Holding the sapphire tight in my hand, we left his residence the next day. This time, I wanted to keep him safe, so I brought Victor along with me to the ruins. The ruins, the last I remembered, was somewhere on the outskirts of Yler, presumably in the forests that housed many magical beasts and strange creatures. Of course, we were well prepared. In fact, Victor had prepared everything for us- camping equipment, cutlery, anything that could help us survive the night in the wild.
We reached the forest and surveyed our surrounding, determining a place to set up camp. After that, we explored the forest to try and find ourselves some dinner. Lucky for us, we managed to hunt down and catch two plump rabbits. Setting a space up for where we would shower later at night, we built a wall made out of wood to divide where one who would be when they were bathing, while the other person would be on the other side.
As time slowly went by, the sun started to set below the beautiful horizon, and the moon took up its place. Having earlier hunted some rabbits, both Victor and I were feeling famished. I had already been drenched in sweat on the entire day's worth of journey, so now would be a good time to clean myself up.
Undressing myself, I slowly submerged myself in the warm and soothing water. It had been such a long time, that I had forgotten what it felt like to have a soothing and calming bath. I used to enjoy the solitude it brought me, as I was relaxed as time itself slowly went past me while I enjoyed my bath, and my faithful servants served me and helped massaged me.
Yet, who knew that such luxuries would not last for long, it was a wishful thinking of mine to forever be trapped in eternal bliss...
With the glimmer of the moon on the resplendent view of the stream, I lied undisturbed in my bath. A few minutes later, feeling sore from laying in that position for too long, I stood up and quickly dried myself up before dressing myself again.
Heading out, I saw that Victor had finished cooking our dinner- it looked delicious! My mouth watered as I looked at the roasted rabbit, smoking, with the scent of fresh herbs added and drizzled with honey. How was Victor able to make such a meal without much ingredients? It looked too good to be true, to be eaten. It simply looked like a delicacy! I guess Victor never ceased to amaze me with his cooking, he was just too good at it.
Victor took out the cutleries and presented it to me, looking at it, I decided to take a pair of fork and knives, so I could cut the rabbit meat, making it easier for me to enjoy the meal. Victor took a pair of fork and knives too, and began to consume his meal. Looking at him eating, I decided to eat too.
Digging in voraciously, I cut out pieces of meat after meat, and before long, I had finished my dinner and Victor was smiling at me, with satisfaction as I ate his cooking, without a trace remaining.
After we cleaned up our cooking site, and disposed of any remaining trash, we decided to sleep in so that we could explore the forest even more the next morning. But there was a problem, Victor only brought one sleeping tent, which meant that we would have to spend the night together under the same roof. Of course, I felt a little uncomfortable, since I had not gotten used to sleeping beside someone, but as the circumstances were presented, it seemed I had no choice but to deal with it.
With Victor sleeping beside me, I decided to tuck myself in and sleep the night away. Then, Victor suddenly turned and hugged me. Sighing, I gave up trying to complain and went to sleep straight away.
The next morning, Victor woke up and realized he was hugging me a little too close, his face turned red and I chuckled looking at his reaction. However, today was the day we had to find the ruins.
After packing up our campsite, we searched for hours and hours before the sapphire in my pocket started to shine brighter and brighter. That meant that we were getting close. It had to be, the sapphire had not shined as brilliant as before, never once showing a sign of radiance.
Soon after, a section of the forest parted to reveal the entrance of the ruins. As if... the ruins itself was sentient and upon sensing the sapphire, revealed its entrance to us. Being cautious, we treaded into the ruins precariously. Not knowing when the ruins might cave in, the best we could do was pray that our exit would not be blocked if a cave in was to occur.
The ruins immediately came alive, as steps after steps appeared upon a hidden yet ancient mechanism was activated. The gears creaked, and the steps slowly led down a basement illuminated poorly by light. We slowly descended into the unknown, as the entrance behind us closed shut. Curious at what was at the end, each step we took was of trepidation.
Upon nearing the end of the narrow corridor of the small basement, an object was set atop a pedestal. It faintly emitted a sense of calmness, soothing our anxiety and telling us as if everything was alright. I signaled to Victor to stay put and went up slowly but surely to retrieve the object.
Upon removing the object, I found out that it was the Artifact that I was looking for-
With the removal of the Artifact, the ruins began to collapse. With the ruins closing in on us faster and ever, both Victor and I immediately rushed out of the ruins as fast as we can, until we reached a bottleneck- that was the entrance which had closed itself after we had entered.