Meantime, the huge commotion was about to occur outside, the three was about to come into trouble inside the closed gate. It was not something what they have expected.
The three were on their way to the chambers where Zhia and Marjorie suppose to be just like what Jeruzen said. Jeruzen was once a junior knight of Nethilor and has breach of information regarding the dungeon of the kingdom. According to the information he had gathered, the dungeon were filled with dangerous traps and some of them may lead to certain death.
As they were walking through the open passageway, Chaneri accidentally stepped into something. It was a trap which triggered the floors to collapsed. They fell down the hole and slip inside a long upright cylindric tunnel which eventually leads them into an empty room below. Afterwards, the tunnel from above shut down all by itself.
"Ouch! Ouch! That hurts!" Chaneri yammered as she hit her ankle on something hard on the floor.
It was so dark that there was no single torches or a source of light inside the room. The only thing they could see in the dark is each other's gleaming eyes.
"Why is your hand so cold?" Chaneri asked.
"Who's hand?" Mizuki asked her to clarify.
"Your hand." She replied immediately.
"It's not mine, maybe you're holding Isidore's hand." He said yet Isidore did not say anything.
"Ardent flame of Loki; Source of light and heat; Let your fervor enkindle; To give path upon my feet." Isidore uttered a spell that generates a ball of fire on the palm of his hand. Finally, they have their source of light that gives them vision inside the empty room.
"Eeekkkk!!!" Chaneri shouted as soon as the flame lighted up. She was holding a hand of a deceased person who is apparently been dead here, months had passed based on its appearance. She freaks out and jumps in fear as she saw the terrific image.
Bones and human remains were seen scattered on the floor. Not just one, but quite a few. Mostly were men, however there are also remains of females and a child.
"It looks were not the first one to fall here." Mizuki speak.
"Well, at least we're not dead yet." Isidore said as he roam his eyes around the decaying remains. "Look how rotten the kingdom had gone in the past seven years."
Isidore founds unlit torches dangling on the brick wall of the room. He took three and give each one of them. Using the flame on his palm, he lit the torches one by one to provide a bigger vision of the room.
They found a doorway at the end of the room. They tread towards the door and got themselves on a passage way which there were no windows nor air holes for the air to come through. The only thing they can do is to follow the dim path in front of them with no hesitation of turning back.
They were walking for an unknown period of time until they reached a stairway going deep down underground. They could smell the awful odour emitting from the passage as they walk down the stairs. The place were getting colder and darker as they go deeper. Eventually, they stopped when they reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Which way?" Chaneri asked in disarray as the way split into three.
The three were confused what to do and stop for the meantime to think which way they would take.
"Why don't just each of us take one separate way?" Chaneri said in an instant.
"I cannot allow that!" Isidore beg to disagree. "I cannot let you go alone on your own."
"Then you should have not brought me on this suicide mission!" She exclaimed.
Isidore just sighed. "Look, what if something happens to you? It would be another problem."
"I may be small, but I can take care of myself." She said and immediately flew towards the passage on the left.
"Hey, wait!" Isidore yelled at her. "You are one stubborn kid."
"I'm not a kid anymore!" She pouted.
"Alright, so I will let each one of us take each passage way."
"So it's decided then." Mizuki uttered.
"But! I will give you a guide, in case there will be any casualties along the way." Isidore said to Chaneri.
Guides are animal spirits who aids and helps the person who caught or own them as possession. Some were sealed in Isidore's book that makes him their possessor. There are said to be twelve guide spirits, however, there are only four of them who were sealed within Isidore's book. They are supernatural beings or essence with no physical bodies. They were animals who once roamed above the surface of the world and was appointed by the gods to be a guide when they die, eventually they gain and obtain supernatural power from the afterlife. Their purpose is to serve those who were able to capture them until the person dies and found a new master.
"Alright then!" Chaneri agrees.
Isidore brings out his spell book from his satchel. He opens it and reveals complicated words and symbols written on the pages. Holding the book on his left hand, he began casting using his other hand. Runes slowly starts to limned on the floor until it was complete.
"Thou who guides how we live and grants joy to those who live by it; I call upon, Guide of Wisdom, Sofia!" A purple fox with nine tails appeared at the center of the runes. It looks so majestic and beautiful with its purple fur, a mix of white below its neck, underneath the belly, at every tip of the tails and at the center of the ears; and black at the tip of the ears and the legs. It also has a lotus symbol drawn on its forehead.
"What can I do for you, my lord?" The fox bowed in front of Isidore politely.
"I want you to accompany her on taking this passage." He pointed to the passage way on the left. "Make sure she is safe." He added.
"As you wish, my lord." She stood up and walks outside the rune, swaying her tails gracefully as she marched towards Chaneri.
"Alright, I guess this is where we part ways. I'll be taking the passage on the right. I hope these passage ways only leads to one exit." Mizuki said. "I wish everyone luck." He bid them farewell as he steps toward the passage way.
"We'll be off too. See you at the other side of these wall Big Bro." Chaneri says her goodbye as she and Sofia marched toward the passage.
With both Chaneri and Mizuki out of sight, Isidore also took the passage left for him. And so, they have ventured on their separated ways. Chaneri and Sofia took the passage on the left, Isidore took the passage on the middle, and Mizuki took the passage on the right.