The young merchant suddenly stood up, invited William to follow him in a move that looked weird in the latter's eyes. He even stuffed the scrolls William just drew before walking away.
As this young man was kind and naive, William didn't find anything bad in following him around. Unlike what William expected, that young merchant didn't take him upstairs. Instead, he took William downstairs.
The two walked for ten minutes in a path that was lit with torches and candles, before arriving at a narrow hall.
William was sure he went for hundreds of metres under the ground, something that he never expected such a shop to have in the first place. But when he arrived there, he noticed how different this hall was.
The walls weren't made out of rocks, but carefully polished ores that got dark blue and green colours alternating with each other. In the middle of one wall, William saw a big golden wheel and three old men sitting around a golden round table, just in front of this wheel.
There were words over this part of the wall, telling William he was in the main vault of this shop. This startled William, made him turn to look at that young man, the same way the three men turned and looked at that young merchant when they noticed these two.
"Okland, explain yourself!" one of the three stood up, with a serious look over his face. He moved his eyes between the young merchant called Okland and William, "why bring a customer down here?"
"Don't you know our rules or what? You aren't that newbie anymore to commit such a grave mistake!" another old man said in a harsh tone. And that told William how bad this young merchant's reputation in the shop was.
It was expected, a kindhearted merchant wasn't really suited to work as a merchant at all.
"Sir, I know the rules but…" Oakland looked at William before adding, "this customer came and asked for these…"
He got the scrolls that William drew before. The moment the old merchant received the scrolls and looked at them, his face instantly changed.
He handed the scrolls over to his other two fellows, and William noticed the same reaction. That made him feel a bit puzzled about all this.
He thought Okland was taking him to another level to check possible goods there. But when he saw the three old men, he thought the latter came here asking for advice or help.
"Are you the one who drew these?" the old merchant who stood up first said to William. Right now, all three of them were standing, holding the scrolls he drew as if they were holding some sort of valuable treasure or something.
William didn't know what all this was about. But he nodded, "I don't know the names of these materials to be honest. It just happens for me to see them before, and I want to purchase a good amount of each item if the shop sells them."
"Well… We have to admit that we share the same situation as yours," the old merchant paused for a moment there, seemingly thinking about what he should say next, "let's talk inside. Okland, you did such great service to the shop this time, so you'll tag along as well."
William was about to ask what all this was about when the old merchant moved to the side, grabbed this wheel, and started rolling it.
Without the need to ask, William knew they were going to take him inside the vault. He still didn't know why they were acting in such a way. But he still followed them inside the vault.
The vault was different from what William expected. He thought it'd be a big room, filled with shelves from ceiling to ground, filled with wealth and rare items stored inside. But when he got in, he found himself standing in the middle of a wide corridor, looking more like a grand street or something.
"Welcome to the Lost City," the old merchant moved his arms around, pointing towards the big corridor and the lots of doors appearing on its side.
"What's this place exactly?" William didn't move a muscle, didn't try to approach any door or touch anything. He felt like this place held its own secrets. And he couldn't guess what these old merchants would react if he did anything they didn't permit or like.
"It's something that only few in the city knows about," the old merchant kept moving forward, "come along, our destination is far from here."
"Far? How long does this place extend exactly?!" William was taken aback by what the old merchant said. Yet before he'd get an answer for this, he saw the corridor widen up, ending with a huge platform and a long set of stairs that ended down below at a grand scene.
"I told you, it's the Lost City," the old merchant stopped moving just when they reached the long stairs. And there, William saw what could be described as ancient ruins of a once thriving city.
They were standing at what William could take as the top of a small mountain. The stairs were carved in the body of this mountain, attached to it like they were glued there or something.
Down below, he could see lots of buildings stretched to reach the end of his eyesight. William was standing almost a few hundred metres away from the level of the tallest building, or what was left of it anyway. So, he could see a huge part of this city, and that told him this place wasn't any lesser in size than the city on the ground.
The buildings he could see lost almost half of their initial structure. The streets were filled with tons of rocks, and everything was covered in a weird grey layer of dust that looked like ash or something. It felt like volcanic ash just spread and covered this city, while a deadly storm hit this place tens of thousands of years ago.
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