Tavza watched from a careful distance away rethinking his life choices as his maniac of a cousin entered a cave after an unkillable monster. He doubted this was the same type as the one he had seen in the imperial archives, but it was quite similar to the Desolate Ring hound. Natives of the depths of the endless storm, they were nye unkillable juggernauts that grew in power the more you fought them.
If you didn't kill them the first hit, they would come back stronger than ever by absorbing energy from your own attacks.
That hot head should have known better than to throw a finisher skill at the thing. Tavza scowled at the thought, eying the empty cave mouth thoughtfully. Going in there was likely a death trap. And yet, he didn't have much choice. Zee had just run in without hesitation. That woman was absolutely nuts! He should have never leapt into the gateway after her and that Ashary. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he was in some deep shit.
His locator beacons were giving mixed signals, and his escape array was on the fritz. Judging by the dense energy in the environment and the increased instability of space, they had to be in the deeper reaches of the endless storm.
The deeper currents of the endless storm were not a place to tread lightly. Getting rid of her now would cause more problems than it would solve. The fact of the matter was, he was stranded here without her.
He had been hoping it would kill her and save him the trouble, but now he couldn't let that happen.
The maniac just chased that monster back inside what he presumed was its lair. It was a confusing turn of events. One moment she was running away, and the next, she was chasing it. He hesitated as to what to do for a few seconds before let out a long sigh.
Well, might as well follow this fever dream to the end. He couldn't wait around much longer, no telling what might happen inside. What if she opened another gate and left him here? Then he would be truly screwed.
******
The cave was wide at the entrance, able to fit three carts side by side. At the mouth the cave was two stories tall, narrowing rapidly as it reached a bend.
Zee warily advanced, glancing over her shoulder just before leaving the azure glow of the ethereal forest. For a moment she thought she had sensed something, like someone was watching her from the treeline.
It was a fleeting impression, one that faded as the pungent smell of the dead corpses wafted to her nose. The culprit for the smell was not difficult to find. In fact, there were so many corpses that it was hard to stay quiet. The heavy crunch of something echoed around the cave as she took another step. Zee glanced down just as a flicker of light from the entrance reflected off something at her feet at just the right angle.
It wasn't wood, no; it was something else. Dried bones blanketed the floor, some of them so old they crumbled to dust under her boots. Her anxiety only grew as she looked around, realizing that the mounds throughout the cave were not rock outcroppings, but instead piles of bones.
Another bone crunched under her boot, throwing off any chance of stealth as she moved away from the light at the bend.
She proceeded slowly, down another long stretch of cave with no sign of either the monster, or Dern and Sersie. Urgency pushed her forward, and she increased her pace, ignoring the crunch of bone under foot. All the while she convinced herself these were monsters, not people she was walking on. The tunnel turned sharply again, and she paused, cocking her head.
Three passages, each fairly similar in terms of size and shape, with neither standing out. It was impossible to tell which path Dern might have taken with all three paths covered in broken and scattered bones.
"Damnit Dern, why did you have to enter this damned cave?" Zee swore under her breath.
She was going to ring his nonexistent neck when she found him. Not even her connection gave any clues as to which one he took, simply indicating he was in the same general direction.
She sighed.
Without any better options, Zee picked one cave at random. The middle one seemed as good as any. She walked forward, her skin tingling as she crossed an invisible barrier.
She paused, her eyes widening as the circular tunnel turned into a square cut corridor. It turned from a cave carved by water to a tunnel clearly made by someone.
Unlike moment's before, no bones scattered across the floor, though the stone was cracked and weathered from age.
The walls were covered in large stone tiles, each with a single marking chiseled into its surface. They were ritual markings, each giving off an intractable feel of stability.
Zee frowned. She was well versed in ritual diagrams, and yet, many of these were unfamiliar. Some of them were easily recognizable, like those meant to stabilize space, and others meant to contain and transfer energy.
She cocked her head, getting a good look at the archway she stood in. Her eyes slowly widened. Anxiety built in her chest as she turned. Despite already knowing what she would find, her stomach clenched.
It was just as she feared. There was a wall right behind her where the cave should be. She reached up and placed a hand on it, confirming it wasn't a mere illusion.
Her eyes flicked down to the floor, then to the walls noting that the ritual marking ended about ten meters from the dead end.
This was truly a magnificent ritual diagram. Space was so stable here, creating a seamless transition from the cave to this tunnel. She hadn't even noticed being transported here.
Zee was well aware of just how difficult a feat that was. Whoever created this thing was not simple indeed. Even grandpa Julian would struggle to replicate such a smooth gate transfer while in the endless storm.
That fact was equal parts exciting and terrifying. She really wanted to study these ritual markings in depth, but she had a pain in the ass spirit companion to retrieve. Zee gave the ritual markings a regretful once over.
Knowing she didn't have time to study it in depth, she pulled a small crystal from her spatial storage and tossed it out. The gem glowed for a moment, light bouncing off every inch of the tunnel.
It took only a couple of seconds to scan the whole corridor.
Once it was done, she grasped the gem from the air, she gently stowing the gem back in her spatial storage, she strode forward. Copying the images with this gem wasn't as good as studying the ritual in person, but getting an illusory copy would have to do.
The biggest problem with the illusory copy was that it didn't copy energy signatures very well. She cursed her lack of foresight. When buying this scanning treasure, she had ignored the more expensive one, deciding it wasn't worth the price. Hindsight was a cruel mistress.
The sound of boots on stone echoed to her ears as she strode down the hallway, listening for any sign of her quarry. There was a very good chance she had taken the wrong tunnel, but It's not like she could turn around and go back. She might not even be in the same general area of the eternal storm she had been before.
Zee focused on her link with Dern, her brows furrowing.
He felt distant. In another place, perhaps? Strangely, she couldn't quite tell where he was. Something was messing with her connection, probably the ritual markings embedded on the corridor walls.
Curious, Zee turned to a cloud of mist, reaching out and placing her hand on the wall. Instead of phasing through, the stone resisted, her palm burning from the touch.
Zee recoiled, returning to her physical form. Her palm smoked, and she swore, shaking her hand.
Damn, well, that was good to know.
Some of the ritual markings were hard to spot, but after she started looking, they were everywhere. The floor, the ceiling, and the walls. Whoever built this place really didn't want someone using movement skills to escape. Or gates, for that matter. From what she could infer, very bad things would happen to anyone who tried to open a portal here.
That was not a good sign. If she ran into that monster from the outside in here, Zee was going to be in deep shit.
Her anxiety only grew as she walked down the empty corridor. There was absolutely nothing but more boring tunnel. The ritual markings on the walls were interesting, but she had other things on her mind.
After a few minutes of walking, the tunnel turned sharply, and widened into a small chamber. Four doors, each with a symbol above.
An ancient pyramid, a human child holding a book, a tower overlooking a lake, and a red moon.
Each was distinct, releasing a unique and ancient aura. Zee frowned, eying each one closely. The vision when she first saw the cave came back to her mind, where each of these symbols were first represented.
Two of the symbols nagged at her mind. Could it be that simple? Were these representations of the keys to the eternal throne she had? It was possible, though it didn't quite add up. The tower with the lake looked similar to Kur Zul's spire, though without the flames.
The child holding a book could represent Raina, though it was hard to tell while looking at the child's back.
She furrowed her brows. There were obvious cracks in her hypothesis. If the tower represented Zul's tower, and the girl holding the book represented Raina, then what the hell did that moon and the pyramid represent?
It seemed almost like a misdirect. Perhaps one was a trap, while the other was the right path?
Or she could be misreading this whole scenario. She might be completely misreading this entire scenario, if not for a few small details. There were a few things she had learned over the past years that gave her some confidence.
Back when she met that giant fish in the spirit plane, it planted her with an beacon that helped her sense an anomaly deep in the endless storm.
When she entered the tunnel, the nagging from its beacon had disappeared. It could be due to interference, but this was likely in the place it had been referring to. That vision was also quite convincing that this place was special.
That kind of thing was more than a little bit difficult to do. Why would someone bother with such a sophisticated array if this place didn't contain an incredibly valuable treasure?
The thought made her heart skip a beat.
It was likely a key to the eternal throne, but it could also be something left behind by an ancient cultivator. Or it could be a vault full of valuable treasures with a trial to access.
People did that sometimes, creating a trial for future visitors.
Some assholes also liked to create deathtraps to lure in unsuspecting cultivators with the prospect of wealth. Given the fact this place had an unkillable monstrosity guarding it, it might be the latter.
Whoever created it might not want anyone to have what was inside.
If that was the case, Zee could be in trouble.
Of course there was always a catch, always some old schemer with their own self interest in mind.
Whoever made this place was likely the same.
She would need to tread carefully. Any old cultivator who would put in the effort to build this place wouldn't care about her well being. Whether she lived or died wouldn't matter to them. Given the ancient look, whoever made it could be long gone, having left this place to rot.
That meant the treasure was ripe for the taking.
Nodding to herself, Zee made up her mind.
She took the leftmost door, her instincts urging her to enter. That one felt right somehow. It called to her, like a whisper in the back of her mind.
Taking a step forward, she followed the tunnel, her sword held in a firm grip. Just because it appeared empty, didn't mean she should just let down her guard.
One corridor tuned to another, each with branching pathways. At first she recognized the symbols, but they changed with each intersection. Some resembled the first four, but others had no connection. Even so, she somehow knew which corridor to head down. Minutes turned to hours as she followed the narrow tunnel.
She didn't run into any traps, or monsters, just more corridors. That should have been calming, but it instead frayed her nerves.
This place all looked the same, except the junctions. Over the past hours, there were several times she could swear she walked down the same corridor again.
That couldn't be right though. She was following that guiding feeling in her mind. As the hours passed, the sense of wrongness only grew.
She was almost certain she was walking in circles. So as to prove she wasn't going crazy, Zee cut a small groove into one wall. Another couple hours later, her fears were confirmed.
She stared at the wall and the familiar notch in the stone.
It looked the same as before, though it looked different somehow. She could swear she had made a horizontal cut, and not a vertical one. Perhaps this was someone else's mark?
Unsheathing her sword, she turned the cut into an X. There, now, if she came across it again, she could be certain.
Following that sense in her mind, she kept going, her gnawing hunger eventually prompting her to stop. Zee was thankful she had brought quite the supply of rations in her spatial storage.
She had years' worth in there, crates of dried meat, fruit, and hardtack bread.
With her back against the wall, she chewed on a strip of druid apple thoughtfully. It was strange, the patterns on the walls.
It was almost like they were made to confuse her senses, rather than anything else. It was almost like she was in a giant array. The thought quickly passed as she sat there.
So much for coming to Dern's aid. She could sense him off in the distance, though she wasn't sure exactly where. Perhaps he was in a different part of the maze than she was?
Was that monster here as well? The thought was troubling. It urged her back to her feet, and she continued down the tunnel.
By the end of the second day she had to be honest with herself. Zee was lost. Hopelessly lost. She had blindly followed that sense in her mind, and this is what it got her.
So much for finding a key to the eternal throne just lying around. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. When has anything ever been so simple? Zee sighed. Why did it have to be some confusing labyrinth?
All these tunnels looked the same. By now, she had tried taking different passages, going directly against her instincts, but that didn't work. This whole thing messed with her senses.
To make things worse, she could swear she was coming across marks she hadn't left on the walls.
Perhaps they found a way out? With no better path to follow, she followed the ones left by someone else.
She followed a series of erratic and branching pathways, with no rhyme or reason. Eventually, the path ended abruptly with a pile of bones.
Finding a corpse wasn't how she hoped to run into someone in this maze. The corpse wasn't humanoid, but instead that of a blood gorger, clearly having been dead a very long time.
Its usually hard carapace crumbled to dust when she nudged it with her boot.
It was the kind of decay that took decades, if not centuries. It was a troubling thought. Curious, she searched the bones, sensing the familiar echoes of a spatial artifact. The necklace was under the corpse; the bones crumbling as she pushed them aside to scoop it up.
Zee wiped it off on her cloak, probing it with her senses.
Whoever this bug had been, he had quite a few ether crystals in his storage. Not enough to make her rich by any means, but a good haul. More important than a few thousand crystals was the journal inside.
Partially protected by the decay of time from being stored inside the spatial storage, it was remarkably well preserved. She pulled it out, carefully opening it to the first page.
It was in an older dialect of the blood gorger script, but thankfully, her translation array still worked to decipher it.
It was a journal, a messily written compilation of the bugs' explorations. This blood gorger, named Igla, and a group of ten others had ventured into the deeper reaches of the endless storm about fifteen hundred years ago.
With all of them being D grade, they were in search of wealth, and to advance. Their voyage was going well until one day their ship was hit by a freak storm that appeared from nowhere and sucked them into a spatial tear. The ship was destroyed on impacting into the spiritual forest, with half the crew dying and the rest being grievously injured. The monster found them, and they realized too late attacking it only made it stronger. They tried to flee, but given most were grievously injured, it slaughtered them. Igla and two others escaped, fleeing for their life until they found the cave.
At first, they thought the cave was salvation, but quickly realized it was a prison. There was no escape. To make things more dire, the monster had come in after them. It was in here, and it was hungry, hunting them.
The more Zee read, the more her mouth went dry. The tale was horrifying. Igla spoke of how they walked these corridors for months that turned to years, their supply of food and water dwindling until they had none left.
The monster was slow without being empowered, but it was relentless. D grade cultivators were incredibly sturdy, but they couldn't go forever. It took years, but hunger, thirst and fatigue eventually won out. One by one, Igla's companions fell, until it was the only one left.
Zee let out a long breath, closing the dusty journal, gently setting it down next to Igla's body.
Igla and its companions had tried everything, from following markings in the junctions to deciphering the impressions on the walls. None of it had worked.
Even trying to open a gate hadn't worked for them, ripping one of Igla's companions in half.
It was an incredibly bleak story, a tale of tragedy.
Having returned the book to it's former owner, she straightened up.
Knowing Igla failed to escape changed nothing. She was going to get out, even if she had to break down the walls until she found the exit.