Chapter 57: A Massive Stone Door
The darkness was blinding...
The moment the quad stepped beyond the reach of the cave entrance, it swallowed them whole. It wasn’t the ordinary darkness of a moonless night, it was heavier and denser than that...
Like a living thing pressing itself against their eyes and ears, smothering every sense until even their perception of direction became uncertain.
For a brief moment, the four of them instinctively slowed. Then, Regaleon narrowed his golden eyes; in the gloom, they gleamed like molten gold hidden beneath layers of shadow.
"Kaeloris..." The silver-haired Knight called out.
"Already on it..." The failed Gnost didn’t need to be told what he needed to do as he stepped forward without hesitation...
His Lantern appeared in his hand and he raised it. A pulse of Aether flowed through the Soul Essence and immediately, warm golden radiance blossomed from within.
The effect was immediate as the darkness retreated...
The light spread outward in gentle waves, illuminating the passage around them. The blackness seemed to recoil from the glow, shrinking back into the cracks and corners like a vermin fleeing from fire.
Then, the quad finally got a clear look at their surroundings.
The corridor stretched endlessly ahead...
Its walls were rough stone, worn smooth by countless years of erosion. The ceiling arched nearly five meters overhead, disappearing into the darkness beyond...
Oddly enough, the place was dry... Very dry. Considering there was an entire waterfall above them, moisture should have seeped through the walls. Instead, the air felt crisp and brittle.
Pebbles littered the floor while dust gathered in shallow depressions. The scent lingering in the air reminded them of old earth untouched for ages...
The silver-haired Knight took in the appearance of the tunnel for a few seconds before lowering his gaze.
"There..." He pointed toward the ground.
A deep groove stretched through the center of the corridor alongside enormous paw prints. But this time, dark streaks of black blood stained the mark...
Clearly, this was the Drake’s blood.
"The trail continues... And we follow it. Hopefully, where it leads would happen to be the creature’s den."
Vaelorin glanced into the darkness meters ahead and gulped. "Hopefully? Now that’s a terrible choice of word to use in this situation."
And with that, the four of them walked deeper into the tunnel...
Minutes stretched on; five became ten... Ten became fifteen... And still, the passage remained with no end in sight.
In fact, the deeper they ventured into the tunnel, the wider it became.
What had begun as a narrow gloomy corridor had expanded into something far larger. The walls gradually drifted apart until the space between them measured nearly seven meters across...
The silence was equally unsettling as there were no sounds; no insects chirping, no dripping water, and no distant growls and shrieks that had become a symphony the group were used to over the past two days.
There was only the sound of boots scraping against stone and somehow... It felt as though the entire tunnel was holding its breath...
Kaeloris finally broke the silence. "Just how deep does this place go?"
His voice sounded tired and why wouldn’t it? They have been walking nonstop for minutes in a tunnel that seem to have no end at all...
The Lantern’s golden glow reflected against his spectatcles as he scanned the endless stone ahead.
Valmyr simply shrugged at his question. "Who knows? Maybe whatever creature that inhabits this place built it this way because it valued privacy..."
The failed Gnost gave the failed Vanguard a flat look. "Do you actually think beats build a passage because they want privacy?"
Valmyr shrugged once more and replied. "I mean, isn’t that why they carve out those burrows or something?"
Kaeloris didn’t dignify him with a response as his analytical gaze swept across the tunnel.
"This place doesn’t look like something carved out by a beast. In fact, the structure of the whole thing somehow bothers me greatly..."
Regaleon furrowed his brows and asked. "And why did you say that?"
Kaeloris was silent for a brief moment before he replied.
"I mean, think about it. We are within a waterfall. Any natural cavern connected to that much water should be damp. There should be moisture on the walls. There should be moss... Fungus... Something..."
He then ran his fingers across the stone walls and they came away completely dry.
"... yet everything here feels preserved, almost as if someone preferred it that way."
"Maybe the creature likes things clean. You known it might be a neat freak." Valmyr suggested.
Kaeloris shook his head and sighed at his peer’s stupidity. "That’s not how nature works." He said, his voice laced with resignation.
"Really, we ate literally walking into what might be our doom and all you care about is how nature walks..." Vaelorin remarked forlornly.
The failed Gnost glanced at the red-head and replied. "If we’re going to walk endlessly, we might as well converse amongst ourselves, else it would turn out to be boring.."
Fortunately, or unfortunately for the failed Gnost, the passage finally ended.
The four emerged into a vast underground junction and they stopped...
For several moments, no one spoke as they all examined the interjection.
Before them stretched three separate pathways; one continued straight ahead, another brached toward the right, and the last one curved toward the left...
Behind them, the route they had taken yawned like the throat of some colossal beast.
Valmyr scratched his head.
"Well..." His voice echoed as he surveyed the three tunnels. "Which way?"
Regaleon crouched slightly and observed the ground.
The groove left behind by the Drake’s corpse continued across the chamber before turning sharply toward the right-hand passageway...
"There..." He pointed. "We follow the trail."
Nobody argued... Although Vaelorin looked like he desperately wanted to.
"Guys, I really don’t like this. I mean, this place literally looks like a catacombs and it is really giving me the creeps."
Regaleon remained calm as he replied. "We are not here for the any other tunnels. We are only here for the creature that took the Drake. If we’ve gotten it, we would go back to the others afterwards."
Vaelorin couldn’t find any words to refute and so in a dejected manner, the failed Pyromancer followed behind the other three as they walked into the right passage...
Immediately, the new passage felt different. At first, the change was subtle, then increasingly... It became obvious.
The previous corridor had felt mostly natural, but this one wasn’t...
The stone beneath their feet appeared unnaturally smooth; in fact, it looks almost polished.
But the ground was not perfect as it looks weathered by time; roots pushed through the cracks, patches of moss spread across the floor, and strange flowers grew beneath the stones.
Yet beneath all that neglect remained an irrefutable evidence that someone had built this whole place long ago.
The further they advanced, the stranger it became because the sensation no longer felt like they were walking through a natural formation. Instead, it seems like they are walking through a ruin. A forgotten one...
Unlike before, this route ended quickly as after only a few minutes, the ground began to elevate...
Slow steps emerged from the ground; massive ones... Wide enough for all four if them to climb side by side.
Their edges had been worn smooth with age while tiny vines crept between the cracks in them. Dust covered every surface and yet despite their age, the stairs remained intact.
Slowly and cautiously, they climbed the steps. The silence between the became heavier as the each steps carried them higher...
Finally... They reached the top. And froze...
Before them stood a massive stone door. It towered above them, at least eight meters high. Ancient carvings covered its surface; most had been worn away by time while others remained barely visible beneath layers of dust and moss.
The door itself radiated age... Not just years or centuries... But something older.
Vaelorin’s throat suddenly felt dry as he spoke. "Tell me we aren’t opening that?"
Suddenly, Valmyr stepped closer and his eyes narrowed...
"Actually, that’s not the important question. I mean, how did a creature that is supposedly twice the the size of the Drake figure out how to get through the door?"
Kaeloris adjusted his glasses as he replied. "That’s a good question. Many creatures develop surprising levels of intelligence, especially those that have started to cultivate Aether..."
"Whatever. I still stand with what I said. Maybe we seriously shouldn’t open that door." Vaelorin said, eyeing the massive door with wariness.
Regaleon glanced at the failed Pyromancer briefly before stepping toward the door.
Vaelorin watched with an horrific expression as the silver-haired Knight placed both of his hands against the ancient stone and pushed...
But nothing happened. In fact, the door didn’t even tremble slightly...
"Vaelorin..." Regaleon called out.
The failed Vanguard leaned his Soul Essences against the wall and joined the failed Knight. The two warriors planted their feet on the ground; muscles tensed, stone groaned...
And finally, a deep rumble echoed through the chamber...
Dust cascaded from above as the massive door shifted... Then widened...
Ancient air escaped from within it; the air was cold, dry and ancient with a scent that seemed untouched for countless years.
The gap widened further... And without hesitation, the silver-haired Knight walked through it.
Valmyr grinned next. He took his Soul Essences and without looking back, he stepped right after Regaleon.
Kaeloris and Vaelorin glanced at one another, then together... The duo walked through the door and into the world beyond it...
