Crystallis Verdantglass's Arc

Chapter 15 of 18

Crystallis watched the laborers haul away the last of the broken stone. One of them called out from behind the pile, pointing at something in the gap. Crystallis walked closer. The collapsed wall had opened into darkness—a narrow passage sealed behind layers of mortared brick. He grabbed a lantern from the nearest stall and stepped through. The passage sloped down, moss thick on the walls. At the bottom sat a tomb carved from black stone, its surface covered in symbols he didn't recognize. The green moss made them hard to read, but the age was obvious—this structure predated the hall above by decades, maybe centuries. Crystallis ran his hand along the entrance. Someone had built the market hall directly over this place, sealing it off without destroying it. He turned back toward the passage. The buyers would arrive in minutes, and he had a marketplace to open. But this tomb wasn't going anywhere. He climbed back up, pulled the laborers aside, and paid them to stack crates in front of the passage entrance. Whatever lay inside that tomb, it could wait until after the competition ended.