Still holding Eric’s unconscious body, Centum turns towards Mia, who is on the floor. She looks at him and flinches at his gaze. A difficult silence, that Centum seems unwilling to break, hangs between them. From the ground, Mia can see Centum’s face underneath his hooded robe.

Still shaken from the battle, Mia asks hesitantly, “Thanks for saving us. May I know who you are and why you’re here? I don’t recognise you, but I’m sure you are a famous adventurer. You look so young, yet the power you wield is incredible. If only I weren’t so weak, then we wouldn’t have been in such a desperate situation. Maybe you can join our team and help us defeat the demonic beast and save everyone.”

Centum sighs in response, Mia’s barrage of questions throwing him off balance. “I’m no one famous; I made sure of that. I was just passing by this mountain range when I saw your fight. I couldn’t let innocent people get slaughtered. So, I came to intervene. It’s best if you forget you ever saw me, I’m neither an adventurer nor some important figure,” Centum responds, desperately trying to mitigate the significance of his intervention.

Mia rises to her feet, her eyes narrow in suspicion from Centum’s response, “I doubt that’s true, someone as powerful as you can’t be unknown. Also, you seem to know that evil thing that killed the wyvern and trapped us in here. Lastly, the fact you showed up to save us can’t just be a coincidence. I’ve never been blessed with such an amount of luck. Still, I’m grateful you came.”

Centum frowns underneath his hood and says, “I don’t know who or what that entity is, you can trust me on this. My words still stand, regardless whether you believe me or not. I’m just a stranger that came to help. You can call me Sage.”

Mia’s tired expression widens into a keen smile as she says, “Well, then you’re my heroic saviour, Sage. You have my utmost gratitude. You didn’t need step between me and the wyvern, but yet you did; I won’t forget that. I’ll let you keep your secrets; it was rude of me to pry, I apologise. So, what’s the plan?”

Centum sighs in relieve, Mia’s prying questions were making him nervous. His face forms a blush, in response to Mia’s sincerity; thankfully, Mia can’t see underneath his hood anymore. His focus returns towards their predicament, and he says, “The cave entrance has completely collapsed, burying the demonic wyvern and any hope of us escaping out from it. The only path left is to go deeper into the cave.”

“Alright, lead the way. I’ll be sure to heal you if any beasts show up. I wouldn’t want my saviour dying on me,” Mia says, “Also, when will Eric wake up? It must be tiring to carry him the whole time?” Centum looks towards Eric who’s slung over his shoulder and says, “I’m not sure, the wyvern’s energy blasted through his body. It might be a while before he wakes up.”

As they begin to walk deeper into the cave, Centum thinks to himself, “The aura I’ve placed inside Eric’s body should keep him unconscious until I want him to wake up; I should leave the number of witnesses to a minimum.” They arrive in the old goblin den, but with the cave entrance’s collapse, the chamber has become entirely dark.

Seeing the situation, Centum focusses the power he gathered for the previous fight into a small spell. Generally, magic, apart from the holy variety, is barred from this planet. However, he was taught a few, although very inefficient, methods to still cast spells at a fraction of their original power. In the centre of the chamber, an orb of illumination condenses that floods the room with light. Along the walls, the faded markings come to life as if it is responding to their presence.

Rows upon rows of runes etch themselves back into pristine condition. On the cavern walls, magical crystal come to life as they illuminate the cave’s endless passageway. Mia gasps in surprise and asks, “This place isn’t just a goblin den, what do these weird symbols say?”

The restored text entrances Centum. His eyes focus on the carving he previously tried to decipher. Without thinking, he blurts out its translation, “Disaster arrived upon our race at the dawn of the ninth century, from the unknown, countless portals formed in the seas. Through the sacrifices of the many, one portal was conquered. By the grace of the walking mountain’s arrival, Salvation’s last stand was prevented.”

Mia’s soft, blue eyes widen in response, “You can read these?! You might deny any connection to this place, but we both know that’s a lie. Still, I won’t question my humble saviour’s mysterious origins.” Centum shakes his head in response, irritated at himself for speaking without thinking. “It’s a common language,” he lies.

She turns towards Centum and says with indignation “Fine, since my questions seem to irritate you, how about we make a deal? I’ll stop probing your secrets, but in exchange, I have two conditions.”

Centum turns towards her, and he considers his options. From young, he’s been taught never to reveal any of the library’s secrets. It’s regarded as a taboo to interact with the people you’ve been assigned to record, but this precedent has been broken numerous times in the past. Seeing that her suggestion is a lesser evil, he asks, “What are the conditions?”

Mia’s bright smile widens as she says, “First, I want to you pull down your hood, I hate talking to someone if I can’t see their eyes. Second, I want you to share all the information you know of this place and any we find along the way; I despise being left in the dark. Deal?” Centum sighs in defeat and agrees, “Deal.”

He pulls down his hood and reveals his face. Mia becomes entranced by his appearance. His title perfected every aspect of his body, including his appearance. Long, hazel brown hair flows down his shoulders. Mia’s gaze becomes lost in his deep blue eyes, and he asks, “Can we move on?” His comment shakes her awake from her daze, “I guess that’s why you wear a hood, but I prefer you without it. Yes, let’s go.”

Centum takes the lead as they begin to traverse the crystal lit caves. Stricken with curiosity, Mia asks as they slowly descend deeper into the earth, “So, what is this place? I’ve never seen these types of crystals before. Maybe it’s some long lost civilisation? Everything came to life as if it was dormant and waiting for our arrival. Did the previous chamber contain any useful information?”

Without stopping, Centum replies, “From what I read, it seemed to be the obituary of an ancient kingdom. Apart from the language, I don’t know a lot about them. They seemed to have been plagued by the invasion of the demonic plane, similar to this planet.” Mia’s smile dims as she says, “It seems we aren’t the only people to have suffered under the demonic wrath.”

“Indeed. Although, it cost the demonic plane countless amounts of resources to open a portal. Thus, they can only open one at a time, and the cost increases the more they open on a single planet. This civilisation somehow provoked hundreds of demonic portals to appear at once. Such an assault must have cost the demonic plane an irrecoverable amount,” Centum continues, his pity for the civilisation growing with each word.

After half an hour of walking, they come across the unconscious bodies of Cale and Emily. Mia rushes to them in panic. “Are you alright?!” she shouts while checking for their pulse, but doesn’t find any. She steps back and chants a spell; a holy healing power envelop their bodies, but they remain unresponsive. Seeing this, she sinks to the floor and buries her head in her knees; the spell having drained her few slivers of recovered power.

Her eyes become filled with tears as she cries, “Why am I so useless!? Back on earth, tried to help my brother quit his addictions, but he relapsed every time. I failed him, and now I’ve failed my friends. What’s the point in trying if I can’t make a difference?” Next to her, Centum stares at her in bewilderment; his upbringing has wholly failed in preparing him for this.

A bit hesitant, Centum puts Eric down, steps forward and places his hand on two unconscious heroes’ shoulders. Scanning their bodies with his aura and placing a small bit of it inside to keep them unconscious, he says while trying to reassure her, “Something knocked them unconscious by placing their body in some form of stasis; the translucent figure is my best guess. Fortunately, apart from the bruises they have from falling to the floor, they’re fine. They should wake up in a while.”

Mia raises her head; her soft blue eyes have become stained with red from her tears. Her face is dishevelled, but light seems to form in her expression as she asks, “They’re really okay!?” She jumps up embraces Centum in a hug. He freezes in response, the situation entirely beyond his control. Realising her actions, Mia quickly let’s go and steps back, her face turning bright red as she says, “I’m glad you’re here with me. I would already have given up if I was alone. You’re proving to be my saviour once again.”

Centum becomes flush with red, and he struggles to respond, “It’s fine, I don’t mind helping you.” A bright smile resurfaces on Mia’s vibrant face, complemented by her medium length, brown hair. Reading his expression, she decides to ignore his lacklustre response. “Let’s keep going, I’ll carry Emily, and you can carry the other two,” she offers, gently pulling Emily into a princess carry; her months of physical training finally showing its use.

Centum reluctantly nods his head in agreement. He slings his metallic tome across his waist and pulls Eric and Cale across each of his shoulders. Their weight is negligible to him as he effortlessly continues walking while carrying them. Behind him, Mia is again shocked by his strength as she thinks to herself, “Just how much muscle is he hiding underneath his robe. With all their armour equipped, those two should be extremely heavy.”

With only each other as company, hours pass as they navigate the tunnel. Around them, the tunnel walls become more refined. The jagged edges smooth out into well-cut corners. Hour by hour, the tunnel morphs into a grand hallway with crystal lights dotting the smooth walls.

From the back, Mia asks in a strained voice, “Can we take a break, my arms are about to give in?” Seemingly unaffected by the hours of walking, Centum turns towards her and agrees, “Alright, we’ll stay here for a while; you can sleep if you want.” Mia yawns in response, only now realising her exhaustion.

After placing the two heroes down next to each other, Centum takes a seat, next to the wall and opens his metallic tome. Close next to him, Mia takes out her sleeping gear and quickly falls asleep. Systematically, Centum records the day’s roller-coaster of events. An hour passes as Centum feels something touching his leg.

He looks down and finds Mia’s back against his leg; she somehow managed to inch her way next to him in her sleep. His eyes focus on her sleeping expression, a multitude of confusing thoughts cloud his mind as he studies her cute appearance. In denial, he contemplates to himself, “I’ll keep my leg in place, I don’t want to wake her. She deserves her sleep.”

After six hours of sleeping, Mia wakes up refreshed. She turns towards her side but quickly jumps up after realising how close she was to him. “I’m sorry, it was an accident,” she apologises. Deciding not to comment, Centum says, “Let’s continue, we don’t want to be trapped here for weeks.” Mia nods in agreement.

They pick up the unconscious party members and continue with their march. After another five hours of walking, they reach the end of the cave tunnel. The tunnel opens into a boundless cavern; its roof is too high to see. In the centre of the cavern, a bright, glowing light illuminates the surroundings and casts a vast shadow on the buildings around it.