Alexander groaned while opening his eye, pain radiated through his chest.
He propped himself up on one elbow and looked down.
A circular scar was on his chest, with what looked like runes inscribed around it.
It looked intricately detailed, with triangles and circles that had multiple outlines, all creating one eye-catching magical circle.
He ran his finger along the scar, it wasn't deep, and barely hurt.
Why would he do that?
He sat upright, instantly regretting his decision.
Pain pulsated through his head, as if someone turned up the heat with no regards for his safety.
As the heat increased, so did the magic circle on his chest, creating a mixture of pain unlike anything he had ever felt before.
He held his head with both hands, applying pressure with his fingers which brought slight relief.
He closed his eyes.
Breathe in, breathe out. Pain is temporary.
After a short moment, he opened his eyes again, and while the pain wasn't completely gone, it diminished.
For the first time, he realized where he was.
"A cave?"
It must be the first level in my inner path…
It was dark, yet light had found its way through what looked like a puddle of water near the rocky walls.
The liquid covered the walls, which all had a faint blueish light emanating from them.
Seeing the puddle made him realize how thirsty he was, his mouth suddenly feeling dry.
With little effort, he got up, his legs slightly trembling.
How long was I unconscious?
He massaged his legs, then dragged himself toward the wall.
The puddle was a lot deeper than it seemed, despite how narrow it was. He could see the light coming out of it, from which he couldn't discern the bottom.
He got on all four, his knees resting against the hard rock as he slowly lowered the tip of his finger in the clear water.
Please don't be acid…
He closed his eyes for a moment as he came in contact with the cold liquid, relief instantly rushing through his head as his finger didn't dissolve.
He brought his hands together, dunking them in the liquid and bringing it to his mouth, testing it slowly.
His eyes widened, as the cold and refreshing water ran down his throat.
He splashed it around, repeating the process several times.
He washed his faced and rubbed his neck, feeling instant relief as it cooled him off.
The headache lingered, but was bearable.
Alexander got up and looked around once more while paying closer attention.
He couldn't see the moldy door, the last thing he remembered before waking up was touching it with the tip of his finger.
And the guild…
Sunder's words echoed through his mind. He remembered how dungeon runners fell to the ground, and how Sunder told him it was his fault.
He touched his scar once more, his thoughts digging through what the reasons must've been.
The portal somehow affected the people around, but how?
He ultimately turned his mind to other things, taking another look around.
"I should focus on making my way out of here…" he said, while studying his environment.
The walls had several holes in them, with a chasm on the other side. An empty gap with lights danced, most likely emitted from the same water that illuminated the area he was in.
The cave felt half-natural. Parts of the ground were tiled, and some walls bore remnants of carved architecture.
One stone structure stood near the opposite wall, it was elevated from the ground and large in size.
Alexander approached slowly, he could tell there was something resting on it but the darkness roughed the edges.
As he got closer, he could see the light reflecting off the structure, it looked like an altar that had been carved from marble, it truly stood out against the darker rocky formation all around it.
"Is that…"
He got even closer, finally standing next to it.
There was a person resting on the altar, her peaceful appearance enhanced by how fragile she looked.
Her short white hair rested against the altar, it looked as white as the clothes she wore, something surprising considering they were underground.
She had a robe that ended in a skirt, revealing her legs resting against the cold stone.
Her pale skin resembled the polished structure she stood on. Alexander extended his arm, gently caressing her soft cheek. He ran his thumb across her lips, they felt real.
Cold?
He slid his hand down to her neck, gently touching the side.
Could she be dead?
He reached down, resting his hand on her chest, right above her heart.
No heartbeat.
He looked around once more.
The cave was too humid, so much so that the walls were covered in a thin layer of water. There was no way a corpse would remain in such a perfect condition without decaying.
The damp, humid smell that filled the tight space wasn't a pleasant one, but it was nowhere near what it should've smelled like if she had been dead.
He brushed the back of his hand along her thighs.
Then stopped.
Mid-way through her thighs, where he thought he had seen thigh-highs, were white prosthetics. Half her thigh connected to her knee, which connected to the rest of her leg down to her toes.
It was all prosthetics.
He grabbed the sleeves, pulling them up, revealing her gentle skin only covered her hand up to her wrists, prosthetics going all the way up to her shoulders.
"A… puppet?"
Scratching his head, he walked around the altar, going toward the wall near it.
There was two arching frames carved in the stone, yet no doors or entrance, he was completely closed off.
As he got closer to it, black liquid seeped through the rock that filled the frames, as if the stone was sweating a liquid he could recognize from his earlier experience.
Alexander took a few steps back, his eyes looking at any movement from the structure, and glancing back at the girl on the altar who remained completely still.
Once the frames were completely filled with the black liquid, one eye opened in each frame, their size bigger than anything he had seen before.
He took several steps back, his legs hitting the altar.
The eyes followed his movement to an inch, remaining inside the frames as they simply observed.
Above each of the frame something began to trace itself, from left to right.
It was a purple line that seemed to be writing something in a language he didn't know, the lines forming symbols he had never seen. They were easy to see, the faint glow contrasting against the dark surroundings.
He glanced at the girl once more, then at the eyes.
Nothing was happening.
He took a measured step forward, looking at the symbols that had appeared, while under the scrutiny of the eyes.
Be…hol…der.
He frowned, his heart pumped faster.
How can I read this?
The symbols made no sense, yet his mind knew them.
He quickly took a few step sideways, almost stumbling, the irises still following him.
Willmaker, he read above the other one.
He took a deep breath, slowly approaching the Willmaker arch.
The eye's pupil started dilating, darkness overwhelming the iris. It became a full black circle, and as he kept approaching, instead of expanding, the iris slowly turned into a cross, a vertical line and a longer horizontal one crossing each other straight in the middle.
He then took a few steps back, the iris reverting the process it had gone through the opposite way.
"I'm supposed to choose one of them?" he said under his breath.