[@Samdragonx]
As Ravadon plodded deeper into the caves, the only light came from the crystals hanging from the ceiling. The walls glittered at times, hinting of valuable minerals left close to the surface. He soon found himself following an abandoned minecart track, one rusted with age and unfortunately lacking in minecarts. The track eventually forked into three separate paths - on the ceiling of the left path was a blue crystal, the right path a green crystal, and the forward path a red crystal. The path with the green crystal came to a metal chest in surprisingly good condition.
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[@ineffable]
"Of course I can help," the princess reassured him. "You can call me Isabella, or 'Bella' for short. I'm not [i]that[/i] high up in the ranks. Plus, 'milady' gives me the shivers."
Captain Byron blushed at Isabella's comments. Her smile and wink instantly put him at ease . "Very well. Bella it is," Captain Byron replied, offering her a shy grin. "Your assistance will be much appreciated. The king's summoning of the Grim Reaper is particularly troublesome; I've heard rumors, dark rumors, that the two were once allies. Summoning such powerful beings, I hope you'll agree, would be gravely perilous to the health of the kingdom, let alone to the king. I think we should try to talk him out of it.

As they walked through the halls, they passed lifelike statues of past heroes. One bore the likeness of Tristan the Great, said to have had the very first Mark. Another was a completely nude model of the Immortal Valentine, which would have doubtless mortified the real Lady Valentine had the Void not destroyed her. She was renowned for her modesty and chastity (among other things), though some historians believe she was married to as many as ten mortal men during her lifetime.

The third statue they passed was the most realistic, impeccably sculpted to resemble the late King Edward Dragan. He stood with his sword drawn, his handsome face marred by a slight expression of pain. Small cuts were intricately carved into various places on his body. Curiously, his right hand was tucked behind him, and there were trace letters written on the back of his hand that could not be read from any easy angle.

Captain Byron jutted his chin slightly at the statue of the King. "When I was younger, I took a mirror and tried to read the inscription on his hand. I didn't get far before the palace guards caught me. It looked like an incantation of sorts." He turned to Isabella. "All of these statues are fairly new. There used to be just one statue, Immortal Nero's, but now there's a whole slew of them, sixteen in all, with heroic figures from the last few decades."