They woke up an hour before dawn and bundled into warm clothing to fight the chill that had grown over in the night. It took just half an hour to reach the grove outside town where their employer had instructed them to meet.

Dawn was just filtering through the trees when they entered. She was already waiting, limned by the morning light as she rose to meet them.

"Nice to meet you," she greeted politely. She was a tall woman, easily Doc's height, with black-blue hair that waved down her back. Although wore a ragged teal shawl over simple purple robes, she carried herself with all the elegance and dignity of a noblewoman. Kurapika's attention was drawn to a silvery orb perched on her forehead, held in place by strong enchantments, but it didn't make her look odd at all. Instead, it made her look celestial almost. She had strong ocean blue eyes that stood out against soft features. The smile she beamed at them was graceful and genuine.

"I'm Clairvoyant," she said with a voice that dripped honey.

They each introduced themselves one at a time and kissed her hand as they did so. She led them out of the grove to the banks of a nearby river. A horse had been prepared for each of them and they rode at a brisk pace, following the river's course and making small talk until they reached a well-hidden cave that Kurapika would've completely missed if she hadn't pointed it out to them. Something was in there, she told them, and Kurapika and Doc went in and carried out what was an old, moth eaten rug, thoroughly frayed at the edges.

"A carpet?" Doc had asked quizzically as they unrolled it. It was so worn out he probably couldn't guess any practical use for it. For Kurapika, it was proof that their employer was indeed a very potent wizard. He saw realization dawn on Fisher's face and it practically lit up.

Clairvoyant said something. The carpet twitched, wriggled, then stretched itself taut.

"Whoa," he heard Claws say under his breath. Flying carpets was a very anachronistic magic. It hadn't been in use for the last century.

"I figured this would be faster," Clairvoyant said.

"How powerful do you have to be to power this thing?" Fisher blurted out, too excited for tact.

"Quite," she answered. "I can see you have that potential to do so as well. I'd be happy to give you a few tips."

She spent the next few minutes teaching Fisher some obscure spells and gestures that Kurapika had never seen before. Even though Fisher had to sign twice as fast with just one hand, he did so with impressive ease. Doc watched intently as well, trying to see if he could pick something up.

Clairvoyant let go of her magic and allowed Fisher to take over. The carpet rose a half inch off the ground, and flopped.

"No matter, it takes time," she said in response to the disappointment on his face. "Shall we go?"

She indicated where they should all sit on the carpet to keep it in balance. Kurapika tested it gingerly, and was surprised to find it more rigid that it looked. Clairvoyant settled into place. She gave them a warning to not disturb her once they were airborne, and they took off.

It was a good thing they had brought warm clothes that morning. They climbed steadily until they were a good hundred feet off the ground. The air up there was chilly and stung Kurapika's face like tiny needles. Fisher had bundled himself against Doc for warmth. He and Claws reluctantly did the same.

It was a silent journey. They were all too stiff and cold to talk. They landed less than an hour later and it was hard to determine how far they had flown. They had taken off from rich, green landscape and landed in derelict wasteland. A little way off was an old building, grey and non-descript, seeming to rise out of the hueless ground directly. A tomb, Kurapika realized.

After they had regained use of their legs, she beckoned them towards it. They entered a dark chamber and three of them conjured a fire that burned without heat to illumine the room. Four simply carved pillars stood in the corners. Other than that, there was only a large crypt that lay centre of them. Clairvoyant ignored it and strode towards to the far wall between two panels. She murmured a spell – again, an unfamiliar one – and the floor opened to reveal a stairwell that led deep underground.

She turned to them. "Shall we begin?"

"We have to signal the main group and wait for them to get into position before we do anything," Kurapika replied. They had a Trace on them that the rest of the company should've been using to follow them. He nodded towards Fisher.

Fisher exited the tomb and raised his right hand skyward. His palm released a bright beam which exploded into fireworks in the atmosphere above them. 20 minutes later there were 4 similar responses coming from each cardinal direction. He gave a thumbs up.

The stairs were narrow, steep and slippery with moss. They planted their fireballs on their foreheads to free their hands to help each other down. The bottom led out to a long earthen corridor that stretched far enough that their lights couldn't illuminate their passageway. They stared into a solid wall of pitch black.

Before they could continue forward, Doc spoke. "So," he said, his voice echoing. There was a worried edge to his voice "What are we doing exactly? Because I feel like we're in a horror film."

"I assure you, this is nothing like that," said Clairvoyant.

"No one's been down here in years," Doc continued. "And I don't mean, like 2 or 3 years. I don't even mean 10. I mean like a hundred years at least." He glanced to the stairs they had just come down from.

"No. Two hundred," she said.

Clairvoyant snapped her fingers. A thud boomed from above them. Warning sirens triggered in Kurapika's head.

Adrenaline rushed. He lurched, grabbed Fisher by his collar and jumped back. Claws and Doc followed suit, putting distance between the four of them and the sorceress, as if it would do any good. She had sealed the only way out, effectively leaving them trapped in there with her.

Kurapika tried to discretely send a warning outside, but found his fingers paralyzed by a compulsion he hadn't noticed she'd spread. Beside him, Fisher and Doc were similarly incapacitated.

"What the fuck?" Doc screamed, but he couldn't utter a spell.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to turn back now."

Her compulsion diminished but kept. They couldn't have turned back even if they'd wanted to.

She didn't explain herself. Left with no option but to accede, they followed her down the tortuous, winding passageway, keeping vigilant. Kurapika noticed that at some point Claws had weaponised his hands, ready to pounce if need came, and he was able to relax his shoulders somewhat. He motioned Claws towards him.

"Claws, do you know where we are?" he whispered.

"In a really fucking deep tunnel following a mad-crazy bit- wizardess to god knows where. Got any plans?" he only whispered the last part.

"Guys, if she wanted to hurt us, she would've done it already," Fisher pointed out, slowing his pace to match theirs.

"Don't be so trustful, Fisher," Claws whispered sharply. "Maybe she needs live sacrifices."

"No one would pay gold for pigs. She needs us to help her."

"And help her with what exactly? Knock two brain cells together and look at the big picture. One, she needs powerful wizards. Two, we don't know what for. Three, we're in an underground chamber older than the Wars. You're obviously going to do something everyone will regret, so don't be naïve just because she got buddy-buddy with you back at the river."

Fisher opened his mouth to retort but finding nothing, he closed it and stared angrily at the shadows in front of him.

"Claws has a point, Fisher. She can't have the benefit of the doubt. Claws, here's a spell that should open the stairwell. If anything happens, you leave us behind - no, that's an order – you leave us behind and warn the company." As he spoke, he had taken Claws' hand – Claws had retracted his nails for him – and traced a spell onto his palm, suffusing it with his own magic. It shone briefly and faded into skin. Claws clenched a protective fist around it.

They hadn't been walking too long when the passage finally opened into a cul-de-sac. They increased the brightness of their flames so they could take in its entirety. It was all rock and earth that was about thirty feet across in diameter with a domed ceiling that curved into the walls. Two simple, stone sarcophagi were the only things that lay in its centre. Kurapika held up a light to the walls and observed some bafflingly complex runes engraved into the stone.

"This is some very archaic magic," he said to Doc, who huffed angrily and didn't take his eyes off Clairvoyant. Fisher brooded behind him but kept quiet.

He couldn't decide much of a threat Clairvoyant posed. She was powerful, true, but she had done nothing but expect them to hold up their end of the deal. Doc had been having second thoughts, and she had panicked.

He continued to study to runes. He had studied ancient languages since before he had even known he was a wizard and it was a skill that never failed to come in handy. His eyes narrowed as he slowly understood what he was reading.

Doc called him to join where he, Fisher and Clairvoyant were standing in a semi-circle around one of crypts. They were made of dark obsidian stone, enveloped in tangled chains that had gone rusty from the years.

Doc was glaring at her, hands clenched by his sides, while Fisher had an apprehensive look on his face and stared at anything that wasn't her. Claws stood a little way off behind Clairvoyant, hands in his pockets, tensed up like a spring, ready to react to anything on a second's notice. Suddenly, Kurapika felt grateful for his presence.

"Again, I apologize," she was saying trying to calm them down. "I'll explain everything as soon as we're done."

"Just tell us we're not tampering with forbidden magic," Kurapika snarled.

Fisher and Doc turned to him with enquiring looks.

"These are binding spells. Whomever or whatever is in these tombs aren't meant to come out."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes to meet his. "They're my friends," she stated simply.

"That's not possible," Doc scowled. "Like you said, this place hasn't been touched for 200 years."

She didn't say anything, but she pleaded with her eyes. Trust me, they said.

Fisher was taken by them.

"Guys," he said hesitantly. "I think – I think it's alright." He addressed her directly. "Are your friends dangerous?"

"They are strong, like me. But no they won't hurt any of you. I guarantee my life on it."

Fisher nodded firmly. "Then I'll help you."

The others looked on hesitantly. They could trust Fisher and he had sound judge of character. But could they trust her?

"Thank you," she told him. And it was said with such sincerity that Kurapika almost physically felt something ram his heart. He looked at Doc, who stood straight and unclenched his fists. He caught Kurapika's eye and gave an almost unnoticeable nod.

"Fine," Kurapika said on behalf of them both. And Clairvoyant smiled that wide, earnest smile that broke him all over again.

They moved into position, the four of them encircled the two crypts, and Claws scuttled to the entrance of the chamber, his hands back to normal. He kept his eyes firmly glued onto them though. He flashed Kurapika a thumbs up. Don't worry, I got your back.

At long last their patron finally told them what they were doing.

"Have any of you had experience in necromancy?" she asked. Of course, none of them had. She continued, not discouraged in the least. "It's a three tier spell that we're going to undo, and not a single one will be easy. The first two layers are barriers. The final one contains a lock."

"Sounds like we're going to be in here a while," Claws said from the far side of the room.

"It will be onerous, yes. But I trust in your abilities. Allow me to begin."

She outstretched her right arm and magic surged and frenzied around her, concentrating in her fingers. Her hand glowed white light and the air crackled around her in anticipation.

The others copied her stance, but with their palms faced out. They focused their magic into constructing a wall that looked like glass and felt like rubber to enclose the sarcophagi. The wall glowed and stretched and pulled and tapered itself tightly over the first barrier like a fitted blanket.

Clairvoyant set her fingers against the wall, and pushed.

Scribbling lines of black magic swelled from her fingers and rammed into the walls. They spread around the perimeter. They squirmed and wriggled, licked and probed in a struggle to breach the wall. They sought cracks in the barrier. They found them and welled into them creating ornate lightning-like patterns that seemed to be alive with a million fighting insects.

With their fingers, they traced another coating over the writhing cracks, and shoved. The barrier strained, it screamed, and shattered like glass into a million shards that fell around them.

They reached the second barrier, which was angry. It wailed in protest at its invasion. The air grew heavy. It began to hum and then it shrieked, a discordant sound that scraped the inside of Kurapika's skull.

A wind picked up. It caught at their clothes, tugged at their hair and tried to unbalance them. They grit their teeth and stood their ground. Time obtained a surreal quality and Kurapika did not know how long they worked. Hours, days, maybe weeks passed and they weaved magic the whole time. A second blanket fell over the barrier and the barrier shoved back. It pulsed and bulged like bodies under a sheet.

This time Clairvoyant did not touch it. Whips of dark electricity flew out from the tips of her finger and slammed against the walls like javelin spears. Kurapika raised his arm to do likewise and it was like moving against a magnet. His bones creaked and his muscles screamed and begged him to stop. He ignored it and gathered his magic in his hands and hurled it at the barrier.

The barrier gave in with a deafening crunch and collapsed on itself. Blobs of dark light of residue spells danced in the air around them. A great organ chord sounded and did not leave space for anything else.

The second barrier had been angry but the last one was fucking furious. A sun exploded and a maelstrom screamed in his ear. Kurapika shut his eyes but the light ran through his eyelids and burned. He summoned the last of his strength and drew a symbol in the air and forced it forward. How were they supposed to unlock it without a key? Brute force maybe, but he didn't think he had any left. Then he distantly heard Clairvoyant singing,

And it was gone. A storm died away to a soft wind then to nothing. Kurapika wondered if they had succeeded. He sure hoped to god they did because he didn't want to go through that again.

His eyes were still closed and they wouldn't open no matter how much he asked them to.

Kurapika heard someone far away shouting hysterically.

"Shit! They're the Taken! Holy fuck, we've resurrected the Taken!"

And he felt himself fall.

A/N: If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. I'm always happy to answer. Reviews are also always welcomed.