I have always disliked underground places.
Not because I was afraid, of course. That would be a ridiculous assumption. I was a swordmaster, the Grand Duke of Sonomi, a man whose beauty could bring weaker hearts to repentance and whose wealth could make most kingdoms reconsider their moral principles.
Fear was not the issue.
The issue was dampness.
Underground places were always damp, dusty, cramped, and filled with the kind of stale air that made one question the judgment of every civilization that ever thought, "Yes, let us build tunnels beneath the city. Surely, nothing terrible will breed there after a few hundred years."
Truly, humanity was talented in many ways.
Unfortunately, self-preservation was not always one of them.
