It took a bit over a day to travel to the remnant. The distance to the remnant from the sect wasn’t actually that far, but went directly inside Centralean Forest. A larger group attracted attention and beasts were quite willing to try attacking. Yet, none of them survived, of course. To begin with, there were no strong beasts and only the dumb ones were the ones that attacked.

The mercenaries were pretty good fighters. This was to be expected. Among the mercenaries there was the strange woman Kaden had noted earlier. Her name was apparently Emina. At one time she took what Kaden had determined to be some kind of musical instrument. The woman had called it something like ‘quitar’. She started playing it loudly.

“Deaaatthhh metallll!” She shouted in a guttural voice as she played the quitar. Kaden noticed a blast of energy be released and a few beasts nearby simply seemed to slightly expand and then go *pop*. It seemed pretty effective magic, even if it was something that wasn’t suited for covert usage.

The inquisitor was in a hurry so he also quickly annihilated some beasts. Kaden only watched and frowned how Weils shot beams of light and anything they touched exploded in a similar flashes of light.

Weils was, after all, at Condensation stage and around the parts of the forest they were going trough, it was very unlikely to run into a Lower Cari that might have been able to give an actual fight.

Eventually even the dumber beasts took the hint and left.

With the beasts out of the way, rest of the trip to the remnant was relatively uneventful. Weils raised his hand eventually as a sign to slow down. He had the most wide range senses so he was the first one to find the remnant… and a group of members of sect of Awu camped around it.

As soon as they noticed the approaching group, they raised up their weapons.

“Who goes there!” One of them shouted.

“I am inquisitor of the church!” Weils shouted. “You will now stand down and we will take over.”

Weils didn’t waste any time. He stated his demands and expected it to happen. The Awu’s sect members were not happy, but they likely had known someone would come and obeyed.

They were left outside of an remnant entrance. Very few beasts would come there willingly, but they were keeping watch of the area anyway.

Kaden assumed the rest were inside the remnant taking everything they could before they ran out of time.

The remnant entrance had been cleared. Kaden looked inside and it resembled more of the type the as the one he had first been to. Clearly built by humans, but filled with stagnant mana. For sure it was not the type that might have simply popped into existence. At least not by external appearance.

The sect members were talking with Weils.

“We recommend you wait, inquisitor”, one of them said. “Silver Eye is inside the remnant and will eventually return. There is no need to risk yourself by going in.”

What a pathetic excuse to try persuade Weils from going in.

“They are likely just trying to delay us, but its not goint to work”, Kaden thought. “Short of them commiting suicide, there won’t be any problem."

Weils almost completely ignored the man in the weird animal suit as he ordered most of the mercenaries go in. Kaden also was to go along with them. A small group of mercenaries were left outside to prevent any scheming. Weils followed after everyone else with the rest of his people.

Kaden was slightly surprised that Weils was going to dirty his own hands, but it was probably normal for the inquisitor. A priest might not have chosen to do so, but an inquisitor would.

With all that out of the way, Kaden concentrated his attention completely to the remnant. He planned to get out alive. Weils had taken him along for the possiblity that he could be of use. So far the sect of Awu had been benign enough that he had not been needed back there. Kaden wondered, if he should attempt to get on Weils’s good side or just remain in the neutral zone. After thinking for a moment he decided it was perhaps best to stay neutral. Kaden did not want to be noticed by church again, even if it did get him closer to them. His help regarding this mission, useful or not, would likely be enough to pass whatever could be considered ‘punishment’. After that, staying out of sight was likely best choice.

As everyone continued further, it became clear the place had been some kind of shelter. There had been heavy metral doors that had been bent and twisted open already a long time ago. Perhaps the ancients tried to hide inside during the cataclysm. It was not even any small shelter. It was a large scale one.

There were even some intact maps of the layout left which showed there were many floors. At least that is what it was originally. There was no telling, if the map still matched the remnant. Even if it did, it was still very large and their group, despite being at least mid sized group, would have hard time sweeping it entirely. The sect of Awu had likely been trying to do that for quite a while.

“Then there was that 'problem'”, Kaden thought to himself. “The sect of Awu, while new sect, has been around here quite a while and they still haven’t been able to excavate this place completely?”

Kaden decided to be extra careful.

Weils had his own problems and was actually frowning. The remnant was larger than he had expected. Even with some mercenaries along, he would not be able to search everything anytime soon.

They did have some success, though. It seems they found the most important thing they came for. This specific remnant seemed to have access to a network that ancients had. Kaden recalled hearing about such a thing at some point. In this remnant it still existed… at least fragment of it.

“Being part of a remnant must have preserved it somehow”, Kaden though to himself. He wanted to have a look at it too. The mercenaries seemed to have some kind of deal with the church to see some. Kaden wondered what exactly would interest them in it.

“You know… new sounds and feels, ok”, the black haired woman, Emina, suddenly said to Kaden. “New music for me, yeah. Others… whatever their souls prefer, ok. You know… ancient weapons, tech...”

Kaden frowned as he listened to Emina. She must have noticed him thinking and guessed what it was about. It did kind of make sense. Despite mana and things people could do with it, ancients had made things without mana that people right now could not even understand. Their information network could have at least clues regarding such things. Everyone had their own invidual things that they would like to see. For Emina, it was things that could advance her understanding of sounds and music, apparently. For rest of the mercenaries, it was probably materials, weapons and so on. The church probably wanted information too.

“It seems this sort of remnant can be extremely valuable”, Kaden continued thinking without bothering to answer to Emina. “Clues to knowledge that has been lost. The freaks at the sect probably ran into something in it that attracted that god, Awu. This probably caused the church to eventually notice and determine the likely source. The sect has probably been coming here to search more and more information since the beginning.”

Yet, all things did not go as planned.

“Inquisitor Weils”, one of the people said suddenly that had been, examining a system they found. “As far as we can tell, this is only a small fragment and we cannot connect further. We believe more stable and wide range connection exists deeper.”

“That would explain why we haven’t ran into those sect members yet that are supposed to be here”, Weils said. He though for a moment. “Two will remain here. Extract as much information as you can! The rest of us need to go deeper. Maintain contact!”

It couldn’t be that easy… and it wasn’t.

They continued further, taking way going down. Soon they ran into signs of combat, old and new. By saying 'old signs' was that there were skeletons littered across the corridors. Many of them still wore shredded animal suits. Interesting part was that many of them had their skulls opened in a very sprecise manner. The fresher similar corpses added extra information on that.

“Their heads are opened up”, one of the mercenaries said and examined one corpse closer. “It looks like something also went in afterwards and crushed their brains.”

Someone or something took the time to cut open their heads, with precision, and then crushed their brains? No one could figure out the reason. They were probably already quite dead or soon to be once their skulls were opened.

“We must continue”, Weils said after he gave a look. “We will fight whatever we might run into. Matters such as these are to be expected in a remnant.”

Not long after they started hearing sounds. Speaking to be specific. They had found the sect members or at least whatever was left of them.

“Its the church”, one of them said. This sect member was wearing a very well made wolf suit. “So they finally came. I am, Silver Eye, High Priest of Awu.”

“Your sect has hidden this remnant”, Weils told Silver Eye calmly. “This is a mostly intact remnant of ancient build. We have also confirmed that this place has things that are to be reported to the church!”

“I see”, Silver Eye said nodding. “Of course we were going to do so, but there are thing in here that are related to Awu. Things that would affirm Awu’s influence upon our world. These things must not be hidden away! Such an action would be an afront to gods!”

“Church will determine that”, Weils replied then looked around at the ragged group. “Additionally it seems you have had difficulties completing this task. If your god isn’t of the wrong path, church would also aid you. Now you have merely suffered losses and perhaps commited a heresy.”

Silver Eye didn’t say anything, but then looked back into the darkness.

“That thing in there”, he said then. “Its insane. It is some kind of a guardian. Even with your help, it would be difficult to get past it. Only way seems be to lure it somewhere with a heavy cost while we go elsewhere. Sometimes even that doesn’t work. It’s not dumb. It can set traps too. If church wants to take over, there is nothing I can do. Whether what we do is heresy or not is not relevant right now. None of us is getting anything done alone. Therefore I suggest we work together? Perhaps allow us to keep things related to Awu?”

“I will not make deals with you”, Weils told Silver Eye. “Stay out of our way. Your safety will not be of any concern to us, should you choose to stay.”

Kaden was surprised that Weils didn’t simply tell them to get lost. Then again, what would they do? Even if they did manage to cause problems or defeat everyone, they would have attacked members of the church and thus be doomed. If they stayed inside, perhaps they could be useful. Yet, since Weils did not make any deals with them, he didn’t have to care about them either. Kind of a win win situation for Weils.

Around at that time some strange sounds were heard echoing trough the corridors. Someone or something was shouting something? At first it was difficult to understand due to the echo and because the voice was somewhat artificial sounding.

“We better move”, Silver Eye told his people, ignoring the church. “Its coming.”

Sounds became more clear. Clinking and clanking sounds were heard, like machine. Also by now the voice was far more clear.

“I AM BEATIFUL!” The voice shouted. Repeatedly.