The wind assaulted Hunter's face as he clambered up the steep rocks. He was placing his feet carefully; the rocks were slippy, and it was a long way down. He looked up to the peak of the mountain, which seemed to never get closer no matter how much progress they made. They'd been on the mountain for about two weeks now, and it was clear that everyone was starting to tire. Steve had it easiest; he was the strongest, and his construction magic could help with scaling harsh surfaces. Charlie's healing magic only really helped when one of them tripped or fell, and they hadn't encountered any dangerous wildlife for him to use his more dangerous spells on. Hunter was faring better than he had expected; not that it wasn't hard, just that unlike his friends, he had more motivation to keep going.

"It's freezing," Hunter shivered, shaking snow out of his hair. "Even the Knee isn't this cold."

Steve stopped and took a knee, before pulling his map out. He was their navigator, after all. It was his job. "Looks like we're in luck… from a certain point of view. The next part of the planned route is through the Mines of Despair."

"I like the sound of that," Charlie smiled. "I don't care if it takes twice as long, I don't ever want to see snow again."

"You like the sound of that?" Steve asked, in disbelief. "It's probably called 'the Mines of Despair for a reason."

"It can't be worse than…" Charlie studied the map, trying to figure out where they were. "The Passage of General Unhappiness."

As they walked down towards the mine's entrance, Hunter explained what he knew.

"I did some research on this place after I was given the mission brief," he said as he clambered down some rocks. "Apparently this place was being mined due to the rumours that it contained a massive amount of metal." Since the Titan was a biological being, metal wasn't common on its surface. "This is one of the only places where metal has been found in the remains of the Titan. A lot of the metal we use today will have come from this very mine."

As they neared the entrance, Steve looked back to Hunter. "Why did they abandon it?"

"They mined it dry, and because it was in such an awkward place, the mine was abandoned. Forgotten." He sighed and shook his head. "It's a shame, really. Such an important part of Isles culture just left to decay until the end of time."

Steve looked towards the heavy wooden doors that marked the entrance and pushed them open, the rusted old lock cracking apart with very little resistance. The cavern was dark and foggy, and the air wasn't pleasant to breathe. There were railroad tracks on the floor, so the squad decided to follow them. After the light from the entrance faded, Charlie cast a spell, producing a ball of bright blue light that hung over his shoulder, lighting up the cavern.

"Whoa…" His eyes were wide as he looked around the cavern; there were wooden structures that were… populated. There were demons of various types wandering about the scaffolds. Most of them were mining, but others seemed to be moving supplies or chopping wood.

"Looks like this place isn't as abandoned as we thought," Steve muttered. "What are these creatures?"

"I don't know," Hunter admitted as he leaned down to pick up a particularly interesting looking stone. It was made of a strange type of rock that he'd never seen before. It had a slight blue tint to it, and he wondered if this was the material they were mining for. "They look like demons though."

Charlie stopped casting his spell, letting his light go out. "We should leave."

Steve nodded and tapped Hunter on the shoulder to get his attention. Only, the boy was absorbed in thought, and got such a fright that he yelped and dropped the rock to the floor, making a loud noise that echoed throughout the cavern.

One of the demons glanced down at them and opened its bright yellow eyes wide. It screamed loudly, pointing down at the Coven Scouts.

"Go!" Steve shouted, running for the exit. But just as he was about to pull the doors open, he felt the cold tip of a spear pressing against the back of his neck.

The three Scouts were led up the scaffolds after being tied up with ropes, and they got to get a better look at the society that had grown inside the mountain. There was little houses built out of dirty stone, and and other houses made of wooden planks. The cast of demons that lived here was diverse; most of them had horns, a lot of them had fur. There were a lot of biped demons, but there were also some bug type demons, even including a house demon of some kind.

As they were led up the final ladder, they set eyes on a large, fat demon. He was bipedal with purple skin and webbed ears. He sat on a large stone throne that looked to be incredibly uncomfortable, and held a tall staff with a skull on top. He also had a crown carved from wood on his head.

"What's all this about then?" he asked in a gruff tone. "Why have you lot brought witches into the mine?"

"They're intruders!" one of the demons said, this time speaking in Basic instead of their native language. "Trespassers!"

"Trespassers, you say?" The fat demon stroked his chin. "This is a thing unheard of." He stood up, leaning on his staff for support. "Witches! What is the meaning of this? How dare you pass into the great mine of King Traikuundo? Speak now, before I have your throats slit!"

"We didn't realise this place was populated," Steve answered. "We're just passing through."

The King scoffed. "Do you speak for your friends? Which of you is the leader?"

Charlie immediately glanced over to Hunter.

"Dude," Hunter muttered.

The King smiled. "Ah, it's you. Perhaps you can enlighten me."

Hunter looked Traikuundo in the eye. "We are Scouts of the Emperor's Coven on a mission to retrieve an artefact from this mountain. We have no quarrel with you."

The King's eyes widened. "Well I have a quarrel with you. You work for the Emperor?"

Hunter gulped, then nodded.

"After all these years, he has the cheek to send his scouts into our domain? After all he did to us?" the King bared his teeth. "You three will be made an example of, to show Belos that he can't just waltz in here and expect a warm welcome after abandoning us in this titanforsaken place!"

"The Emperor abandoned you?" Hunter asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Belos hired us to mine metal from the mountain," the King sighed. "With the promise of due payment when it was done. But when the time came, he abandoned us on the mountain with no way to get down."

"Belos wouldn't do that," Hunter replied. "Stop lying."

Steve cheered. "All hail the Emperor!"

The King rolled his eyes. "Oh you poor fools. I pity you. Come back when Belos leaves you to rot in a hole so I can say I told you so." He looked over to a horned demon standing next to him. "Put them to work."

The horned demon nodded and walked towards the three, but was dealt a swift punch to the face by Steve, who had used his construction magic to break his bonds. He drew two spell circles, each summoning a spike that bore through Charlie and Hunter's bonds.

"They're escaping!" Traikuundo shouted. "Kill them!"

All of the demons in the counsel of the king rushed forwards with weapons ready, but Charlie stopped them as he cast a large blue spell circle, putting them all to sleep.

The King looked shocked, picking up his staff to attack. He yelled loudly and raised his weapon, but was knocked out when Steve shot a rock into the side of his head.

"Come on!" Steve shouted. "We can still make it to the exit!"

As the three Scouts ran across the scaffolding, more and more demons noticed and began to give chase. Hunter used his dagger to cut a rickety rope bridge, forcing them to go the long way round. Steve summoned stone walls to block their path, and Charlie would simply put them to sleep if they got too close.

Eventually, they reached a winch operated elevator at the end of the mine. It was small and barely able to fit all three of them, but they managed to get off the ground just as the demons caught up. As they reached the top, Hunter cut the rope, letting the elevator drop down the shaft.

After a long, pregnant pause, Charlie broke the silence. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" He looked over to Hunter, who glanced around trying to figure out if he was the target. "Yes, you," Charlie said. "We got caught because of you!"

"I'm sorry, okay."

"You're supposed to be the Commander!" Charlie yelled. "You should know better."

"Charlie, calm down." Steve edged towards them. "It was a mistake."

"Why are you still defending him?" Charlie asked, incredulously. "You don't seriously think he's fit to lead, right?"

Hunter looked over to Steve, who opened his mouth to speak, but was at a loss for what to say.

"Steve," Hunter said. "You don't – you don't agree with him, do you?"

"I… uh," Steve stammered, before sighing. "Look… you're a good kid, but you've still got a lot to learn, y'know? Nobody's perfect."

"No!" Hunter shouted, pulling himself away from Steve and beginning to lace around the room. "Belos said I was ready, and he can't be wrong! What is it? What am I doing wrong?"

Charlie clenched his fist. "Sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," Steve asserted, glancing over to Hunter.

Charlie paused, and in the darkness of the room, a figure began to sneak out from the shadows, clutching a knife in his hand.

"Hunter?" Charlie walked a little closer to the boy, but tried his best not to crowd him. "I'm so—"

Suddenly, the figure grabbed Charlie by the shoulders and dragged the knife across his throat, creating a deep gash.

Hunter gasped and covered his mouth as Charlie fell to the ground, blood pulsing out of his neck. They'd let their guard down. Beside him, Steve clenched his fists, using his magic to coat them in rock. Hunter drew his dagger, readying himself for the upcoming battle.

Suddenly, Steve charged forward and threw a punch, that was easily dodged. The Stalker was a master combatant and clearly didn't need magic to deal with Steve. However, he couldn't fight them both at once, so he held the amulet around his neck and summoned an Oracle spirit that immediately rushed at Steve.

Now that Steve was occupied, the Stalker turned to Hunter and summoned another spirit that reached towards him and grabbed his dagger, tossing the weapon over its shoulder and onto the cold rock floor. The Stalker gestured for the spirit to grab Hunter, but he dodged it, closing the distance to land a punch straight in the Stalker's gut.

The punch winded the Stalker, causing both spirits to dissipate. Hunter went to punch him again, but his hand was caught and the Stalker used it to push him down onto the floor. The Stalker once again summoned a spirit, this time to grab Hunter. However, Steve came in at the last second and broke the Stalker's concentration, freeing his friend.

"Go!" Steve shouted. "Get out of here!"

Hunter thought about protesting, but ultimately decided against it. The mine's exit was near - he could see the light - so he ran.

Meanwhile, Steve and the Stalker duelled back in the mine. Steve summoned a large rock to toss at the Stalker, but it was caught by a spirit and sent back at him. He created a rock wall just in time, but was knocked to the floor by the impact.

Mentally, he realised that he couldn't fight this guy at range. Anything he could throw at the Stalker could just be thrown back, but there was another thing. Summoning spirits required concentration, so if a witch's attention was on something else, they wouldn't be able to use them. That meant that Steve needed to be aggressive if he was going to win; he had to keep the Stalker locked into hand-to-hand combat at all times, which was luckily the situation his type of magic thrived in.

So, he dodged another attack from the spirit and pushed forward, summoning a rock wall in front of the Stalker's face. It took the attacker a second to adjust to this change, meaning that the spirit was static for just a moment.

But a moment was more than enough, and Steve made his rock wall disappear just as he was charging through it, landing a rock punch square onto the Stalker's face.

The Stalker stumbled back before recovering and beginning to fight Steve. As they fought, it became clear that he was out of his element, so he glanced around the room for something he could use to his advantage. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an old, rusty chain. It was perfect. So, he started trying to lead the fight over there, and just as Steve began to win, he grabbed the chain and whipped around his enemy, pulling his arm to his back.

Steve screamed in pain, but the Stalker worked quickly. He pulled the chain around Steve's neck and began to choke him, pulling on each end as hard as he could.

Steve was struggling harder than the Stalker would've liked, but he began to wane as his eyes started becoming bloodshot and his face purple. However, the Construction witch had a last wind in him and struggled just before he lost consciousness.

The unexpected resistance caused the Stalker to lose his balance, nearly slipping down the mineshaft. Steve wasn't so lucky, and the Stalker let go at the last second as Steve plummeted down the shaft.

Steve hit the bottom of the shaft hard, but it thankfully wasn't enough to kill him. He'd been lucid enough to use his rock fist to dig into the rocks and slow his fall. He looked up the shaft to see the Stalker cutting the winch for the lift with the same knife he used to kill Charlie.

Steve groaned in pain as the Stalker walked off. It didn't look like he was able to see to the bottom of the shaft, and even if he could, he wouldn't be able to get down.

He sighed, as he sat up and looked around, only to see himself surrounded by demons.

Hunter was panting by the time he exited the mine. It was freezing, so much colder than it was before. The storm was at full force, and it was blocking his view. He could barely see two feet in front of him, and had no sense of direction.

He stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees, crying into his hands. He didn't know Charlie that well, but something about it just didn't sit right with him. A person, gone in an instant. And Steve… Hunter wasn't sure how he was doing. Whether he was alive, dead, or dying. It was all too much. He wasn't ready for this, he couldn't handle this.

Charlie was right about him.

He wondered about giving up, about just laying there in the snow and letting death take him. But then he thought about all Belos had done for him, and how much he needed him.

He had to keep going. So, he shakily stood up and walked a few paces, only for his vision to be suddenly obscured by a right black bag being pulled over his head.