Lord Prestonheim came out from his tent earlier after feeling a weird sensation in the air. Not long after that, the earth shook violently, and ley lines began to appear on the ground. It was utter chaos! No one knew what was going on. Suddenly, they heard a thunderous sound booming, coming from the hole.

"Lord Prestonheim! My Lord!" A knight frantically ran towards them.

"What is it knight?" The silver-haired commander asked.

"T-the h-hole… it's…"

"What are you trying to say?!" Senator Lucresia interjected. "Speak properly… knight! Don't tell me you're incompetent!"

The knight's face paled from the senator's sharp words. He took a deep breath and spoke, "The hole… the hole is glowing!"

"What?!" Lord Prestonheim and Senator Lucresia chorused.

They looked at each other for a moment, before racing to the damned hole. Lord Prestonheim was the first to arrive. The hole was indeed emitting a pale blue glow. There were knights surrounding the hole's opening, they held their shields forward and swords pointing towards the hole.

Lord Prestonheim joined in and immediately unsheathed his sword, commanding the knights to form the delta formation.  It only took less than 10 counts for the knights to arrange themselves according to the formation. The silver-haired commander then went to the front of the formation and activated his compact shield from his bracer.

"Brace yourselves!" He said to his men. "Do not lower your guard! Make sure shields overlap one another!"

The men replied with a thunderous yes and patiently held their position. The ground was filled with markings, the glowing lines slowly filled the ground as the hole pulsated. Lord Prestonheim was still confused with the entire situation, but as the commander of the knights, he must not let them see it.

The ground shook violently once more, the light from the glowing hole shone brighter and created a pillar of light piercing through the night sky. The darkness faded in an instant and the night became as bright as day for a moment.

He couldn't believe his eyes, it looked like one of those stories Lord Prestonheim loved to read when he was younger. In one of those stories, he recalled the elven scribe, Illiru, wrote about how the nights were as bright as the days during the First Age.

"T-the sky!" A knight pointed his sword as the sky. "T-there are lines that mirrored the same as grounds! What is going on?!"

"Calm down, knight." Lord Prestonheim tried his best to also calm himself. "Don't lose your sight on the hole, who knows what's going to come out of there!"

The pillar of light slowly faded from the ground, along with the lines as well. The baffled commander waited for any trouble that might come out from the hole, luckily, there was none. After that huge output of light, it somehow relieved the silver-haired commander, and he didn't know why.

Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from the hole. It sounded, feminine, but it was too weak to be understood. Lord Prestonheim immediately gestured the knights to surround the hole. He quickly followed them and leaned over the stone barrier they made on its mouth.

He saw nothing but the darkness of the pit. However, as the light of the moon slowly gleamed into the hole, Lord Prestonheim saw something twinkling in the darkness, like stars from the heavens. He took a light rune and activated it to get a better look at what he just saw.

As the light hit against the walls, it was clear that the sparkling things he saw were aetherium ores that mysteriously appeared on the walls of the hole. He squinted his eyes and was shocked to see shadows moving at the bottom of the hole.

Lord Prestonheim gestured his knights to be ready for possible combat.

"Use your light runes and light magic against these things if they flew above the surfaces." He whispered to them.

"Who goes there?!" He shouted into the hole. "Identify yourself or we shall destroy you!" 

He waited but there was no answer, instead, the shadows moved frantically as if becoming hostile. Lord Prestonheim told his knights to prepare their light magic for an attack. He gestured to them that he will try and call out to the shadow one more time before they open fire.

"Who goes there?!" Lord Prestonheim raised his arm and was about to smite the shadows when suddenly, a familiar voice answered.

"Friendlies, my lord!"

"Impossible! I-is that you, Adaloun?!" He asked.

"Yes! I, and a few of us are still alive!" Adaloun replied.

Lord Prestonheim wasn't convinced by it. It was possible that they could just be those impostors. If he isn't careful, he might have another incident of those changelings once again and this time, the Principalian Senate will be there to see it. However, there was still a huge possibility that the person he spoke to might be the real Adaloun.

The silver-haired commander was torn between trusting the man or just killing them all together, in case they were impostors.

"Tis they nay gonna 'elp?!" He heard the dwarf's voice echoed. "Oi! M'lord or any 'un there. We've got some injured men 'ere dat need yer 'elp!" He shouted.

Lord Prestonheim and to take a chance. "Come forward, if you are indeed true! I am sure you wouldn't mind a little light shining in your faces, do you?"

"No, we wouldn't mind."  The shadow peeked out from the cave.

The man along with his companions got out of the clearing, Lord Prestonheim's heart raced as he raised his arms to signal his command. His knights gritted their teeth as they awaited his command. The silver-haired commander knew that one signal could be the difference between life and death for both parties, at this time, he held everyone's lives on the line.

The figures stood dead center below the mouth of the hole. They were racing their arms in a non-threatening way but, he couldn't be sure of it yet. Lord Prestonheim looked at them once again and decided on the next course of action.

"Lux divinae!" He signaled to his knights.

The knights immediately chanted the spell and casted it on the hole. The magic spell formed a circle descending on the figures and with its activation, a bright, blinding light came blasting off of it. It illuminated the hole once again, albeit not as bright as the phenomenon earlier. The light was just enough for them to clearly see the faces of the figures and also burn them to death if they had any hints of the dark monsters within them.

To Lord Prestonheim's surprise, not one of them got burned, instead they were only blinded.

"Gods balls! Me eyes!" The dwarf shouted.

The silver-head commander was dumbfounded and somewhat relieved at what he saw, that he couldn't help but chuckle on the dwarf's expense. He tried his best to hide the tears of joy in his eyes and was glad the chuckle hid most of it.

He grinned at his men, "Get the platform and some bandages. We are welcoming them!"