After we’d discovered Erik’s room, we decided we’d go through the three paths of the mine. All we could see were the dismembered spiders, it seemed that the worm had killed all the spiders, fortunate for us, not so much for these guys.

The other path was a dead end. And only one remained.

“Guys, formation like usual.”

Hen stayed at the vanguard, I took mid, and the two of them took the back. We moved into the path... But there weren’t any enemies. And we reached a wall. However this wall wasn’t like normal. It seemed to have inscriptions on it. I didn’t understand what they meant. But something told me that this wasn’t an ordinary wall.

On the wall was something written, “The world does not accept what it does not approve. Realize and act such that you are not ridiculed.”

Below the text was a cutout in the shape of a box. Around it were symbols, each seeming to be on a disc.

Owen said, “B-bluu, g-give me the journal.”

“Uh, alright.”

He then put the book into the cutout, and then tried to rotate the disc.

Owen then gave up, “Dang... Hen can you do it instead?”

Hen could easily rotate it. But Owen was very specific about how he wanted Hen to rotate it, so he told him to do it slowly and arranged the first disc.

The disc that he rotated had a picture of what seemed to be the moon.

Owen mumbled, “The moon goes there... then..”

And slowly he and Hen arranged all the discs, and now there was a figure. However it seemed similar to something I’ve seen before...

Hen shouted, “isn’t this that logo?!”

I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Bluu, when Markis was still in development, there was a leak, that image... The top of it had a moon, the middle had a book, and at the sides were symbols, no one could really decode it since the photo was low-res!”

Hen then asked, “Wait, did you also follow the leaks?”

“No, I could only do this because I saw this in the sky.”

I said, “What?”

“Y-yeah, when I was lying down, I saw this formation of stars in the sky... w-well at least somewhat s-similar formation, not e-exact. But before that...”

Owen then put the journal into the cutout, and then we came a bang, the winding of cogs and gears filled our ears.

After the sounds stopped, Owen took the book out and then the door opened by itself. However, this wasn’t part of the mine, the hallway seemed cold.

It was old. I could tell that no one had been here in years. The four of us continued walking down cautiously. And once we had reached the bottom, we saw what it was.

“The... Sewers..?”

It seemed to be a sewer system, of course we only made that guess because it seemed like one. There wasn’t any water and naturally no smell as well.

Owen then said, “No, it could also be a waterway.”

Hen embarrassed, answered, “Ah.. I see.”

We went to the right, as the left was a dead end. And we slowly followed the sidewalks. We’d then reached what seemed to be a gate. A small stairway led up onto a platform with a lever.

Owen shouted “Hen pull it!”

Hen then pulled the lever and the gate opened by itself. Though the waterway was still there, this time it led outside. However, what was surprising was the sky.

Outside the cave, it was night. But here, it was in the morning. We know for a fact that not much time had passed, but it was the morning.

As we slowly walked out, we could see the world before us, it was a bare open field, the orange light shone upon the trees, and wind passed us by. A castle far in front of us, and towns that seemed to be intact. Were we finally in another place where things could work..?

In front of us, there was a kid NPC playing. All of us walked slowly, we felt strangely calm. The NPC came in front of us, and then, It came up to me. It said, “Are you four here alone?”

Suddenly he hugged me. Not knowing what to do, I looked to the others, only to notice that... They were looking terrified and looked at me... No, rather... They were looking down... At the NPC..?

When I looked down, I could see this NPC’s face, twisted and contorted with a smile, opening his mouth, I could see his fangs, deep into my thighs, it was as though the pain hit so late. An excruciating pain, I didn’t even realize I was shouting, my entire body felt paralyzed.

Owen shouted, “Fire Arrow!”

As soon as the arrow hit, the kid burned, but he only laughed, he held my head with his hands, with claws on them. Hen charged with his shield, pushing the kid off of me. Ana fired two arrows into his hand, pinning him into the ground. And that’s when it all made sense to me. There was no morning, there was no bare open field, there were no villages. The others only followed me because I went forward. This thing was using some sort of magic.

I was on the floor, and I lost consciousness.