"I've seen a place like this before… in an old book my professor gave me," Gelemia murmured, her voice threading with wonder and disbelief.
"The folks up above—they call it… a forest."
"You read about it in a book? So, there's nothing like this in Tytoal-ba?" I asked, partly in awe, making sure I hadn't drifted into some waking dream.
Gelemia shook her head, her smile tinged with something bittersweet. "If this were a Tytoal-ba forest, believe me, I wouldn't be this rattled. The trees back there aren't even half this size. To call that patch of sorry woodlands 'a forest' would be a real stretch."
I let my gaze sweep the horizon, every sense drunk on the endless, rolling green. It was as if the world itself wanted to drown out every sorrow in a tide of wild beauty. Towering trees rose thick and unyielding, their silhouettes tangled in shy beams of sunlight that filtered through the leaves with the hesitance of a half-remembered dream. My eyes lost themselves among the shifting boughs, my breath stuck somewhere between awe and disbelief.
Then, from somewhere deeper in the timbered wild, came the faintest of rumbles, a whispering song of water, river-music threading its way through the dense woods. I didn't think; my legs took me there, drawn as if by instinct. Push past a wall of brambles, and there it was: a river, clear as crystal and swift as a cut diamond, carving through the landscape like a hidden serpent weaving its way across the heart of the earth.
Gelemia nudged my arm, her eyes alight with a kind of hope. "Hey—look, a river! If we follow it downstream, chances are we'll end up somewhere more open. Maybe even out of here for good."
All I could do was nod, too caught up in the current of the moment. We started along the stony bank, my mind scrambling for any branch of logic to cling to. "Erin," I breathed, "do you have any idea what happened to us?"
Erin's reply came, calm and measured, each word falling with the weight of a lecturer's certainty. "Best guess? We've been pulled into a dungeon. Back there, that monster had a mana crystal. When the mana inside detonated, it tore a hole in space, a temporal portal. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed anything and everything in reach."
I swallowed hard, wanting to argue yet finding nothing for logic to grasp. "Is that… even possible?"
"Possible? After what we've just witnessed, I'd wager it's probable," he replied, his words threaded with a quiet, unsettling certainty. "The World Tree must have sensed that anomaly and allowed the portal to bloom open. Can you think of any other reason for all this lunacy?"
I could do nothing but keep walking, every step feeling like a tightrope. Whatever Erin said, right now, it seemed folly to doubt.
Without thinking, my gaze locked onto a shard of light filtering through the tangled trees ahead. I froze, heart thundering louder than the river's roar behind me. Holding my breath, I forced one foot forward, then another, drawn by that pale beacon.
Breaking free from the forest's grasp, I stumbled headlong into an entirely new world, a wild, windswept sea of green stretched as far as the eye could reach. Waves of grass rippled and shimmered, each blade dancing and catching the sunlight as the wind teased it into motion. Towering trees stood sentinel along the horizon, their shadows slanting over the gleaming earth in vast, cool patches. And there, just beyond the bend in the river we'd tracked, a village took shape, quiet, almost somber. Its houses, cobbled together from rough-hewn timber and bundles of straw, clustered like wary animals on the riverbank's edge.
"That village. We need to get there," I breathed, hope and anxiety battling for space in my chest as I pressed onward, heart kicking madly in my ribs.
"Wait!" Gelemia's cry rang out, sharp as a snapped branch, halting me in my tracks. She squinted into the distance, her eyes scanning with all the precision. "Don't see a person moving, not a dog, not a fire. Too quiet. It could be a trap."
No sooner had she spoken than danger made itself real, out of nowhere, a shadow streaked past, the air torn by a razor-edged whistle. An arrow ripped by, so close it brushed the fine hairs on my cheek, ripping away the last vestige of calm I'd stubbornly clung to.
Instinct took over. I snapped my head toward the source of the threat, searching for whatever lurked in the grass.
"There—" Gelemia's voice faltered, tight with worry.
Not four. Not seven. Far more than that. A whole pack of goblins had fanned out to form a living barricade well off to our flank. They were bulky, their bodies oddly thick and sturdy, barely up to my shoulders in height, but each one packed tight with muscle and sinew. Their skin was a deep, shrubby green, like the color of wild grass gone to seed, and their faces, if you could call them that, had the twisted snouts and tusked jaws of wild boars, crisscrossed with tribal scar-patterns as though some ancient hand.
Another arrow shrieked past, followed instantly by the bone-song of spears and darts, whistling through the air before slamming into the earth at my feet. One arrow flew straight for Gelemia, my body moved on pure reflex, summoning black sphere energy around my arm, forging a gauntlet of shadow that caught the hailstorm of missiles in a single, shattering clash. Metal and magic screamed together, ringing out across the silent field.
"Run—now!" I roared, grabbing Gelemia's wrist.
We tore across the grass like rabbits with boars on their heels, breaths ragged, boots flinging dust and sunlight behind us as we raced the gauntlet. Bolts and iron-tipped arrows showered down on both sides, thudding into the earth with grim intent, as though even the shadows thirsted for us.
For a moment, it felt like even my own shadow had turned traitor, reaching up to snatch at my ankles with jealous.
"There! Look—a cave!" Gelemia's finger shot out, tracing the air toward a gaping hole in the cliffside high above. Her excitement caught on the wind, sharp and bright.
If the gods of luck had ever glanced our way, maybe this was their halfhearted wink. The cliff wasn't too steep, and Gelemia, moving like wind incarnate, surged up the rock face as if gravity were a mere rumor. Maybe it was all those relentless Alteker drills finally paying off.
"Hurry, up!" she called, voice bouncing from stone to stone. Her hand reached down.
I summoned the black sphere over the back of my hand inky aura seeping into my skin, clutching my fingers like wild black roots. My grip became iron-strong, steady as bedrock. With that surge, I jammed my foot into a crevice, scaled upward breath by breath, and grabbed Gelemia's waiting hand.
a lifeline pulling me clear as the world tumbled beneath us. She hauled me up, strength rippling through her, until we landed sprawled at the cave's mouth, hearts pounding in unison.
We didn't waste a second, ducked inside, letting the cool shadows swallow our footsteps and snatch away any trace we'd ever been below.
"Cuarto. Oscuro." Gelemia's whisper shivered forth, just two words, but they sent thin shockwaves rippling along every jagged stone wall. The air seemed to tighten and vibrate, magic thrumming in the hush.
Then, in one sharp gesture, she pressed her finger to her lips, silent. Instantly, my body froze, not daring to even steal a deep breath.
Seconds stretched. Below, the pig goblin squad trampled into view, their guttural speech scraping against the quiet like rusty sawblades. Grunts and snarls stacked on top of one another, a jumble that must have passed for their language.
"Shouldn't we find a better hiding spot?" I whispered, words trembling on the edge of a panic I barely managed to cage. But Gelemia only tightened her warning, pressing me into utter stillness with a glare that cut straight through the dark.
Some of the pig goblins began scrambling up the lower rocks, snouts twitching, tusked faces muddled with confusion, like children who'd lost their way at dusk. They peered around, sullen and restless, casting about for any hint of us. Tension gnawed at every frayed nerve. But, after a long and anxious wait, they finally relented, shuffling off with one last uneasy glance.
As the last echo of their footsteps faded, Gelemia let out a massive, shuddering breath, as if her lungs had been holding back the entire sky itself. Relief edgeworn and heavy, spilled out with her exhale.
"I cast an illusion," she murmured, still panting but the ghost of a grin playing on her lips. "That spell, a simple trick of the mind. As far as their eyes are concerned, the cave mouth looks no different than the cliff wall. They never suspected a thing."
"There's magic that can do that?" I blurted, half in awe, half in disbelief.
"There is," Gelemia replied with a weak nod, her complexion pale as chalk. "But even the most basic form will bleed your mana dry. I'd be lucky to keep it up for long, my body's already on the verge of giving out."
"Thank you," I said, the words heavy with genuine gratitude. Gelemia merely gave a wry smile, brushing it aside.
"Really, don't sweat it. After what you did, just figured it's my turn to help out."
Without another word, she whispered the now-familiar incantation: "Voir. Ray. Hope." A sphere of light blossomed above our heads, its glow gentle and alive as a second heartbeat.
The magic orb cast soft radiance around the cave's womb, scattering the darkness and peeling back every secret nestling in the furthest corners. With light guiding us, we pressed deeper, silence thickening around our footsteps, shadows drawing in close.
Then, I stopped in my tracks. My lips barely formed words as chills crept down my spine. "Gods…" The sight before us: a tangle of bones carpeting the stone floor. Human, unmistakable in shape yet utterly hollow, mute, accusing, and undaunted even in death.
"You're only smelling it now?" Gelemia's hand shot up to shield her nose, eyes narrowing against the odor.
"Should we get out of here?" I whispered, voice strangled by dread. But lightning crashed outside, thunder shaking the sky as rain came down in sheets, savage, relentless. Water sluiced into the cave's mouth, a curtain of storm that swallowed the world beyond, turning our only escape into a shimmering wall. Whether heaven cursed us or offered shelter, it was hard to tell.
"Of all times for a storm," Gelemia grumbled, edging closer and eyeing the flood, as if she could stare the sky into behaving itself.
"Could be worse," I ventured, piecing a thin thread of relief over panic. "At least we've got cover." My voice wasn't quite convincing, but it was better than letting fear win.
Gelemia dragged in a long breath and let it out slow, as if she could bleed every ounce of frustration into the cave floor.
"So, any bright ideas about what really happened to us?" I finally asked, shattering the hush that pressed on every wall. The question echoed through the stone chamber where our lives balanced on the knife's edge.
Letting herself collapse against the wall, Gelemia looked completely spent, as if her tiredness could smother the whole cave. "That mess back there…" she said, eyes clouding over, "pretty sure we've landed ourselves in a dungeon. That monster was swinging around a mana crystal, super concentrated. When one of those explodes, it wakes up the World Tree, and a portal pops open. Anyone unlucky enough to be near just gets sucked inside. Guess that's us now."
Just like what Erin say.
"So… does that mean the monster got pulled in with us?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even, though fear kept worming through the cracks.
"Could be, could be not." Gelemia shot me a wary glance, her hesitation clear before she pressed on. "Honestly, it's not the pig goblins I'm worried about. If they're moving in packs like we saw, it probably means there's a whole tribe somewhere near, which means there's a chief lurking behind the scenes."
The dread in the air thickened, an echo bouncing between the cave walls. "Just the two of us… There's no way we're taking them head-on. One wrong move, especially if that monster made it in with us, and this dungeon might just turn into our grave." Her voice had dropped the last trace of levity; there was no room left for jokes.
A thought clawed its way up from the recesses of my mind, a nagging suspicion that just wouldn't die. "Could this… have something to do with Lingard?" I murmured, shooting a glance at Erinin my mind. Hozi's warning echoed, clear as a bell: He's a professor at Tytoal-ba.
Suddenly, memories tumbled over themselves.
"Hey, you studied at Tytoal-ba University, right?" I turned to Gelemia, hoping my question wouldn't squeeze the mood any tighter. "Did you ever meet Lingard Onison?"