It took a few moments for Valeria's innate night vision to turn on inside the dark cavern. She could hear the artifact whispering repeatedly as they descended, but tried to ignore it. Her right ankle suddenly began itching again, and Valeria tried to ignore this feeling too.

She noticed something on the ground and stopped. "Wait, don't move," she whispered. The metallic device on the ground was familiar; Hami had introduced her to smoke caltrops last week. Crouching down, she inspected the small cylinder but it had already been disarmed.

"What is it?" Erin whispered.

"Nothing," Valeria whispered back. "Let's keep going."

Valeria continued creeping down the cavern path until Erin stumbled behind her. She stopped and looked around, making sure they were alone before helping her up. "Here, hold my hand. I'll lead the way."

She felt an odd sensation when Erin's hand slipped into her own. The gold ring on her finger was warm to the touch, and the more she focused on this feeling, the more nauseous she became.

"What's wrong?" Erin asked.

The nausea was overwhelming, and Valeria had the urge to release her hand. But a voice in the back of her mind stopped her.

Don't let go. Please don't let go.

The vertigo dissipated, leaving her groggy and confused. She wondered if the voice inside her head was Erin's, or her own. She continued to hold Erin's hand, her resolve and strength growing. It didn't matter if she was hearing voices; Erin was with her, and they were going to make it through this - together.

She continued navigating the way through the rocky cavern passageway. Rocks crumbled along the ground behind them, forcing her to stop again. She turned and searched the cavern passage behind them again, but didn't see anyone.

"What is it?" Erin asked.

"Nothing," Valeria said, turning around. She continued to navigate them through the passageway, which descended into the opening of a massive cave. She straddled up to the opening and carefully peeked inside.

Her jaw dropped as she surveyed the massive underground cave and its contents. Mounds of gold and jewels were everywhere, some reaching toward the ceiling. From this vantage point, she noticed how the treasure created winding passageways toward the back of the cave, making it resemble a maze.

She was tempted to take off through it, but resisted when Frank's old advice crept back into her mind. Always check the room for all routes of escape before making a choice. Studying the room, she noticed only one route led to the clearing at the back of the room.

"What are we waiting for?" Erin whispered.

"I'm finding the way to go," Valeria whispered back.

"Can I use my phone's flashlight?" Erin asked. "I can't see a thing down here."

"No," Valeria whispered. "That'll give us away. Hold my hand and stay close. Don't touch anything."

"Why?"

Looking further down, Valeria noticed skeletal remains on the ground near the treasure, and swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. "Umm, just trust me. Don't touch anything."

She led the way to the entrance of the maze and started navigating the way through. She gawked at the mounds of treasure and felt the urge to pocket some, but refrained. Respect is the ultimate currency. Footsteps shuffled behind them, forcing Valeria to turn around again. She looked around the dark path with her night vision, but no one was there.

Groaning, she turned and continued toward the back of the room, trying to ignore skeletal remains scattered along the ground. Two lefts, and then a right. The end of this path led to a clearing with two torches offering some illumination. Someone has definitely been here recently to light these, she thought to herself.

A massive gorge divided the clearing in two, with a drawbridge on the opposite side. The drawbridge was lifted, and there were no other ways to traverse the pitfall.

"I've seen that area before," Erin said, pointing across the gap.

Valeria followed her gaze, noticing a large stone structure supported by four massive columns. To reach that area, they needed to lower the drawbridge...somehow. She searched their side of the clearing and noticed an indentation in the wall twenty feet up. She backed up and observed a large stone lever within the indentation. "The lever to lower the bridge is up there," she said, pointing at it.

"How the hell is someone supposed to get up there?" Erin asked. "There's no ladder or rope."

Valeria took out her Aegis' gloves, put them on and said, "Leave that to me. Get ready to cross the bridge." She walked over to the smooth cave wall and placed her right hand up on the wall. Right hand up...left foot up. Left hand up...right foot up. She took slow deep breaths as she climbed the wall's smooth surface.

"Wow!" Erin exclaimed below. "How are you doing that?"

Valeria ignored her and focused on her breathing. It took some effort, but she pulled herself up into the indentation with the lever. She looked down and said, "Get ready!"

Erin moved into position by the cliff edge opposite of the bridge, and offered a thumbs up.

Valeria pushed the stone lever with one hand, but it didn't budge. She leaned into it with her shoulder until it gave way, the drawbridge below descending with it. She held the lever down with the full weight of her body until the bridge finally lay across the gap. When she released the lever, it slowly ticked upward, and the drawbridge retracted upward in the same slow motion.

"Wait! I'm still on the bridge!" Erin yelled.

Valeria fell back on the lever, and the bridge descended a few ticks with Erin on it. She used the full weight of her body to hold the lever until Erin was across.

"I made it!" Erin yelled below. "Now what? You gonna climb down?!"

Shaking her head, Valeria knew that wouldn't work. The bridge would retract by the time she got down there. While holding the lever, she looked over the edge. The fall was about twenty feet, with the bridge sitting about ten feet away. A safety roll might allow her to catch the bridge in time, but she'd never been able to land one. Her breathing slowed, her mouth felt dry. She was going to land this damn safety roll - or die trying.

Counting to three, she let go of the lever and jumped off the ledge. She landed on her toes – just like Frank taught her – and rolled forward into a somersault. After finishing the roll, she turned and took hold of the bridge as it slowly ticked upward. She took deep breaths and used her elbows to hoist herself onto the bridge as it approached a forty-five degree angle. With one last breath, she swung her legs over and slid down the angled bridge like a slide. She hit the ground with both feet and fell forward into Erin's arms.

"Holy crap!" Erin exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Let's not do that again," she added with a smile. Her gloves burned and felt itchy from climbing, so she removed them as Erin addressed her again.

"Well if it's any consolation," she said, her cheeks bright red, "that was maybe the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"Maybe you should get out more."

Erin laughed before pointing up ahead. "It's in there. Come on, I'll follow you."

Making sure to use the shadows, Valeria crept over to the large stone chamber. The ornate structure was supported by four massive columns, each decorated with elaborate artwork. At the very back of the room, two torches flickered along the wall and provided the only source of illumination. A stone pedestal stood unattended in the center of the open stone structure.

She tried to inspect the area from the outside, but Erin rushed inside without her, stopping in front of the pedestal. Valeria chased after her until they both stood in front of the pedestal at the center of the structure.

Erin searched the vacant, cobwebbed hole on top in a panicked frenzy. "It's supposed to be here! Why isn't it here?!"

"That's because the Artifacts show you what you want to see," a familiar voice echoed within the stone altar's open space. "Nothing they show you is a guarantee."

Valeria's eyes widened as Jada appeared from one of the columns behind them. "Jada!" she exclaimed, "your brother is here, and he stole the Artifact!"

"No I didn't," Dontrell said, stepping away from the other column behind them.

Her fists clenched as she turned toward him. A mixture of anger and fear gripped her as she studied his formidable figure. She cursed herself for failing to examine the whole area before rushing inside. It took a moment to process what he said, but her eyes widened with a newfound realization. Turning to Jada, she asked, "if he's not trying to steal the artifact, then who is?"

"You were right, Jada," a familiar voice said in front of them. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

Erin recognized this voice and turned toward it. "Father?!"

Valeria watched Mr. Tyrell step out from one of the columns ahead of them. He was dressed in formal attire, but held a gleaming sword by his side. He looked over to the last column, where a fourth person revealed themselves.

"Thank you for bringing this monster to us," Mrs. Tyrell said, her eyes settling on Valeria. She raised a gold plated staff and said, "we will end this conflict today!"

Valeria froze, paralyzed with fear. Her mind couldn't process what was happening, and she wondered if this was a hallucination. She was most likely about to die, but that didn't bother her as much as how it would happen. She was betrayed by everyone - everything she knew was a lie. She let go of Erin's hand, expecting her to turn against her.

But she didn't.

Erin stepped in front of Valeria and shielded her. "No! She's not a monster!"

Jada and Dontrell removed their knives; Mr. Tyrell raised his sword.

"Now!" Jada yelled.

Mrs. Tyrell waived her staff and with a booming voice yelled, "Reveal Evil!"

A bright light shot out from her staff and raced toward them. Valeria braced for impact, but instead of hitting them, the light struck an invisible humanoid object standing between them and Mrs. Tyrell. The invisible man recoiled as the light covered its body, and Jada, Dontrell, and Mr. Tyrell charged at him. But before they could reach him, the figure disappeared into a small puff of smoke. They met inside the stone altar and exchanged confused looks.

Jada's eyes widened as she yelled, "it was a decoy! Run!"

From where she stood inside the stone altar, Valeria watched a figure emerge from the shadows outside the four columns. The figure tossed a familiar cylindrical device into the altar, and it rolled along the floor where they all stood. That's a flashbang!

She turned away before the flash, but not everyone was so lucky. Erin, Mr. and Mrs. Tyrell, and Dontrell all watched the device go off, and they screamed and covered their eyes. The device simultaneously released a small shockwave that knocked everyone to the ground.

Dazed and disoriented like a soldier witnessing an explosion, she crawled outside the stone altar. She lay supine with Erin to her right and Jada to her left. Dontrell, Mr. Tyrell and Mrs. Tyrell lay at the opposite side of the stone altar, crawling around blindly outside it. The pedestal at the center had been reduced to rubble, and each of the four columns appeared cracked. Their assailant entered the altar and searched each of his blinded victims with a slow and methodical manner.

Her vision was still blurred, but Valeria recognized this asshole. He was the Rogue they saw in the backyard. The black clad figure faced away from them, but at this close range, Valeria realized this figure didn't look like any Rogue she had seen so far. He wore strange, thick plated armor different from the leather Aegis donned by Rogues. "That's the Rogue I saw outside our house," Valeria whispered to Jada.

"That is no Rogue," Jada whispered back, slowly reaching her feet.

The figure in black turned toward them, his hood and mask obscuring his face. He reached in his pocket and removed a small stone cylinder, and it emitted a fiery red glow within the figure's palm. He reached out toward Jada with his free hand, and she screamed and clutched her chest like a woman having a heart attack. She reached in her pocket with one hand, the other tried to resist.

"I won't let you have it!" Jada protested. But her efforts were in vain, as her arm seemed to have a mind of its own. She removed a small glowing black cylinder from her pocket and held it up. The figure beckoned for this object, and it flew through the air and landed in his hand.

"No!" Jada screamed. The figure pocketed the two glowing cylinders with one hand, while the other reached out toward Jada, gripping nothing but air. She writhed and clutched her chest as the figure reached out to her, but this all stopped when Mr. Tyrell burst into the altar with his sword raised.

"Let go of her you bastard!" he yelled with a booming voice.

The shadow released his grip on Jada and turned toward Mr. Tyrell. It removed a small black knife and deflected a blow from Mr. Tyrell's sword.

Entranced, Valeria watched the two of them dance around the altar, their blades releasing flashes of light each time they crossed. While tempted to watch this spectacle play out, Valeria decided to check on Jada. She was unconscious, but alive. "Help her!" Valeria yelled as Erin crawled next to them

"What about my father?" Erin asked, her face pale as a ghost.

Valeria grabbed Erin's hand. "Please help her!" Erin's ring felt warm in her palm again. Her head spun, her palm blistered with heat. We can stop him together.

She shook her head, trying to shake the feeling off. Maybe holding hands with Erin allowed the two to speak telepathically. And yet, Valeria couldn't tell if this voice was Erin's, her imagination, or something else. She freed one of her hands to check Jada, who was still unconscious. A familiar white dagger with a blue jeweled hilt was clearly visible on her belt. If I take that knife, I will become the Sovereign.

"Let go of me!" Erin shouted, trying to release her hand. "He needs my help!"

Valeria tried to let go of her hand - but couldn't. Their hands were inseparable, like someone had super glued them together.

Frustrated, Erin turned away from her and started chanting a spell with her free hand. The ground trembled below them, and the tremors created more cracks within the stone columns. The roof of the altar started to crumble above the two combatants, who failed to notice.

Valeria continued to hold Erin's hand with her right - but couldn't resist the urge to reach for Jada's dagger with her left.

"It's right there," a familiar voice whispered. "Just take it."

On any other day, Valeria would question if she was going insane. But with no other options available, she tried to zone out the chaos. She reached out with her free hand, her fingers closing around the blade's ivory handle and felt a jolt. Her entire body was on fire; her hands, chest, and ankle pulsed with a feeling that could only be described as electric. An internal debate wracked her brain; she was on the verge of stealing Jada's Sovereignty. Part of her wanted to indulge her worst impulses, part of her didn't. There, in that moment, her discussion with Erin under the white pine came back to her.

"Stop saying that." Erin had said. "I have always been able to detect evil, and I didn't see any in you."

Exhaling, Valeria knew she was right. She couldn't steal Jada's title, but she still felt a strange sense of newfound power as she sat there, her hands connected to Jada and Erin.

"No!" Erin screamed.

Valeria looked up with horror. Mr. Tyrell clutched the knife in his chest; his sword released a clanging sound as it hit the floor. The shadow kicked him backward, sending his crumpled form sailing backward out of the altar. The commotion hadn't stopped Erin from channeling her spell, but Valeria noticed the tears in her eyes as she continued chanting under her breath.

With their adversary only a few feet away, Valeria looked over at him and had an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. A familiar dialogue played in the back of her mind, and she wondered if this was Erin's voice, the strange voice, or her own.

I've been alone for such a long time. I finally have people I care about, and I don't want to let them go. I won't let you take them from me.

A brilliant flash of light obscured her vision, and her ears were overwhelmed by the sound of stone columns crashing around them. The entire structure appeared to collapse on top of the shadowy figure, but Valeria couldn't be entirely sure, as the blinding light and thundering noise reached a fever pitch before she blacked out.