Kaizer finds itself wondering, white eyes alone in the dark. It's all dust and death around him, and he realizes he likely shouldn't have come here...

He reaches out, begging, pleading for anything to respond. But when he does, all he feels is the chrysalises again, horrifically overwhelming, a deluge of burning magic. It freezes him in place, eyes vacantly staring into the darkness.

The silence is deafening. His eyes dart around, but all that greets him is Oilstone and rock. The Gembound locked in tombs around him judge with their presence. He should not be here.

His hooves pick up underneath him, and with a push of magic he leaps further, half-galloping half-springing across barren rock. It's all such an eyesore, nothing but broken dreams.

Instinct quickly takes hold of him, and he pushes harder, running back to the light of Hydra above. His pace quickens as the magic is reinforced with adrenaline, hoofbeats echoing a steady but assymmetric rhythm as it springs back up the rocky tunnel.

Soon, the rock gives way to glass, and the chiming sound fills its ears as the blinding light of Hydra claims its eyes. The brightness hurts, but its more welcome than uncanny silence.

Kaizer won't be back anytime soon.

Exit Kaizer