With the help of the girl Hildebrant stood up and then both entered the small gap he created.
Before that, however, he stopped to observe wide stretches of white shore cowered in nothing but white sand, grey stones, and sprouting debris of old vessels. There was nothing else and after hesitating for a while he finally turned back to stare at darkness.
Entering the monument felt similar to entering Giant Maw. As darkness covered him, it prepared him for most of his senses and then all he could do was listen to the sound of small feet touching the ground until a small hand grasped his own.
Sensing the warmth of humans Hildebrant concentrated and then lifted his hand he concurred small ember of the fire that flickered above his palm with unwavering determination. Under the oppression of deep darkness, it looked small and insignificant and prepared to die down anytime stronger wind would blow.
Despite it, a small ember held and let Hildebrant finally have a chance to observe a wide corridor that did not look to have any end.
It was almost endless, and darkness would cower edges of his light anytime he moved but after turning to the side and illuminating part of the wall his expression changed to that of confusion.
The wall was covered in the painting of the woman dressed in royal robes; her figure was engraved into the wall the moment her hand was raised above hundreds of kneeling people.
The entire scene was grand but after observing it for a second, he began to walk deeper into the corridor, and from time to time he would shine on the wall and observe new paintings engraved into it and stories it wanted to tell.
One such wall described a regal woman standing atop him and kneeling to the giant palace that stood atop it. Another showed her figure fighting against the giant fleshly monster and the last painting he illuminated showed her tearing her skin apart while revealing a monster hiding under it.
The girl holding his hand furrowed her brows and Hildebrant who watched enough moved deeper into the void of light before him.
Walls following the one he observed just some second ago were extremely similar but also different as now they did not describe a woman but a monster that came out of her body.
The figure of the monster was humanoid, but her fingers were long, and her head hosted two big insect-like eyes with two antennas sprouting out of her head.
But for the monster alone it did not matter as she still wore royal robes and in most of the pictures, she tortured people and killed them with her two hands.
She did it in many ways that at some point, it looked as if anyone who engraved the pictures into the wall wanted to tell the world how sick this woman was. That was how it looked until the picture showed her small figure standing before a big ball that emanated heat just from looking at it.
The moment his eyes landed on it he stopped moving and brought the ember that flickered in his hand closer and then looked at it when he began to feel some of the heat emitted from it disappear.
Ball engraved into the wall then began to shine a little probing him to want to walk closer but then the sound of steel touching the stone began to slowly enter his ears and with each moment it came closer and closer.
At the beginning, it was almost unhearable but after a minute he heard it with extreme clarity and even the girl holding his hand ran behind him and hugged his hand tightly while watching deep into the darkness from where the sound came from.
Slowly rattling metal became more prominent and then out of nowhere golden figure stepped out of shadow into his dome of light.
The entire body of the being was covered in red, blood dripped down from the creature's sharp fingers, and the fearsome helmet resembled the face of an old angry demon.
Rusty golden armor hid the creature from his sight making him unable to tell its gender, but the blood that dripped down from it looked human enough for him to accept but he nevertheless shuddered when the creature left crimson footmarks on the floor.
Stepping in creature stopped moving as if surprised by the change and then its head turned to them and small ember in his hand.
Looking into two black holes that the creature had instead of eyes, flames in Hildebrant body began to rage on their own and flow through his body by instinct but then the creature tilted its head and waved at him with its bloodied hand.
"Hello?"
A boy's voice came from under the helmet.