[ ––––––––– ֎ Day 88 ––––––––– ]

Gate opened in front of Noemi, revealing a spacious cave made out of gray stone. Our two adventurers stepped onward, onto a ledge that led to its smaller counterparts on both sides, which were a replacement for stairs.

Noemi looked around. Cave's walls and ceiling had a smooth, rounded shape without a single protuberance. At the bottom, walls were overgrown by five-centimeter small plants with the appearance of a leafless stem that ended with a single, white glowing bubble.

The area at the bottom was almost entirely occupied by a lake, with exception of a middle section with a curvy and narrow stone passage between the waters. Beneath the surface, there were significant amounts of the bioluminescent plants that were spotted earlier.

At the frontal region, waters were shallow and crystal clear, with tips of several stalagmites visible above the lake. It was easy to notice swarms of flying fishes and other, rather peaceful, roaming animals.

As the distance grew, waters became deeper and darker, but the light underneath them was creating a stunning, nightly, and dreamlike atmosphere.

Farther, at the horizon, one could spot numerous stone ruins, which were denser, taller, and more sophisticated as the distance grew. At first, there were remnants of walls, square shrines, and columns, which later turned into collapsed or abandoned places of worship.

In the middle of these ruins, there was a single, colossal, overturned column. Its length covered close to the entire width of a cave. One of its ends started high above the ground, at a cracked pedestal, while the second was submerged in water, what created an angle of about thirty degrees to the surface.

Despite all that beauty of nature, Noemi's eyes were focused elsewhere as she spotted two humanoid silhouettes in front of them, just thirty meters away. They were resting next to a fireplace and certainly noticed the arrival of the new two adventurers as they started waving their hands.

Noemi, still in a foul mood, feebly waved back.

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Two strangers were a human male and an elven female, both in their twenties. They both wore sets of well-polished plate armors of quality kindred to equipment of mid-tier members of silver sinners. To these armors were attached circular emblems with an image of a lone mountain on the background of a cloudy, winter sky.

The elf had long and straight brown hair, chestnut skin, and dark, chocolate eyes. Her face had a dignified, serious expression and she bore herself like a soldier and clergywoman of her profession would usually do.

Woman's equipment was a long, albeit narrow, triangular steel shield with a rounded top and a hand-and-a-half type of an estoc, both of above-average quality.

Her companion had white skin, blue eyes and short, blond hair, flushed healthy cheeks, and a rather cheerful demeanor. There was also a cross-shaped earring on his right ear. Contrary to elf's heavy, full armor, man's armor was lighter and consisted of a breastplate, shoulder guards, and eight smaller separated plates that protected the limbs.

The man's weapon was an iron scepter in a pristine state, with decorative engravings all over its surface and four stallions depicted just below its head.

Noemi could easily tell the clergyman wasn't a fighter and mace probably had only a ceremonial function.

The clergyman stepped forward, extended his hand, and smiled. - “Greetings, strangers. I'm Hyacinth and this is Pavaja.”

In response, Pavaja made a bright and sincere smile.

“Nice to meet you Hyacinth, I'm Noemi.” - The lizard shook Hyacinth's hand, then Pavaja's. Arath did the same, but he just stated his name and immediately moved aside, hiding hands in his pockets.

“It's an honor to meet you, Noemi and Arath. I would invite you to breakfast, but we're yet to catch anything, haha!” - Hyacinth awkwardly laughed.

“Oh, it's not an issue! Allow us to help.” - Noemi forced a smile, she tried to occupy her mind to forget about the events of yesterday.

“There is no need! You're our guests.” - Hyacinth politely declined.

“I insist, we're in this together.” - Noemi once again requested, this time with a warmer smile.

“You're beyond kind!” - Hyacinth replied. - “Thank you.”

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Noemi moved away, then called. - “Arath!”

Arath was sitting on one of the stones, purposely isolating himself from the group. After hearing his name, his face head turned to Noemi.

“I'll go catch fish for the meal, would you like to help?”

Arath reluctantly got up, then replied. - “No, I'll gather other ingredients instead. We can't eat plain meat.”

“Humpfh.” - Noemi was marginally discontented, but she agreed with the point. - “Okay. Stay in my sight, in case anything happens.”

[ ––––––––– ֎ ––––––––– ]

Noemi was the first person to return, her spear hunting technique was excellent, since she already had experience from fishing in swamps. The lizard girl brought a cloth overfilled with flying fishes and small frogs, on top of that there were four black eels hanging over her shoulder.

Pavaja helped to gather fish, while Hyacinth resigned and later joined Arath to aid him in search. After twenty more minutes, two men returned with five handfuls of black rogue, a bag of bioluminescent weed – although it lost luminescent properties – and some other herbs and algae.

When Arath arrived, Noemi was patiently sitting next to the fireplace. Arath arranged the ingredients around him, by placing them all separately in clay bowls.

Next to the fireplace, the boy constructed a small grill using pebbles and hard stems of local weeds. At first, the young chief placed the biggest of pots over the fire to boil the water for a soup made out of innards and vegetables. Second, he prepared fish fillets and put them on the first of pans, then pierced thick leaves of gathered algae with sticks and placed them over a grill, together with gutted eels.

While waiting until leaves gain the consistency of an almost melted cheese, the boy took out a mortar and pestle, picked some herbs, and ground them together. When the leaves were ready, Arath put them on a pan, then sprinkled them with collected yellow, orange, and red flower powder. Next, he transferred the fillets to the first pan and wrapped them in leaves. A few extra minutes and dish was served, finished with a faintly bioluminescent sauce and an equivalent of sesame seeds. All placed on green leaves. The soup and grilled eels would be served later, during the dining.

“Eat. It's ready.” - Arath informed, then moved away to finish other dishes and prepare drinks.

Noemi cut her dish with chopsticks, grabbed a piece of fillet, and tasted it. Hyacinth and Pavaja could tell that she was on cloud nine. They both folded their hands in prayer, whispering foreign psalms to thank their gods. It took unusually long, at some point the elf stopped and poked her companion with an elbow. Hyacinth immediately fell silent.

“Excuse us. It's our sacred duty to pay tribute to deities. Will you get offended If we burn part of the meal as an offering to gods?” - Pavaja politely asked Arath.

“Do what you want.” - Arath was as cold as ever, he ignored Pavaja completely and kept perfecting drinks.

Hyacinth and Pavaja moved far away and started another, smaller fire, then burnt meals while the man chanted a psalm. Noemi could notice sparkles of white light that flickered as the fish was set aflame.

The two ecclesiastics returned in a better mood. The elf snatched her fish and stuffed her mouth. Her jaw dropped, she was speechless.

“Delightful”. - Pavaja murmured after a shorter pause.

Seeing the reaction of his companion, Hyacinth didn't hesitate any further and also put part of a meal on a fork. He was as positively surprised as Pavaja. - “Amazing! It's the best thing I've ever had in my mouth.” - He said, after swallowing the fish.

Compliments didn't work on Arath, he simply passed the hot drinks, sat down, then started consuming an eel in silence, all while avoiding eye contact with everyone.

However, it was not enough to stop Hyacinth from asking - “How did you learn to cook like this?”

Arath paused eating, looked the clergyman straight in the eyes, and responded. - “Beatings.”

Hyacinth lost confidence, he wasn't sure what to say. - “Sorry, I didn't know...”

Arath returned to his meal, as If nothing happened, but the mood was killed.

Noemi decided to try to fix the situation. - “Arath... had troublesome past, but he's already over it.” - She turned to the boy. - “Aren't you, Arath?”

“It doesn't bother me.” - He said while biting in a chewy eel.

“See? It's alright, he takes no offense...” - Noemi gently smiled.

Regardless, the conversation didn't continue until everyone finished their first meal, but after tasting aromatic drinks, Pavaja found the courage to break the ice.

“Your tea is also excellent, Arath.” - The elven girl praised.

“Arath...” - Noemi turned to the boy, who in response askingly looked at her. - “...you're supposed to say 'thank you' after a compliment.”

“Thanks.” - The boy replied with his head down, uncaring and focused on a drink.

Noemi laughed it off awkwardly. - “He is a little unused to... conventional customs.”

“Oh! We don't mind. I'm just curious, why someone so proficient in cooking would try to climb the labyrinth.” - Pavaja inquired.

Arath didn't answer.

“We're on a hunt!” - Noemi declared with uttermost confidence.

“A hunt?” - Pavaja was confused. It was a weird statement, since it was impossible to chase anything due to the unpredictable nature of the labyrinth.

“Yes. My people believe that the world was devoured by the celestial beast and my goal is to slay it.” - Noemi puffed out chest and proclaimed proudly.

Pavaja forced the drink into herself in an attempt not to giggle.

Hyacinth was a bit more serious. - “That's going to be a grand ordeal, how can you be confident that such a beast even exists?”

“Our shamans told me. They listen to divine spirits and spirits are never wrong.” - Noemi explained.

Hyacinth was conflicted, it contradicted what he was taught. - “You know, before the labyrinth was created, we had grand priests who could converse with the gods themselves.”

Noemi's eyes were wide open, she was in disbelief. In her village, the spirits were the medium that transferred teachings of gods to her kind.

Hyacinth continued. - “The day labyrinth was created was the day gods were gone silent. Our last grandfather prophesied that the cataclysm would be the result of an immense arcane avalanche, not a celestial monster.”

Noemi pondered for a bit. - “I don't know, I can't explain the disparity, but the wisdom of our shamans was never at fault.”

“Are you sure your spirits exist?” - Hyacinth observed the girl in detail, he wanted to have a wider view of the new world.

“Yes, and they would never lie.” - Noemi replied.

“Perhaps, they could be mistaken or misinterpreted something.” - Hyacinth shrugged.

“Spirits aren't as infallible as the gods, but those who are divine messengers can be trusted.” - Noemi paused, then questioned. - “Why would the spirits not exist, and not your gods instead?”

“We have proof of their existence. They bestow their powers upon us and grant us the ability to perform miracles.” - Hyacinth explained.

“Like?” - Noemi had a curious look.

“Curing ailments, giving courage, increasing combat ability or even turning undead.” - Hyacinth smiled with confidence as he spoke.

“It won't make me lose my faith in spirits, but I would love to see that.” - Noemi replied with a bit of excitation.

“You might get to! My class in cantor, I can perform all of these feats!” - Clergyman declared proudly.

“No way!” - The lizard girl couldn't believe her luck. She was eager to see what man is capable of.

“Yeah, I'll show you once my powers are required.” - Hyacinth smiled, almost boasting. - “By the way, since you know my class, you might want to know that Pav's class is a crusader.”

“Oh, I am a sentinel...” - Noemi informed. - “...and Arath ...what class are you Arath?”

“Adventurer.” - Arath responded.

“...so what exactly does sentinel do?” - Hyacinth asked.

“Hmm... I just protect our cook, he pays me in meals.” - Noemi replied.

“After that dinner, I must say that you're getting the better end of the deal. Haha!” - Hyacinth joked, laughing heartily. Pavaja giggled.

“Hey! It's all fair exchange of services!” - Noemi added and tried to laugh with them...