Zeel continued deeper into the tomb, making sure to observe every inch of the tomb.

There was no telling where danger could come from, and with his abilities suppressed, Zeel felt somewhat blind.

His senses could not extend beyond a couple of meters, this made him feel strangely human in a sense.

To Zeel, humanity was the state of fragility that came from a lack of control in your own destiny.

Zeel walked forward and soon encountered two bodies of the soldiers that came with Mathias. They were pierced through by long, thin spears that jutted out of the ground.

Zeel did not really care about who entered the tomb before, at least, Lara and the others were doing their jobs of creating a safe path for him.

Still, there was no guarantee that the path safe for mortals would also be safe for Zeel. And Zeel's concern was proven right the next moment.

He felt a vague sense of dizziness and a slow, engulfing sensation of being thrown into the water.

Then Zeel had countless images flashing through his mind, each image highlighting a moment of a warrior's life.

In his dazed state, Zeel could not react to what happened next.

Voices… many voices assaulted his mind all at once.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Zeel clutched his head and screamed loud enough that the tomb quaked under his voice. His pain was apparent through the guttural nature of his scream.

The splitting headache made Zeel bang his head against the ground several times.

Realizing that the voices just became more intense, Zeel knew that he needed to do something fast, but his mind could not come up with an idea under its distressed state.

Zeel felt as if he could die at any moment, he bled from his orifices as he crawled forward.

However, Zeel noticed that the more he crawled forward, the more intense the voices in his head became.

It was a mix of voices begging for absolution, and yelling in condemnation and jealousy.

Zeel crawled and eventually he found himself at the edge of a chasm. He could tell the voices originated from below, and he knew he needed to stop whatever existed below.

Zeel threw himself into the chasm and soon felt his body collide with several protrusions.

With his senses impaired, Zeel could not tell exactly what it was but he knew it was the cause of his current state.

"Release the Draconic Energy," Zeel muttered weakly, but The Red Queen knew his intention.

From the location of Zeel's heart, violent, oppressive energy surged forth. The Red Queen guided the energy, with great difficulty, to diffuse into the surroundings.

The chasm was filled with the remains of fallen soldiers, and soon the remain started to break apart and dissolve into motes of light.

As the Draconic Energy washed over the bones, Zeel could feel clarity returning to his mind once more.

However, when the painful sensation of voices disappeared, a sharp feeling of anger and pride threatened to consume him.

Luckily, Zeel had already grown used to the violent nature of Draconic Energy.

Zeel opened his slitted eyes as he watched the bones dissolve into motes of light and was subsequently consumed by the Draconic Energy.

When everything was finished, Zeel reabsorbed the Draconic Energy back into his body with great difficulty.

Fortunately, when Draconic Energy returned, it brought along an unexpected benefit.

Zeel felt his sealed divinity receiving a surge of energy, it was like a tonic that his divinity readily consumed.

Still, the Draconic Energy would not relinquish the energy easily and fought with Zeel's divinity.

Each thug and pull pained Zeel and weakened him that much more, but it was a much-preferred state to previously.

Zeel fumbled to his feet and using his still lingering Draconic Energy, he leaped into the air, barely managing to grip the corner of the opposite side of the chasm.

Pulling himself onto flat ground, Zeel took a moment to gather his thoughts before continued exploration.

Even as he rose to his feet and continued forward, Zeel dragged one foot behind due to the constant battle of his divinity and Draconic Energy.

Safe to say that his own body was doing more damage to him than the chasm had done.

A little further up, Zeel encountered a corridor that did not have any floor.

It was an easy obstacle to pass, Zeel simply clung to the sides. Thought, he moved at a slow rate due to the injured state of his body.

Just as Zeel was about to hop off the edges, his foot slipped causing him to grip the edge to not fall into the abyss below.

"I am lucky," Zeel murmured but it seemed that he spoke too soon.

Zeel heard the faint breathing sound of something above him. The breath was as light as a feather, barely managing to make an impression on his ever-acute mind.

Zeel slowly raised his head and stared up at the small girl that stood by his hands that clung to the edge of the floor.

The girl looked like a younger version of Lara.

She seemed like a regular human at first glance but Zeel could tell she was not.

After all, how could a regular human child appear in this tomb filled with death traps?

"Do you need help mister?" The young girl asked timidly.

It was as if she would run away at the first sign of a muscle twitch.

Zeel refrained from answering and move his fingers slowly to avoid touching the girl. When dealing with unknown beings, Zeel was trained to not answer or touch them.

It was well-known that contact and speaking could be misinterpreted as a form of consent for certain beings.

Everything supernatural in nature needed a form of contract to linger in the life of a mortal.

It could be buying a haunted toy, speaking to the air, smiling in a random direction, everything could be used as a form of consent.

Sadly, Zeel was not a mortal so the little girl required no consent to mess with him.

However, Zeel could tell that the girl was more scared of him than anything else in the tomb.

Zeel stared at the girl a while longer as codes flickered across his eyes.

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide in realization, his nanites had just found a match for the Being in front of him.

Beautiful, shy, copies the features of someone else, and often appears as childhood innocence…

"You're a Wanderer?" Zeel asked uncertainly.

Wanderers were not supposed to be malevolent in nature, and clearly, the little girl in front of him was the shadow that impersonated Lara when he first appeared on the island.

"HeHe HeHe HeHe… something like that," The girl laughed happily and whispered back her reply.

Her voice was akin to the sound of a zither played by a grandmaster.

Confusion laced Zeel's mind. Wanderers were basically the weakest of angels.

They were angels that had neither wings nor glory. In human terms, Wanderers would be interns in a company that was guaranteed promotion after a couple of years.

"Wanderers only have to spend two hundred years with humans and they can become actual angels of heaven," Zeel said, crawling up onto the floor.

The girl stepped back as Zeel rose to his feet, the caution in her eyes did not lessen one bit.

She could somehow tell that Zeel was not a good person, but she had waited too long to give up such an opportunity.

The girl stared at Zeel and smiled "My name is Himiko,"

"I know," Zeel replied "I thought you were an artifact.However, when you come to someone, you should come with your original form,"

Himiko thought for a while and then spun in place. After the second spin, she transformed into a small girl, chubby cheeks, a thin body, big green eyes, and straight black hair.

She seemed to be of Asian descent, with small marks all over her skin. Zeel could immediately tell the scars were from whipping because of his similar experiences.

'This girl is a tortured Wanderer who is unable to move on,' Zeel thought slightly troubled.

Had it been before, he wouldn't have cared less, but seeing this child now gave him a sense of discomfort.

"In some ways I am... I am bonded to the tomb itself, the writings on the wall. The pillars that highlighted the Beings called Homo-Superiors," Himiko said with sorrow lacing her young voice.

Zeel nodded and voiced his observation "You called me here… The Alp belonged to you?"

Himiko gave Zeel a confused look, and Zeel sighed in disappointment. This girl was not the one to send the Alp, which meant that someone else was looking for him in the right direction.

However, looking at the innocent child in front of him, Zeel felt more relief than worries.

"If that's the case, things are far less complicated," Zeel murmured and patted the head of Himiko.

Wanderers were not malevolent in nature even if they were corrupted, and truth be told, he felt slightly sorry for the child since he knew just how many chains were needed to bound a Wanderer to this tomb.

"Speak!" Zeel commanded, no longer wanting to linger with the girl in front of him.

If the young girl was smart, she would know that his authoritative voice meant that she could request one thing from him.

Wanderers were not allowed to interact with the living, and neither could they ask anything from anyone without permission from heaven.

Clearly, that was a bit contradictory since Heaven had obviously abandoned the girl after she became corrupt.

"I was pulled during my ascension and corrupted by the Being that gave you that mark," Himiko said, pointing at the Ombos Symbol on Zeel's exposed ankle.

Apart from Apollonians, angels could not engage in intercourse.

That meant that the young girl in front of him was not only dragged down during her ascension, she was also violated and forcefully bound to the tomb.

"What do you ask for?" Zeel asked the child.

"I want back what was taken from me," Himiko said.

Zeel nodded and extended his hands. Himiko's body slowly turned into a shadow with red veins, then into a black feather with white tips, and floated into Zeel's hands.

Holding the feather, Zeel sighed and materialized a string to tie the father around his neck like a pendant.