After more encounters with monsters present in the cavern, the party got outside. That evening, as they rested and ate their dinner, they discussed their next course of action. While the vampire was defeated, it seemed like the rotting hadn't stopped. They also sensed a powerful evil behind that stone slap on the third floor so now they wanted to clear that out too. The trouble was figuring out how. As their discussion went further, they were reminded of the stories some citizens in Melmond had told them. One of them was that a golem lived in a cave in the Atlas mountains that liked to eat precious gems. Another was that a sage lived in another cave west of Melmond. Since they were relatively fine and their supplies were enough for now, they decided to pursue those stories.
After a good night's rest, they went on their journey to the Atlas Mountains. Undead, determined to stop them and to revenge their fallen master, went out in droves to stop them. However, this was nothing Mari's Dia spell couldn't solve, so the party had an easy time reaching the cave where the golem lived. The entrance was guarded by two lesser tigers which were no challenge to the Warriors. After entering the cave they wandered off for a bit until they encountered the famed golem who wasn't letting anyone through. He surprised everyone when he had managed to smell out the star ruby the party had brought along from the cavern. With his booming voice he said: "You have a star ruby? You give me star ruby and I will let you pass." After a discussion about it's fate, the party had agreed to give it to the golem. Grateful for his "meal" he immediately started eating it, much to the surprise of everyone. With loud munches and crunches he exclaimed: "Mmm! Nothing tastier than rubies!" With that he turned around, opened a hole in the ceiling and left the cave that way. It took confused party several minutes to awaken from their confusion and continue with their journey. Before they exited the cave, they noticed another hallway. Investigating it had proven to be very lucrative as at the end of it they found a room with chests in it. They found a great axe, mythril helm and money. They were glad they went that way.
Once outside, the journey became much more boring as there was no one around to even attack them. At least this had sped up the journey as they quickly went through the Atlas Pass, went around the mountains and arrived at the supposed sage's cave. As soon as they entered it, they realized that this was a safe space as brightly lit torches had illuminated the way. As they passed through the rooms they noticed that this was a modest living accommodations for whoever was living there. They finally found the living room where an old bearded man was waiting for them. As soon as they entered the room, the old man had invited them to sit down. As soon as they did, the old man started speaking in a calm voice: "So you are the one who defeated the vampire, eh? But he was only a servant... The beast corrupting the Erath Crystal lurks far deeper within the cavern." On that, he stood up and went to a corner where an interesting staff was laying down. He picked up and then returned to the party saying: "Here. Take this staff with you and use it behind the vampire's chamber." Rosch had accepted it on the behalf of the party. Despite the old man's request to rest inside his cave, the party had refused, saying that they had to return back to Melmond to prepare for the upcoming fight. Despite the look of the disappointment on his face, he accepted their decision and bid them farewell. After leaving the cave, the party went to a nearby plain where they prepared for the night. What none of them knew was the fact that there was someone else there inside that cave. In another room there was old grey-haired man in silver knight armour. Man that Kelin would have immediately recognized had he seen him. Knight-Commander Alphonse Riemann. As soon as the party left the cave, he had rejoined his friend, the sage Sadda.
Sadda: "You know, you didn't need to hide from them."
Alphonse: "I didn't want to disturb your meeting."
Sadda: "Disturb our meeting or just not wishing to see a certain someone?"
Alphonse: "..."
Sadda: "Al?"
Alphonse: "... Damn kid. We all thought he went insane when he run away to Cornelia. All but Sistine as she still had trust in him. Even in death she didn't believe he had abandoned her."
Sadda: "And now he returned home as the Warrior of Light."
Alphonse: "I know. I can't believe it myself."
Sadda: "Better believe it. They even found the star ruby, the gem that you yourself had prepared for the Warriors of Light."
Alphonse: "I realize that. You don't have to go on a pointless tirade about how this is all destiny."
Sadda: Then what are you going?"
Alphonse: "First, the obvious thing. They vanquished that bastard that attacked our dear city so some happy news will surely make the citizens happy."
Sadda: "And what about Kelin? Will you make him a proper knight now? Or at least give him the armour that he would have gotten by now? In case you haven't noticed, his current one seems like cobbled it together from several different ones."
Alphonse: "Unfortunately that won't be possible. We scrapped it to be used in the future. We didn't expect he would actually return back. Besides, even if we had kept it, he had lost the support of everyone. I doubt they will accept him back so easily."
Sadda: "I hope this doesn't backfire on you."
Alphonse: "I hope so too. Anyway, I should send the messenger bird back to Melmond. You check on your guard dog."
Sadda: "Maxlo? Why? He got his ruby from the people he can trust. He will be happy for a while."
Alphonse: "I am just saying- Hm? Am I hearing something?"
Sadda: "That's a messenger owl."
As soon as he said that, an owl carrying a letter came flying into the room. As soon as he landed, Sadda stood up, took the letter and read it."
Alphonse: "That from Melmonde?"
Sadda: "No, from Crescent Lake."
Alphonse: "Huh? Why from there?"
Sadda: "Apparently the sages are gathering there to discuss the current and potential future events. They want me and the Warriors to come there as soon as possible."
Alphonse: "Do you want me to send that message to them?"
Sadda: "No, I will handle it. Besides, they might end up going for Crescent Lake instead of killing Lich and saving the Earth Crystal."
Alphonse: "Thought so. Should I at least send the message about vampire's defeat?"
Sadda: "Of course."
After a long journey back to Melmond, the party was quite pleasantly surprised to see the citizens celebrating them. It seemed the news of them defeating the vampire had already came ahead of them. However, the sense of unease remained as the decay of earth hadn't stopped. It seemed there was more to the threat than everyone had originally hoped. Still, it didn't stopped others from buying Warriors drinks at the local tavern and giving toasts in their names. As for the Warriors themselves, they knew they had to get to the bottom of this problem as soon as they could so after two days of rest they returned back on the road with a nice surprise in tow in form of Rosch's new spell, Firaga. With their new knowledge of the lay of the land, they quickly returned back to Devil's Tail with only a few ogres between them and the Cavern of Earth. Once inside, they quickly got to the stairs on every floor as most of the beasts have been slain before. Only undead, snakes, bats and two trolls roamed around the now mostly empty cavern. They basically raced to that stone slab as soon as they could. Once there, Rosch uses the earth rod he got from the sage and revealed stairs to another floor.
Once there, they again started exploring around. The first thing they have found was another treasure room guarded by ogre mages, hyenadons and sphynxes. While somewhat new enemies to the party, Warriors had remained calm and dealt with them in the same banner as any other opponent. In the end all they found there was money. Other than this room, there was nothing to this floor other than more undead and trolls. As it looked the enemies were becoming stronger, Mari started using Diara more against the undead. After another long search they found the stairs to what would turn out to be the final floor. As the first thing they saw was another bat, Lewyn joked that he would have been a rich man if he killed every bat they have found on this journey and they were worth something. Though slightly tired, everyone laughed at the joke to brighten up the mood. In the end that floor turned out to be easy as only tarantulas were roaming around. The sense of unease had returned only when they discovered the last closed room in this cavern. That was their target, the room where the Earth Crystal was placed in. They knew that someone was in there corrupting it. So, after a short break, they entered the room. Initially, all they could see was a crystal drained of colour as well as a weird ball of energy in front of it. Once they approached, Kelin started calling out to see if anyone was around. Suddenly, a voice was heard. "Who speak to me?" The party looked around, but saw no one. Then they noticed the ball of energy starting to expand until it towered over them. Once the light subsided, they saw a large skeleton wearing a purplr coat while a strange energy floated around him. They realized he was the source of the voice they just heard. Realizing his audience was listening, the skeleton continued to talk. "I am he who feeds on the power of earth." Realizing only 4 humans were there to stop him, he laughed while saying: "I will not be disturbed by mortal men. I am the lich... Fiend of Earth!" At this the party sprung into action.
Rosch went first as he was trying to cast Haste and Temper on both Kelin and Lewyn. However as soon as he gave both buffs to Lewyn, lich struck him with Sleepra. While Mari was waking him up and Rosch was still buffing, Kelin was the only one attacking. Using this to his advantage, lich casted both Blizzara and Thundaga and the party took a lot of damage from it. While Mari was now focusing on healing up the damage, Lewyn, now awake and pissed, went to town with the lich and brought him down to his knees. Kelin, now fully buffed, showed everyone his knightly training as his sword slashes were so fast it seemed to disappear. By the time his 16th slash had pierced and thrusted into the lich's head, he was wailing in pain. As Kelin removed his sword from the skull, lich's wails were screamed across the cavern as he disappeared into a mist. With this, the first fiend had fallen. As the 4 Warriors of Light had approached the crystal, Kelin had taken out his crystal. As the Warriors preyed, Kelin's crystal had touched the original one it slowly regained power. By the time they have finished their prayers, the crystal was at full power. With this Warriors cheered. This was a major step on their journey to save the world. As they were preparing to leave the dungeon, they noticed a magic circle behind the crystal. Thinking it might lead to another treasure room, they stepped in and were surprised to see they were outside. With this they reunited with Sead and they rested for the journey back.
While the Warriors were celebrating, elsewhere another being was waking up. "What? What was I doing? Oh, right. The promise. The promise. Wasn't it the time I should be waking up? But why do I feel like this? Is there a part of me missing? Wait. It can't be. They have slain one of us. How? How!? HOW?!" With each scream, the cavern had started shaking. "It seems I have some work to do." As she started to drain the Fire Crystal, the volcano above her started shaking. Mount Gulg, long dormant, had started to awaken and the countdown to its eruption started. Meanwhile, in a long forgotten shrine in the Drakenguard Mountains:
"Finally, the bastard that kept us here is dead. Finally, we can be free!"
"Well, look at you, Mr. Positive. Imagine our dreams actually happening."
"Don't you see? Some idiots have finally accomplished what we have wanted to happen for millennia."
"And how does that change our situation? We are still trapped in this forsaken prison, forgotten by gods, devils, Death and any other so called "divine" creature there is. What chance can we have now that we haven't in the past one thousand years?"
"Someone can actually put us out of our misery."
"Are you serious? You honestly want to accept death?"
"Is there another option? Our master is dead. Our scheme to try and survive has gotten us into this situation. We can't even influence the world beyond this cave. What else can we do? Preach love and peace to any idiot wandering here?"
"Who dares speak about love and peace?"
"I do. Now what are you going to do?"
"Grrrrr!"
"That's right. Grovel, like the beast you are."
"That's enough! All of you, shut up!"
"Well, now that we are all here, let us see what plans we can pull off."
"Didn't I say already? All we can do is hope that someone will come here and end us."
"How dare you?"
"What? You have a better idea? In this form we cannot harm each other. Hell, we can't even kill the living. That bastard removed that ability for us and now that he is dead, all we can is play with whatever idiots are stupid enough to come here."
"So what? We should just lay down and accept our demise?"
"No. I say we give our best performance and hope we don't kill them fast enough."
"How dare you? I-"
As the endless squabble continued in the depts of the Earthgift Shrine, the Warriors of Light were unaware of the events they have set in motion. As the morning came, their preparations to leave were interrupted when they heard loud footsteps approaching their camp.