It took us another two days to reach the cave that Nathan had been talking about.
I grew slightly suspicions of the place since it had two gargoyles at the entrance. Or at least they shared a lot of similarities with gargoyles, which could come in many shapes. These ones both looked like a hybrid between a dog and a lion. Both had a collar with a large bell around their necks. One had its mouth open, while the other had its mouth closed. ("If they want to remain hidden, why decorate the cave?")
That was what I thought until I saw faint magic runes on the gargoyles. I had no idea what they meant, but they served an actual purpose.
Allenya and a few of the villagers went firs and the group passed behind them. I would have been the last one to enter, if not for the corrupted humans who kept following me and Nathan who apparently wanted to keep a close eye on us.
However, his gaze wasn't fixed on us. Instead he was looking at the statues who were positioned next to the entrance.
I shrugged it off and kept walking. But when I neared the entrance of the cave the vibe of the place suddenly changed.
A heavy pressure was laid on my mind. But it wasn't quite the same as that of the demons that I had felt before. This one wasn't seeking for control or any sort of influence in general. It just wanted to inspect.
In shock I realised that whatever this being was, it had to be extremely powerful, since it already had broken my mental barrier and could freely insect my mind.
Once I passed the entrance the pressure suddenly dissolved, only to be replaced by a same sort of pressure. It took this one a few seconds to fade away and leave my mind alone.
Still I was scared that I hadn't even be able to put up a fight against the forces that had infiltrated my mind to judge my very being.
I could tell that the elf was stunned. But he corrected his image shortly after.
We proceeded to follow the long stone tunnel. The carriages could barely fit and we had to walk in a straight line for them to pass through the tunnel.
Despite me being able to see clearly, I could tell how dark it was from the slight disorientation from the ones who were following me.
I found this weird since around every twenty there was a red stone carved in the wall. These stones emitted a warm jet dim light.
We walked for eight hours until we finally reached the end of the tunnel. Giant metal doors stood in our way, preventing us from passing beyond that point. On both sides of the door stood two statues guarding the entrance.
They both possessed a striking resemblance to the two statues on the other side of the tunnel. Like those statues one had its mouth open while the other had its mouth closed.
The one thing that separated these statues from the former ones was the absence of magic runes. This gave the stone creatures a more lifelike feeling, like they could suddenly stand up and walk away.
The elf walked past the carriages to reach the door. Curious what he was doing I followed.
When Nathan stood in front of the doors, he took a small horn from under is cloak. When he blew on it, it released an incredibly loud noise what made me feel like my ears would soon fall of.
Finally, he stopped and took a few steps back.
I walked back to the broken humans since I could tell that they were a little confused.
"Master, may we know your objective?"
It was the man with the red hair who was called Rik.
At this moment I knew that they were not following me out of fear, though it was still present, but the main sore of their loyalty laid somewhere else. Maybe it was because I led them without torture or abuse, they admired me for what I am at the moment, or it was because they were grateful that I didn't kill them and gave them a new chance in life. But they now saw me as some sort of higher being that had blessed them with the permission to follow me.
And honestly it creeped me out.
But it also gave me a sense of responsibility. I could not show that I was scared or uncertain about something. because what would you do if your lord you saw as a supreme being suddenly didn't know what to do?
I glared at the man with my yellow eyes.
"There is something I want from there. So, don't make a ruckus."
He politely bowed along with the other broken humans. And all spoke at the same time. "Yes, my lord."
I turned around and put on my cloak. The statues gave me the feeling that I was being watched and the cloak gave me a little sense of security.
Suddenly a soft voice could be heard. "M… my lord. Would you mind it if I stand beside you?"
It was Beatrice. Uncomfortable she stared at the ground.
Immediately an angry voice responded to her request. "How dare you ask if you could stand next to him?!"
I sighed. The person who responded was the young man who was the first of the broken humans to speak to me when I offered them the choice to either live or die. As it turned out, his name was Noah.
I was glad that they were regaining some of what I assumed was their personality before they were basically enslaved by the other demon. However, it was really annoying that they often had small quarrels with each other. I knew that if I were to ask them to stop, they would see it as an absolute order. And I was scared that things like that would make it harder to heal and become who they were before. So, I never asked something like that from them.
"I believe that I had already told you that you are allowed to do whatever you want, as long as you don't stand in my way."
Before Noah could apologise in the politest way that he could the creaking sound of the metal doors scraping over the stone floor interrupted us.