A man stepped into the dim light. He wore a dirty, torn gray military coat. His face was covered in dark bruises and gray ash. He looked exhausted. But Dorrin knew that face. Even through the blood and the dirt, Dorrin recognized his master. "Master Caster," Dorrin breathed weakly. A tiny spark of hope flared in his dying heart. Caster Spellbound stood in the basement. He did not look at Dorrin. His eyes were locked entirely on Captain Vargas. "Who are you, old fool?" Vargas sneered. "Did you get lost in the fire?"Caster did not answer. He slowly raised his right hand into the dim light. He opened his fingers. Resting in the palm of his burned hand was the heavy, overloaded black crystal. The crystal buzzed violently. It glowed with a sick, blinding mix of pitch-black darkness and bruised purple light. The freezing cold entropy of the dead Ash Warden leaked from the glass, mixing with the chaotic, screaming red blood magic Caster had sucked from the dying soldiers on the battl

"I am here, my old friend," Caster wept. "You saved my life. You held the door perfectly.""I... I keep the house clean," Dorrin smiled weakly. Dorrin raised a trembling, bloody hand. He grabbed the front of Caster’s gray coat. He pulled Caster closer. "Master," Dorrin gasped. His eyes were losing focus, looking past Caster toward the ceiling. "Listen to me. The bad men... they were digging.""I know," Caster said softly. "They wanted the dark sigil. I have it safe.""No," Dorrin coughed. Blood spilled from his lips. "Not just that. They wanted the other box. The box you forgot."Caster frowned deeply. He gently stroked Dorrin’s white hair. "What other box, Dorrin? I only hid one thing here.""A long time ago," Dorrin whispered, his voice fading to a ghost of a sound. "A hundred years ago. When you built this shop. You had a friend. The handsome boy with the green eyes."Caster’s heart stopped. Elias Thorpe. "He left something here," Dorrin breathed. "He was angry. He left a book.

"I prepared an exit for you, Master," Dorrin’s hologram whispered quickly. The old butler in the recording was rushing. "I knew you might need to escape. Go to the back wall. Go behind the large, empty wine casks. I loosened the heavy bricks near the floor. Pull them out. There is a very old maintenance tunnel behind them. It follows the main water pipe all the way to the city aqueducts."Caster’s eyes went wide. He looked toward the dark back wall of the basement. There were three massive, empty wooden wine casks sitting in the corner. He had never moved them. "Do not fight them, Master Caster," Dorrin’s hologram smiled. It was a gentle, kind smile. "You always try to carry the whole world on your shoulders. But sometimes, a good house stands on a strong foundation, not on high walls. Go into the dark. Stay safe. Save the world."The old butler bowed deeply in the blue light. "It was an honor to sweep your floors," Dorrin whispered. The blue light flickered. The hologram vanished

The dark water was glowing with a faint, sick, bloody red light. The light was not coming from the blue crystals on the ceiling. It was coming from deep inside the water itself. It looked like someone had poured a million gallons of glowing red paint into the river. "Why is it red?" Leo asked, stepping closer to the edge. "Get away from the edge!" Caster roared. He lunged forward and grabbed the back of Leo’s blue robes. He yanked the boy violently backward, pulling him away from the rushing water. The exact second Caster pulled him back, the water exploded. A terrifying, high-pitched scream echoed through the brick tunnel. Something burst out of the red glowing water. It was not a fish. It was an abomination. It was a creature made of twisted, jagged red bone and boiling, bloody water. It had no eyes. It had a massive, gaping mouth filled with hundreds of sharp, needle-like teeth. It looked like a nightmare born from the deepest, sickest part of the ocean. The monster snapped

Caster Spellbound stood in the freezing rain. He watched the young boy, Leo, run south. The boy’s blue robes disappeared into the dark shadows of the broken city wall. Leo was safe. He was heading for the wild lands. Caster turned around. He looked toward the west. The massive, walking mountain of red steel and black iron stood outside the capital city. The Crimson Engine. It was firing its terrible, heavy cannons. Thick beams of screaming, bloody red magic slammed into the white stone walls of Glassview. The walls bubbled, mutated into sharp bone, and crumbled to dust. Caster gripped his broken wooden walking stick. He needed to get inside that machine. He needed to find the catalyst. He had to stop his old friend, Elias Thorpe, from burning a million innocent souls. He took one step forward. Then, he stopped. His gray eyes widened. His heart skipped a beat. He looked down at his dirty, wet boots. He remembered the dark, rushing water in the Grand Aqueduct. He remembered the ter