Yna forcibly opened the locked metal cell door before gesturing that I exit the cell.
I did as instructed, but I quickly noticed that the Rendaro weren't following me.
"Well? Come on." I said, but they remained still.
I sighed before looking at Yna for answers.
"Let's open the seal by ourselves. If things go wrong, we'll take care of it. If not, we'll come back for them." She said flatly.
I nodded before looking down the hall we found ourselves in.
It was lined with countless cells, its floor was sticky and the air was foul.
I shook away all other thoughts before running down the hall.
Yna and I promptly exited it to find ourselves in another hall.
We ran from hall to hall for several minutes before running into some guards.
"Yna!" I cried prompting Yna to grab me and dash past the bewildered guards.
It must have been the most bizarre sight for them.
Being shoved to the side by a giantess carrying a gold sword and a goat.
Yna and I eventually left the central part appeared to be a prison of sorts.
The air was filled with darkness and the prisoners were all either wounded or had baggy eyes and scarred hands.
We eventually arrived at the prison's exit where several guards gathered to stop us.
I closed my eyes as they all raised their spears and swords.
"Try not to kill anyone, ok?" I asked as Yna tightened her hold on me.
I then heard several pained groans, but I kept my eyes closed.
A few moments passed and Yna returned to running.
I opened my eyes to see that we were on a dark street lined with various buildings, from which lots of heat and smoke came from.
I assumed this is where the Rendaro processed some of their goods.
The few Rendaro we came across quickly moved out of the way as Yna charged forward.
We ran down many different streets before eventually returning to the large chamber where the seal was.
"Alright. I realize what we're about to do may be irreversible, but at this point, my curiosity is killing me. What do you think? Should we just leave the Rendaro and go somewhere else? Should we go back to your place?" I asked.
Yna's eyes briefly narrowed and even though she had been running for quite some time, she didn't look tired in the slightest.
"Mmm… I'm curious as well." Yna simply said.
I nodded before deeply sighing.
"Let's do this," I said, prompting Yna to walk into the chamber.
As she did, her body began glowing gradually.
I felt a strange warmth as her feet touched the ground with ever-increasing force.
The guards in the chamber quickly noticed her luminous presence and so they gathered in front of us with raised weapons.
Yna sighed and before I could even blink, the faint golden lines around her skin flared brightly and in the next moment, we found ourselves right in front of the seal.
"Someone stop her!"
"Call the Elders!"
"This can't be happening!"
Such things were said as Yna gently placed me on the ground.
She then placed her hands on the seal and I watched in awe as the metal seal warped under the force of her hand.
"Pay attention, Katsíki. See this seal? It's made out of a complex mesh of darkness. Think of all magic as a collection of small parts. Those parts come together to make up an aspect of our reality. The technique used to make this seal is pretty simple. Someone, a moderately skilled magician, gathered a ton of darkness and arranged it in countless layers. It would take quite a lot of force to break this using raw physical strength, but fortunately for us, the aspect of darkness weakens in the presence of light and that just so happens to be my speciality." Yna said as she tore through the dark metallic slab.
Countless guards swarmed into the chamber, but just as they did, Yna tore open the seal, resulting in a shockwave that kicked up a plume of dust and knocked me over.
Dust filled the chamber interior and I heard the sounds of people coughing.
I quickly hopped onto my feet before cautiously walking into what looked like a grand walkway.
Large obsidian pillars and pitch-black walls paved the path ahead.
My eyes widened as I saw a dark city.
It was littered with dark mausoleums, towers that touched the sky- or the ground since it was all underground.
As for the city's size, it stretched out far into the subterranean horizon.
I then noticed that several guards were making their way up from the beautiful city and it is also then that I heard a familiar voice.
"What have you done?" Karish asked as he approached, but just as he reached my side, his eyes widened to their limits.
The guards from below reached us before pointing their weapons at all of us, Karish included.
"It's a Golden Knight!"
"Kill her quickly!"
Some of the guards said, but Yna simply pointed her sword at them, making them keep their distance.
I, however, hadn't taken my eyes off of Karish, who stared wordlessly at the city below.
"Something tells me you didn't know this was down here." I droned as the guards from upper Eimval surrounded us.
I ignored all of their taunts and threats while carefully eying Karish, whose eyes welled up with tears.
"This… this cannot be…" Karish muttered.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Iana… the Dark Citadel," Karish said with lips that trembled.
"What?"
"That's impossible! Our capital was destroyed by the humans almost two centuries ago!"
"Maybe it wasn't."
"Why would the high elders hide this from us?"
Such things we said as Karish slowly fell to his knees.
"All these years… all our sacrifices…"
"The High Rendaro Elders made you and your people protect the seal. They then lied and said that it was for the sake of the survival of your kind, but in truth, they were only looking out for themselves. It's as you said. You were simply distractions should Eimval get attacked." I said before turning to face the underground city.
My mind was already racing in an attempt to piece everything together and my heart was beating fast enough to burst through my chest cavity, but I composed myself as best as I could.
"Is this the legacy of the Rendaro? One where kin sacrifices kin." I asked, more to myself than anyone else.
"I want to see it," Karish said weakly.
"Our home. I want to see what it looked like- what it looks like." He said.
"No! Your lives were forfeit the moment you allowed the golden knight to break the seal."
One of the guards from Iana yelled.
I sighed before facing the guards from Eimval.
"Well? Do you guys wanna see your ancestral home as well?" I asked, but their glares remained.
"Lower your weapons," Karish instructed.
"But sir-"
"No, he's right. Think about it. Even if we manage to kill these two, what will happen after? We'll somehow find a way to restore the seal and what? Sacrifice countless more generations to protect a place that is historically more fortified than the Golden Capital?"
One of the guards asked.
"Yeah. Wouldn't it be better if we somehow found a way to work with the elders from Iana and found a way to move forward as a people?"
"Aren't we all forgetting that the goat is also the vessel of lord kenos?"
"That doesn't give him the right to decide the fate of our people."
Such things were said and I could genuinely see change being openly discussed, but that was only on the side of the Ia from Eimval.
I turned to face the other Rendaro, to find them cowering before Yna.
"Well? What say you?" I asked.
"They have nothing to say." A feminine voice said from somewhere behind the guards.
A Rendaro approached from a grand obsidian stairway, surrounded by guards who wore heavy metal armour embellished with a sigil depicting a burning circle.
As for the female Rendaro who led them, she wore a gown that had intricately woven patterns all over it. Patterns that culminated in a burning perfect circle at the gown's centre.
All of the guards from Iana bowed deeply as she walked toward Katsíki.
"The fact that we're all still alive means that the Golden Knight does not personally want to fight. So who is her master? You, treacherous elder? Or you, little one?" The Rendaro asked, her words clear and her tone flat.
"My name is Katsíki and hers is Yna. I originally came to help the Rendaro with their plight-"
I stopped as I looked at the Rendaro's smooth, pale skin. Skin which had almost no traces of darkness within it.
"but it seems as though, with some time and communication, you could all figure things out on your own."
"Really? Well, I'm sorry to say, oh benevolent lambkin, but we do not need your help. Actually, your presence here will only bring about the end of our people." The Rendaro said.
"What makes you say that?" I asked as the woman walked closer to me.
"Let me clarify. You travelling with that death bringer will only end in a painful end for you and everyone around you." The woman said.
"I see. But that isn't an immediate problem Elder-"
"Tasha."
"Elder Tasha. The immediate problem is that the Rendaro in Eimval are living painful and probably short lives. There's an obvious need for change and with a little communication and cooperation, we could-"
"Naïve," Tasha said as she turned around.
"What?"
At this point, my heart was beating extremely fast, but even as my legs trembled, I maintained eye contact with Tasha.
I didn't know why, but her every word echoed in my mind a million times over.
Her pitch-black eyes were seared into my memory with painful clarity.
"Your priorities are backwards. I'm assuming you came here hoping that you could somehow save every Rendaro, but that's not how it works. You save what you can and leave what you must so that everything isn't lost. That's a lesson I really hope you learn soon, but for now, I'd like to kindly ask that you and the knight leave." Tasha said without turning to face me.
"I can't. Not until-"
"Not until you use that dark power within you to force us into abandoning our ways?" Tasha asked without turning to face me.
"No! I can absorb all the darkness above to reduce the suffering of the Rendaro, even if it's just a little."
"Doing that would only expose all of us to myriad dangers. Tell me, little one, why hasn't the moon king discovered us yet?" Tasha asked as she crossed her arms.
"I… don't know."
"Because we are camouflaged by the surrounding darkness. What do you think our enemies will do once they discover a rapid disappearance of darkness? The answer is simple. They'll investigate and once they find us down here, they'll make demands that we cannot possibly accept and war will once again break out. What will we do then?" Tasha asked, her face still without expression.
"What if that isn't the case? You said your enemies will come to investigate. Couldn't we use that as an opportunity to negotiate and maybe even start peace talks?"
"Oh? And how many Rendaro corpses are you willing to wager those questions on?" Tasha hissed.
"I…"
I tried speaking, but no words left my mouth. Even as countless thoughts bombarded my mind.
Tasha then gave me a rather pained look.
"Leave. All of you. Let us survive the way we have just a little longer. I will erect another barrier and things will return to the way they've always been. As for you, little one..." Tasha said before glancing hatefully at Yna.
"I wish you a safe journey… regardless of the path you choose to take," Tasha said.
I didn't know what to do or say.
Yna simply stared at me with a raised eyebrow and Karish was still on his knees, his face covered in tears.
"O… OK." I said before turning to leave.
Yna followed me as I left the grand entrance and stepped onto the platform that led back into the dark chamber.
I then made my way past countless guards who said and did nothing as Yna and I passed them.
I hesitated to look into their hollowed eyes as my hooves loudly struck the cold obsidian floor.
"We've given more than enough. The people of Eimval deserve to see their home!"
I heard a familiar voice yell, but even as the sounds of clashing metal and pained screams filled the air, I didn't look back.
I was so terrified by what I would find that I frantically ran up the stairs that led to Eimval's second level.
Yna ran by my side before gently picking me up and running towards the stairs that led to the first floor.
Upon reaching the first floor, we then promptly made out way out of Eimval using the secret entrance we had entered all that time before.
Yna then gently placed me down, but I didn't want to be near Eimval anymore and so I ran away.
Not from Yna, but from the underground city and the city beneath.
I was a fool.
"Katsíki."
I'm pretty sure I died back on earth.
Maybe this was my purgatory.
A sick plane for me to exist in while the cosmos decided my fate-
"Katsíki!" Yna called, prompting me to come to a stop.
I looked into Yna's unmoving golden eyes and trembled. My body quaked so much that I shrunk into myself.
I sat on the cold desert sand and watched as Yna knelt before me.
"You hesitated."