Chapter 10: Realm of the Lost

‘What is this place? The darkness is so thick.’

I tried to look into the cave, but even though my eyes beamed with light, I could not grasp the depth of the cave.

‘I’m reluctant to enter without being able to see what’s inside, but I have to meet up with Cog and Cedric again. Are they all right? Cog has Cedric with him so he should be fine…’

Hesitating no further, I took a step into the cave.

‘It’s cold!’

When my body had immersed itself into the darkness of the cave, my body tensed and I could see my breath every time I exhaled. I felt like I had entered another domain. When I turned my head to look at the entrance of the cave, it had vanished.

‘I guess this means I have to move forward.’

Not sure where to go, I headed straight from where I had entered.

“Gratus!”

“Huh?!”

The sudden voice startled me, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

“You’re okay?”

‘Oh, it’s Cura…’

“You scared me. Could you give me a sign before you speak next time? Where have you been anyway?”

After a brief silence, a bright ball of light the size of my fist appeared from my chest. I looked at the ball of light and could see an outline of Cura’s body. It looked like she was looking around.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking for enemies. It’s better for light not to showcase itself in the darkness.”

I chuckled and replied, “Well, I don’t think we need to hide anymore. After defeating Terra, I doubt they would lose track of my progress.”

Cura turned and looked at me, “Terra? I’m confused. Didn’t Des Peravi devour us?”

I raised my right eyebrow while furrowing my face, “No. We are in Procella. I entered this cave right after defeating Terra. You don’t remember?”

“Strange. I’m sure Des Peravi devoured us.”

“Well, can you tell me where we are?”

“We are in the realm of the lost. When people are devoured, they are consumed into this realm.”

“But that makes little sense. I entered through a cave.”

“I’m not sure.”

‘Well, whatever. It doesn’t change the fact I am here.’

I shrugged and progressed forward again, “Let’s just go.”

Cura floated next to my shoulder and resumed checking our surroundings. It was nice having her next to me because her light was warm. I felt like I was next to a small fire. It wasn’t too hot or too cold.

“Gratus. I sense a presence heading towards us.”

I turned my head to look around, “I don’t see anything. Which direction?”

Cura pointed to my left. I strained my eyes to see where she was pointing, but the darkness did not relent to the light in my eyes.

“… shining… light...!”

I heard a woman’s voice, but it was too faint to make out.

“I think she’s trying to say something.”

“Do you know what she is saying, Cura? She’s too far away.”

“… your light!”

I still couldn’t see any hint of a person coming towards me, but I could sense something off about the space in front of me. The darkness was being distorted, twisting and swirling about in various directions, and in the middle of it all was a woman covered in a black armor who was running straight towards us.

“Stop shining your light!”

I looked at Cura confused, and she looked back at me and shrugged.

“It looks like she wants us to stop shining our light. What should we do?”

When we looked back at the woman in front of us, we saw a group of about twenty people appear behind her. It looked like they were running with all their might trying to keep up with the woman.

Cura returned into my body and said, “It may be wise to follow.”

‘I wouldn’t be able to see though if I did.’

But the moment I thought that, I saw two huge monsters at least the size of the whole group combined appear behind the woman and the group of people following her.

“Gratus, those are Monstrum!”

‘Monstrum?’

I nodded at Cura’s observation even though I didn’t know what she was talking about and let the light dissipate from my eyes.

…

‘Now what?’

“Run! Don’t just stand there! Run!”

The woman shouted at us. By now, she was a few meters away and showing no signs of stopping. I let her pass by me and weaved through the crowd of people rushing behind.

The woman looked back at me and shouted, “Are you an idiot?!”

I laughed and gathered energy into the palm of my hands.

“Adustum!”

The energy in my hands burst into light and the two monsters chasing halted their movements and covered their eyes with their arms.

“I got this.”

“Stop!” The woman from before grabbed onto my hands and somehow vanquished the light in my hands.

“Whoa. What are you doing?”

“That’s what I should ask you!”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to get rid of all these monsters?”

“Monsters? They’re not monsters!”

‘Not monsters?’

Her words confused me, but I couldn’t deny her because I couldn’t see the monsters anymore in the darkness.

“Well, then why are you run—”

“You idiot! Now they’ve caught up with us. Stay with the rest of the group, and don’t do anything idiotic again.”

‘What am I getting blamed?’

Before I could respond, she let go of my hand and disappeared.

“Cura, can you tell me what’s going on?”

“It seems that woman is engaging in battle with some unknown enemies. I think she is fighting the Monstrum.”

“The Monstrum? Are you referring to the two giant monsters we saw before?”

“No. I thought they were Monstrum when I first saw them, but they have turned yet. There is a wave of Monstrum surrounding us now though.”

“Great. I think our light attracted them…”

“I’m not sure if this situation is great, but it looks like the woman doesn’t need help.”

“Impressive.”

‘Though I can’t see how impressive.’

“Yes. We should follow her instructions and join the rest of the group.”

“Got it.”

I turned around to join the group but realized I couldn’t see.

“Uh… Where are they?”

“They’re— Salvus!”

*SHATTER*

‘What happened?’

I was tumbling on the ground. Something had hit me out of the darkness when I had let my guard down.

“One of the two giants you thought were Monstrum just swatted you.”

‘Have they corrupted?’

I lifted my body up with my arms and sat upright.

“Thanks Cura for protecting me.”

“No worries. Those two are unstable. What do you suggest we do, Gratus?”

“What can I do?”

“Dodge left.”

As if by instinct, I rolled to the left and felt a gust of wind blew me further to the side.

“The giant that attacked you is still rampaging. The other one is trying to hinder it though.”

‘I could have gotten squashed!’

I could feel the lingering vibrations from the impact of the blow under my feet.

“Is the group safe?”

“Yes, they are far enough.”

‘Hm… What should I do now? I’m getting a nostalgic feeling about all of this. I feel like I’ve encountered this situation before…’

“Okay! Cura, I think I have an idea.”

“Got it. How may I be of assistance?”

“Let’s lighten up this place!”

I stood up from the ground and gathered energy in my eyes.

“Conscpicio!”

To my surprise, not only did my eyes light up, but a section of the darkness to my right also lit up. When I looked over to see what had happened, I saw that the eyes of the people in the group had all brightened. They looked confused.

“Well, that makes seeing much easier.”

Now that it was brighter, I could see the two giant monsters without any trouble. One monster was holding onto the other in a bear hug while the other was struggling to get out.

‘Hm… I’m guessing that one is the one that attacked me.’

“What the heck did I say?!”

I looked beyond the two struggling monsters and saw the woman glaring at me from afar. That was when I also noticed the multitude of monsters surrounding us.

‘I better be quick about this.’

Ignoring the woman’s complaints, I dashed straight towards the two monsters while gathering energy into the palm of my hands and jumped on top of them both. The one that was bear hugging the other seemed surprise at my actions and was about to let go of its grasp, but I was already upon them.

“Sorry, this may or may not hurt. I don’t remember.”

After each of my hands were resting on top of both monster’s heads, I injected the energy from my palms into their heads. I didn’t think I would need to use much energy, but the moment I felt the energy leave my hands, I felt I needed to keep a continuous stream of energy flowing or I would end up failing.

It was difficult because the moment I transfered my energy to the monsters, the one that had attacked me thrashed about trying to swing me off of its head. The other one doing the bear hug seemed to realize my intentions because it strengthened its grasp over the other monsters again and limited the monster’s movements.

All of this happened within a few seconds, but the woman that had been yelling at me had come over in that time frame and was threatening to slash me with her sword.

“Wait!” I shouted, but she didn’t stop.

“Salvus!”

Cura had formed an invisible barrier to block the attack, but to my surprise, the sword went through the barrier. There was no resistance. If someone had been watching from the sidelines, they would have assumed that there was no barrier at all.

…

The blade was at my forehead.

…

I was too shocked to react.

‘Is it over?’

…

The blade missed.

…

‘What happened?’

As the blade slashed towards my head, I fell backwards along with the flow of the blade and found myself lying on the ground on next to two other bodies.

The blade had missed me by a hair’s breadth.

I stared at the woman who had almost killed me. She gritted her teeth and sheathed her sword.

“Who are you?”

I looked at the two bodies besides me and registered what had happened. The two monsters had regained their human form. It was a man and a woman.

I turned back to the woman and replied, “Gratus.”

The woman crossed her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrow at me, “Are you done with the fireworks?”

I smiled and laughed, “Yes.”

She looked around and chuckled, “It looks like the Monstrum are wary of you. They aren’t trying to attack us anymore.”

I got up from the ground and looked at the man and the woman lying on the ground.

“It looks like they are unconscious.”

“Yes. Whatever you did must have knocked them unconscious and back to their senses. I’m grateful.”

The woman bowed, and I waved my hands.

“No. Sorry for troubling you. What were you doing with all these people anyway?” I asked while pointing at the group of people who were now walking towards us.

“Helping them escape.”

“You know the way out?”

“Yes, but with your eyes, I think you can handle it.” The woman smirked and walked towards the approaching group before turning and saying, “Let’s go before the Monstrum get any other ideas,” and added with a shrug, “Not that it would matter.”

Four people from the group brought stretchers and helped carry the unconscious man and woman. I led the group from the front, the woman oversaw the group from the back, and the rest of the people stayed in-between us. When we approached the Monstrum, they moved out of our way and made a path for us.

It was a sight to behold. Light trekking through the darkness.

Overtime, the Monstrum surrounding us dissipated, and we were left alone in the darkness. This time I was not alone though. I was with others who had regained hope in their eyes. As we marched forward, I saw a light in the distance, and next to the light were two familiar figures.