The small group of villagers in the hidden village lay in wait, jumping at every shadow,

cursing and praying for relief from the Inquisitor who had forced them into this abyss of darkness and terror.

The small group of villagers in the hidden village lay in wait, jumping at every shadow, cursing and praying for relief from the Inquisitor who had forced them into this abyss of darkness and terror.

"Tell me once again, why are we here?" hissed one of them, angrily kicking a stone. "We're here to protect our Magister as he carries out the divine will," replied another, reciting the words as if they were part of a religious mantra. "Curse it all! I would have burned that witch with my own hands! Why weren't we allowed?" Before he could finish his sentence, an eerie sound echoed from the end of the corridor behind him.

It sounded like footsteps, each one purposeful and rhythmic, but with an unnatural cadence. Aelred De Riveleaux whirled around in a triple-time waltz, a dance known only to him. As the Grand Master of the Dance, he moved gracefully, and he was not alone. Duchess Bianca Balbi D'Eustachio followed in his steps, as did the ensemble that had followed them into this world of darkness and the unknown.

Each pair danced as if they were at the most important event or the grandest court ball. They had left behind the mundane pleasures of life for the allure of unrestrained revelry, libations, and promiscuity, and they had ventured deep into the Buried Temple, confident that they had found a new form of amusement.

It was during this mystical trance that only dance could induce that the group of nobles, wearing festive attire and adorned with Venetian porcelain masks, encountered the Inquisitor's rearguard.

The simple villagers, trapped in the dark due to religious fanaticism or other sinister forces, saw a bizarre gathering dancing inexorably toward them. Each step followed an eerie rhythm, and the masks on the nobles' faces invoked an overwhelming terror in the onlookers, leaving them paralyzed and powerless, lost in their inexplicable dread.