Staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, Lauri let out a deep breath. He was bathed in darkness, not an unnatural darkness that threatened to swallow him alive, but simply darkness the absence of light. Whatever he was lying on was hard and cold, it was very cold as if the cold stone was touching his entire body.
'Why am I so cold, ugh, it's as if I'm not wearing any clothes at all… Ah, I'm naked.'
Picking himself up, Lauri thought about Her Aegis, strings of light burst from his chest wrapping around his body and limbs, in the next moment the chitinous armour was quickly summoned, the strings of light subsiding and replaced by the dim light of his glowing armour. Now protected from his cold surroundings, Lauri was able to take in his surroundings a little more due to Her Aegis' light.
"Again, seriously?"
Walking closer to the nearby wall, Lauri reached up to touch it. It had a jagged surface and cracked edges. Lauri sighed.
"How many times am I going to have to deal with caves…"
Turning around, Lauri realised now that the area he had thought was small was actually much larger. It just seemed small from the darkness covering everything.
Summoning Luminscient Helpe, Lauri watched as it fluttered into the darkness. It travelled, further and further, Lauri followed close behind his Imprint, not wanting to be submerged in the darkness again.
The ground Lauri walked over was shattered in some places and in others unnatural formations rose out of the ground, walls of perfectly smooth stone stuck out at odd angles. It was all rather strange to see in this silent cave as if a fight had taken place a long time ago.
A few minutes went by when an obstacle appeared in Lauri's path. Luminscient Helper travelled upwards casting light on the obstacle. It seemed like a large pile of rocks at first, it took Lauri a moment to truly understand what he was looking at.
Lauri's eyes grew wide as he recognised what he was seeing. A sword of light appeared in his hand conjured from the light Luminscient Helper was emitting. Raising his sword, Lauri froze.
The obstacle wasn't just a pile of rocks, the pile of rocks was actually a Fiend. It had a face with large eyes and an even larger gaping mouth, most of its body was hidden in the dark, but what Lauri could see was that it was a creature of immense size. Easily larger than the main building of Compound Thirty-Four.
Lauri started breathing again lowering his guard. Allowing himself to relax for only one reason, the Fiend wasn't trying to kill him. If Lauri learnt one thing, first from Laurence and then from reading, Fiends would always attempt to end a human's life never giving up unless something was about to end theirs. Taking a few cautious steps forward, Lauri smacked the Fiend with his sword. No reaction.
"So you're really dead, huh? What in the world could kill you?"
Prodding its face with his sword a few more times, Lauri backed away. This was an intimidating sight, one Lauri wasn't quite prepared for. He had been prepared to have to fight a Fiend the moment he appeared in the Aether, but seeing this dead thing in front of him gave Lauri pause.
"If this thing wasn't dead… Let's not think about that."
Turning away from the Fiend's crumbled body. Lauri made it a few steps before looking back.
"I wonder…"
Moving back to the Fiend, Lauri quickly circled its body. If the Fiend was dead, there would be soul cores for the taking. Spending the next few minutes inspecting the dead body, Lauri was again in awe of the size of the Fiend. Only after climbing on top of the pile of rocks did Lauri reach a gaping wound in its skin.
'Would a creature made out of rock have skin?'
Moving the perception of his left eye to Luminscient Helper, Lauri inspected the hole. Something had dug around inside the creature's body which meant only one thing.
"This Fiend wasn't killed, another Fiend…"
A light grew brighter in Lauri's heart.
"The soul cores are missing which means, this was killed by humans. Other Awakened!"
Quickly climbing down from the creature, Lauri began to frantically look for an exit. As he searched for the exit to this chamber, Lauri found areas where the ground was deformed. Cracked earth and unnatural formations where the earth had risen out of the ground to form walls.
"This fight didn't seem like an easy one."
Lauri's respect for whoever had managed to slay this Fiend grew higher by the second. Reaching the wall of the chamber, Lauri sighed.
'If I find out the exit is on the ceiling or something, I'll cry.'
Walking in one direction, Luminescent Helper flew in the other. Lauri's idea, if they both went in different directions, one of them would have to reach the exit to this place. His idea was quickly proven true when he found where the wall bent backwards turning into a tunnel.
Beginning down it, Luminescent Helper joined him after a minute. The tunnel continued, and claw marks raked the ground causing Lauri to have to be careful about where he placed his foot. The thought of getting a sprained ankle, because his foot slipped down one of the claw marks, wasn't the best thought to have on his mind at this very moment.
After what felt like an hour, the path abruptly ended. A pair of large double doors stood in Lauri's path, one of the doors was pushed slightly ajar. As Lauri got closer, he could see strange patterns carved into the door's smooth surface.
Putting his hand on the open door, he pulled it open. With some effort the door, Lauri managed to push the door open. The tunnel beyond the strange door was completely unlike the jagged rocks of the chamber behind him. The walls of this tunnel were perfectly smooth, with not a single loose rock in sight.
Continuing onwards, Lauri's expression grew bright as he saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Almost breaking into a sprint, Lauri came to an abrupt stop at the end of the tunnel.
The reason for this, the tunnel opened up into a sheer cliff face.