Kellen shifted his gaze from the unique sword at his side to Tommy's panting figure. The blue haired delinquent was studying Kellen's apparent displeased expression with round eyes and a flushed face from the recent perilous descent.
"You... You... You all good down here?" Asked Tommy between his panting breaths.
Kellen lightened his dark expression and raised his furrowed brows.
"Yeah, everything is fine..." He responded in a heavy tone while looking back to the sword held limply at his side.
"It doesn't sound like it... Hey! What do you have there? Was that what you were looking for down here?" Asked Tommy as he bounced back up to his feet as if rejuvenated by his mischievous and curios nature.
Kellen shot Tommy a sideways glance before bringing the sword out from his side and holding it up.
The white runic carvings shimmered with a ghostly light as the dark blade moved through the air.
"Wow! What a find!" Exclaimed Tommy as he excitedly moved around the sword to fully inspect it.
The mischievous boy was practically jumping on the tips of his toes as he paced around the sword while ogling its cool appearance.
Luckily, Kellen was able to curb the petrifying effects of the sword with a small amount of solar demonic energy or else Tommy would have ended up like the poor sculptures surrounding them.
After holding the sword for some time now, Kellen realized that the fiery energy in his blood seemed to directly oppose the sword's frighteningly cold aura.
"Did you name it? Does it have a name? No, wait, let me guess... Is it Kevin?" Hysterically carried on Tommy.
"What? No! Who fucking names a blade Kevin?" Sighed Kellen as he almost lost his footing and fell after hearing the ridiculous suggestion.
'Pfffff! Where in the seven hells did you find this idiot?' Snickered Osiris like a maniac.
'This stupid mortal just added another reason as to why I hate humans...' Dully complained Nergal from within his cage.
'Hold on, there's seven hells? Wait! Stop distracting me!' Kellen angrily shook his head to clear the ridiculing voices in his mind.
"I didn't name it and I just happened to find it down here lodged into one of those stone sculptures. Actually, I don't think these are just sculptures..." Seriously explained Kellen while Tommy continued to frantically hop about the sword.
"Ehhhh... Really? This is all that was down here? Well I guess it is a pretty cool find but it would've been nicer if we found some lost or forbidden treasure." Whined Tommy as he stopped his comical hopping.
"Treasure? That's what you were expecting? You weren't curious at all as to why all these people are petrified?" Questioned Kellen in dismay.
"Yeah, you know, like gold or shining armor or more stuff I guess. I've explored this place quite a bit but this was the one place I didn't dare to check yet." Shrugged Tommy while ignoring the important issue.
"Well did you look for a treasury up in the frozen kingdom?" Sighed Kellen.
"Yeah, but I wasn't able to find anything. Must have been looted already years ago. Hey, but at least you got this!" Tommy said while placing a hand on Kellen's shoulder.
Kellen shook his head in amazement at the carefree attitude Tommy often displayed.
"Besides, who really gives a shit about some stone mannequins. It's not like they are gonna bring me any riches. Their only practical use was being stepping stones to get down here." Complained Tommy as he flung his hands in the air dramatically.
Kellen almost choked after hearing the kid's last sentences. As he listened to and spent more time around Tommy, he was beginning to understand nd realize more of his character. That being: he was a money loving child with big dreams and aspirations currently far away from his reach. Maybe if Tommy put more effort into his combat training or studies that could change, but from what Kellen could see, that was unlikely to happen any time soon.
Kellen wondered whether breaking the truth about the state of the pitiful sculptures would destroy the kid's lighthearted persona. However, something of this terrifying scale was not something Kellen could just simply overlook. He did not know or recognize the petrified kingdom but surely they did not deserve something as cruel as this. Who knew how long they had been frozen and locked away in this dark and lonesome underworld.
Although Kellen was not aware of the possible prior circumstances of the kingdom, he knew that like most, it was probably mixed with people completely innocent and undeserving of this cruel fate.
The symbol of the cult he had ran into, with Strom and his men back in the Glacial kingdom, signified this possibility. Back then, the cult had manipulated the king and his people for the sake of that other artifact, and Kellen was certain that a similar occurrence could well have happened here as well.
However, the one mysterious factor still haunting his thoughts was the carved roman numeral four. If this really had a connection to the Legionnaire Gods or even one of them, then the issue could be a lot larger than Kellen anticipated. The thought of the Legionnaire Gods being connected to the laboratory Romans from Earth or even in cahoots with the mysterious cult, made Kellen even more wary.
The only way for him to find out the truth of the matter was to gain more information, which ironically seemed to be becoming his annoyingly regular task.
"Well I'm gonna head back up to see if I can find any information about this weird sword." Said Kellen as he glossed over it one more time before wrapping it under the tactical belt of his academy uniform at his waist.
"Right, so... We've reached the end but I don't see any other ways to get back up..." Tommy said while hanging his head back in defeat.
"Yeah... I think going back up the way we came is probably the best way out." Kellen said in a concluding tone while looking back up the side of the ravine with the sculptures jutting out from the cold rocky walls.
"I knew you were gonna say that..." Mumbled Tommy in a depressed voice as he kicked one of the kneeling sculptures.
Kellen felt a tinge of pain in his chest as he watched Tommy act with complete ignorance.
Tommy stopped his unknowingly cruel complaints and actions and looked around the ravine one last time.
"Now that I think about it... This ravine doesn't look like it naturally formed... And what was up with all that red mist?" He finally asked.
'How does this buffoon manage to combine unintelligible sentences with logical ones? Like wasn't that pretty obvious...' Complained Osiris as he continued his usual lazy floating.
'I will never be able to fully understand these lesser beings.' Sighed Nergal as he arrogantly admitted his loss.
Kellen ignored the deities' harassment and thoughtfully rested his hand on the dark hilt of the sword tucked in his waist.
"I was trying to say that earlier but you obviously didn't care about the sculptures. So I didn't see a purpose to explain really." Mumbled Kellen in annoyance.
"It almost looks like a massive sword mark, like the ones you left back on the training grounds... Huh, did you say something?" Asked Tommy as he turned his gaze from the massive opening above them back to Kellen.
Kellen blankly stared at the troublesome kid before him, who was now standing on the back of one of the kneeling sculptures, with the back of his head resting in his interlocked hands in a carefree manner.
'He's more of an idiot than I gave him credit for.' Confirmed Kellen in his mind as he massaged his temple with his hand.
Although Tommy seemed to be a decent guy and a fairly loyal person to his friends, as Kellen witnessed during their escape from Axus, he was also fairly oblivious.
Instead of immediately trying to explain, Kellen waved for Tommy to come down from the sculpture and follow him. He figured showing rather than telling Tommy would be bear better success.
As Kellen led the two back through the ravine passed the many sculptures, he activated soul sensing.
'It's exactly what I thought...'
Within the numerous sculptures, Kellen could see a faint ghostly flame the size of a candle still barely burning in each of them. The presence of the souls, even if they were but fractions of their original states, confirmed his suspicions that they were once living people.
Amongst the small souls, even smaller flames the size of a thimble, caught Kellen's attention. He smiled as he found exactly what he had hoped for.
The small flames floated around the dark air above the two boys' heads like fireflies and clicked and squeaked in hushed tones.
Kellen abruptly stopped after getting closer to the small creatures, whose souls were brightly highlighted in his vision, and positioned himself directly under their infrared like image.
Tommy halted upon seeing Kellen stop and confusedly watched him draw the dark blade out from his waist under his black jacket.
A flash from Kellen's blade illuminated the ravine with a small concentrated flash of white light, momentarily blinding Tommy.
Tommy rubbed his eyes and reopened them quickly to see what the hell Kellen was even trying to do. A few clanking thumps of rocks hitting the floor of the ravine echoed off the jagged walls.
Tommy's eyes widened in amazement and fear as he studied one of the rocks that had fallen directly next to him.
The intricate stone sculpture of a bat with its mouth wide open, as if frozen during its final squeak, revealed two tiny stone fangs. Tommy shakily picked up the small bat made of stone from the ground without uttering a single word.
The ravine was once again returned to dead silence, as Kellen re-sheathed his blade and Tommy stood paralyzed while staring blankly at the stone in his hands.