Although I had initially believed this was all just a dream, the pain of my bones being broken and my body being mangled under the weight of the skeletal hands felt entirely real. I had surely just been killed.
When I awoke from the dream, Nightingale was standing over me and holding his fingers to my neck. He had a bewildered and horrified look on his face, as if he had seen a ghost. "W-what are you doing?" I questioned. Nightingale pulled back his fingers from my neck and slowly walked away and sat down on one of the old velvet chairs in the room. "Ivan… look at your sheets." He said in a serious tone. I was still trying to wrap my head around the dream I just had, but I did as he said and looked around me as I sat up on the bed. Surrounding my body and completely covering the sheets was pitch black markings that almost looked as if the sheets had been scorched by a flame. "What is all of this!?" I shouted. At that moment, I also noticed that Nightingale's hands were black just like the sheets. He was trying to conceal them by holding them together in his lap. "You died, Ivan…" Nightingale said with a darkness in his tone. "… I see… So the dream was real after all…" I muttered quietly as I gazed into my hands. If I had truly died, then there was surely no evidence of it. In fact, my body felt incredibly healthy and even more powerful than when I had initially gone to sleep. There was something else too… At this moment, I could sense exactly where Raven was. It was almost as if there was some kind of thread of energy attached between us… He was currently somewhere nearby, but above ground. I remembered that Nightingale had said we were currently inside of a place called a Cavern City, so that would make sense. Perhaps by dying, I had gained some kind of new power? Or maybe, I had finally gained access to the power I had all along… Nightingale must have heard me muttering to myself, because he spoke up with a light panic in his voice. "Did you say something about a dream?" He questioned. Nightingale had an ominous look in his eyes. When we first spoke, he seemed like someone who could deduce just about anything based on little to no information. But right now, it seemed like he had no idea what was going on… "Y-yes. I had a dream where I met someone very important. In that dream I was killed. It was a very real dream, unlike anything I have experienced before." I responded. I wasn't exactly sure how much information I should give away. Based on the experience within the dream, it didn't seem like something anyone but myself should really be privy to. Unsurprisingly, Nightingale picked up on this immediately just from my few words. He held up his hand and said, "That's enough. I think I understand what is going on. If I am correct, then I think we will need to move things along a bit faster." Nightingale then stood up and headed towards the door to the hallway. "Follow me, Ivan." He said as he glanced back at me. I could tell that he was serious, so I got up quickly and followed behind him.
He led me down a few different corridors. Along the way we passed by the first window I had seen in this entire dwelling thus far. Just glancing out of the window, I was able to see something incredible. I was so shocked by the view, that I actually stopped in my tracks. What laid out before me, was a vast expanse of a huge city. However, the entire environment was rather dark aside from the glowing lights of buildings expanding through the dark. It was incredible to imagine this place had been built entirely underground. "Sir Nightingale, did you say before that this place was called Gamula?" I asked him. Nightingale paused momentarily and turned around. "Yes, this place is called Gamula. I know that I haven't necessarily explained much about this place to you. I promise we will talk more about it soon. It is quite a beautiful city, full of mystery. But right now we have something more important to take care of. Come along, Ivan." Nightingale responded. We continued on towards whatever destination Nightingale was leading us. Eventually we came upon a large metal door that seemed to be placed into a carved stone wall. The door seemed incredibly solid, and was closed with a massive latch and lock. Nightingale approached it and held up his arm towards the lock. Out of his sleeve slithered out Albany, his white snake. The snake twisted around his hand and then entered the lock head first. Whatever Albany was doing, it seemed to work because the lock immediately unlatched and fell to the floor. Nightingale then proceeded to remove the massive cross bar and then heaved open the metal door. "Uh, is this some kind of Vault?" I asked curiously. "Indeed, you could call it that." He replied as he began lighting a that was hung on the wall adjacent to the vault entrance. Using the lantern, he raised it into the air and small embers began flying out. The small embers began floating to different areas of the darkness and lighting other lanterns that were adorned to the walls, completely illuminating the entire vault. "What is that? I've never seen a lantern act that way." I said with wonder. Nightingale simply raised his eyebrow at me and said, "Dang kid, you really haven't seen much of the world have you? This is just a simply enchanted lantern. This is fairly common in this city specifically but you'll find these lanterns all over the world. If you're amazed by this, you may want to hold onto your britches, Ivan. In this vault, you'll find some of the rarest enchanted items in the world." I was a bit confused by that statement. "Wait a minute, this is your vault, correct?" I asked. "Yes this is my vault." He said with a sly smile. "Okay, so why do you have a vault of incredibly valuable items in this city? And on top of that, what even is this strange house we're in? Weren't you brought here by Raven? It just seems kind of strange…" Nightingale began laughing loudly and said, "Oh Ivan, I have special dwellings in many different and important places in the world. This vault in particular was a special gift to me from my brother, Fable. It is a vault that can be accessed from many different locations. This door appears at every single dwelling I have established, allowing me to access my collection with relative ease. It wouldn't really be practical to travel the world without being able to store all of the interesting things I find." He said with a fox like grin. He really was an interesting person… Just how many places did he actually have like this? "Well, come on then. We're going in." He said as he turned and entered the vault.
Now that the entire room had been lit up, I was actually amazed at how large it was. It was amazing to think that this place was some kind of moving space that Nightingale could access wherever he goes… The vault consisted of rows and rows of shelves with various different items adorning them. On top of that, it seemed there was a work desk on the far end of the space littered with various documents and diagrams all over the desk and wall surrounding it. My guess was that Nightingale had been doing research in this place for some time. "Please be wary, Ivan. Some things in this place you do not want to touch by accident. When I said that I collect enchanted items… I mostly collected items that the world would consider cursed. There are objects in this room that can curse you with ailments and misfortune on scales you couldn't even fathom. So I repeat, do not touch anything unless I give you the okay." Nightingale said in a deathly serious tone. I completely understood what he meant, I know very well I shouldn't touch things recklessly. Seeing as I grew up in the slums of Bane, I knew full well that laying a hand on the wrong thing could make you lose it. Unexpectedly, Nightingale added onto his statement. "I didn't always have this vault… I only recently had this made because about 5 years ago, my antiquity room was broken into and a number of special items were stolen. I was actually within the area because I was chasing a lead as to who had stolen my items. It turns out that the thieves who stole my belongings may have also been involved with the cultists who had you imprisoned. It seems lady fate truly wanted us to meet. Anyways, I've brought you here because I need you to use an enchanted item for me." He said as he pulled an old chest from the top of a shelf. It was hard to believe that there were people that actually got away with stealing from this man… They must have been either very bold, or very smart to get away with it… Sir Nightingale certainly did not seem like the type of person you would want to wrong intentionally.