Arthur leaned against the earthen wall, gasping for breath dozens of times before regaining his rhythm. This was the fourth underground cavern he and Parish had reached. In the last chamber, which showed traces of military activity, they were pursued by patrolling soldiers. At the critical moment, Parish used his Mirror World sorcery, creating mirage-like illusions to confuse the five soldiers, enabling the duo to reach their current location safely.
"How much farther?" Parish's condition was dire. Sorcerers drew on natural elements to amplify their magic, but in the dry underground of the Rose Estate, water was scarce. To maintain their energy, Parish constantly used his magic and had even forced himself to activate Mirror World earlier. All the water he used now came from within himself. If this continued, he wouldn't survive long enough to uncover the secret hidden by the Hebrew family.
Though this cavern was not as expansive as the previous one, it had four tunnels. Arthur, listening to the faint sounds in the distance, pointed to the far-left tunnel. "That's the way." Parish braced himself on his knees and signaled for them to continue, but Arthur didn't move. Instead, he tapped the earthen ceiling with his silver sword.
"Mr. Parish, don't you feel something is off?"
Parish slumped against the entrance of the leftmost tunnel, waiting for Arthur to explain.
"Every tunnel we've taken so far has led forward—no lefts, no rights. We've covered at least two hundred meters. We should have exited the Rose Estate by now. That first path we entered wasn't very wide either..."
Parish closed his eyes, mentally sketching a rough map of their path. They had descended through a trapdoor in the Rose Estate's main building, which was in the estate's center. Indeed, every tunnel led forward. By this route, they should have encountered the walls of the narrow path that encircled the estate.
The city walls.
Brighton City sat in the northwestern corner of the southern continent. The Hiss River, originating from the northern slopes of the Carmel Mountains, flowed around Brighton's northern gate before draining into the plains west of Tari. Historically prone to flooding, the river had drastically altered Brighton's surrounding geography. To mitigate these disasters, successive city lords had reinforced the city's four walls with extensive foundations—a fact Arthur had learned from The Development History of Brighton City.
"You're saying we haven't been advancing at all?" Parish, slightly reinvigorated, snapped his fingers with difficulty. "That might explain why the military hasn't found the Hebrew family's secret. But what about the sounds you heard? Aren't they guiding us?"
"Mr. Parish, do you remember what Mr. Nightingale said about Elikrom's abilities?"
"You mean nightmares? Are you suggesting we're dreaming right now?" Parish suddenly grasped Arthur's meaning. If their hypothesis was correct—that the Hebrew family secret was the colossal broken fang of the wolf god Elikrom—then any oddities meant they were on the right track.
But when had the nightmare begun? Parish felt as if he'd forgotten something important, something he'd noticed but couldn't now recall.
Arthur pondered as well. When the sounds of patrolling soldiers echoed behind them, the two decided to move forward, thinking as they went. If this was truly a nightmare, identifying when it began would be crucial. Moreover, this artifact seemed capable of dragging all who entered the caverns into its dream.
"All who enter... people?"
Arthur suddenly grabbed the ailing Parish and illuminated him with a glow sphere. "Mr. Parish, have you noticed we haven't encountered something lately?"
"What?" Parish's condition worsened the deeper they went. His cheeks hollowed, and his body withered alarmingly fast. Arthur panicked and asked about Parish's state.
Parish waved weakly. "It's strange... I'm losing water too quickly. This must be the nightmare's doing. But go on... what did you notice?" His voice was barely audible now, and his body shriveled at a visible pace.
"Corpses. The corpses, Mr. Parish. After seeing those two in the first chamber, you said we'd encounter more. But in the next two chambers, we only saw weapons and breathing tubes—no bodies."
Arthur scooped up Parish, who now resembled a desiccated corpse, his panic overwhelming him. Tears trickled from his eyes. Water! His tears were water! Realizing this might help, he looked to Parish, but the sorcerer didn't lift his hand or utter any incantations.
"Hebrew..." Parish's faint whisper barely reached Arthur's ears. Arthur pressed his ear close.
"Flesh corpse... markings... wolf totem..." The fragmented words painted a vague picture. Arthur understood one thing clearly—there was something marked near the two flesh corpses in the first chamber.
With Parish's organs now visible beneath his darkened skin and his heart beating slower, Arthur carefully secured him to his back with torn sleeves. "Hold on, Mr. Parish. We're almost out of this nightmare."
Returning to the large cavern that resembled an underground military base, Arthur hid behind a dirt wall and concealed the glow sphere in his shirt, watching as three patrolmen stood chatting in the center.
"It's been five minutes, and he's still not back. We should move on."
"But how did Norm just vanish like that? We should've stayed aboveground to monitor!"
"Shut up, Nash. That was just an illusion! The captain is already down here. What more do you want?"
The three bickered before entering the second tunnel on the left.
So this nightmare could trap everyone in the same dream... Arthur gasped, deeply worried about Parish, who remained unresponsive. Arthur whispered shakily, "Please don't scare me, Mr. Parish. Don't die on me. I can't accept that—I won't let anyone I know die in front of me."
Once sure the patrolmen had left, Arthur cautiously returned to the path they'd originally come from. Using the glow sphere for light, he retraced his steps to the chamber with scattered weapons.
The scene there had changed again.
Now, in the center of the chamber stood a red-skinned, scar-faced orc wielding a massive axe.
"I found you, Hebrew," the orc cackled, swinging his colossal weapon.
Arthur, paralyzed with terror, forgot to breathe.