Walking through the dark cave, only our footsteps echoed through the long tunnel. Sometimes, we could hear droplets of water falling from the ceiling, and in some places, wet patches formed on the floor, creating small puddles. When we first heard the sound of falling drops, Eliza and I flinched, causing Angela and Frederick to laugh. But then a drop of water fell on Angela’s head, and she let out a scream. This time, the three of us laughed at her, making her face turn red.

"Why are you laughing? I wasn’t scared at all!" she exclaimed indignantly and turned her head away.

"Yeah, yeah, we know, haha," I replied, but I couldn’t hold back my laughter at the end.

Angela just huffed in annoyance and walked ahead.

"Wait! Where are you going? You don’t have a flashlight!" I shouted and sped up to overtake her.

After that, we continued our journey calmly. It felt like about an hour had passed since we entered the cave. From time to time, we encountered crossroads, but the correct path was indicated by iron plates nailed to the walls. These plates were quite rusted, meaning they had been here for a long time. The arrows carved into them, however, seemed more recent.

"Strange… If all the plates we’ve seen are in such a state, that means someone was here long before us," said Frederick as we walked through the tunnel.

"And that’s true," Eliza added thoughtfully. "I wonder how long ago they were put up? And how did they even put them up if this cave was discovered only two months ago?"

After their words, we all began to think about the origin of the plates. But no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t come up with an answer.

"Maybe a long time ago, this cave was connected to the surface, and there was a mine here that was later abandoned for some reason," Frederick suggested.

"Possibly. Or maybe our management just decided to use old, unwanted plates. Heh," Angela chuckled.

Her idea seemed quite logical, considering that our management could indeed do such a thing to save money.

We continued deeper into the tunnel, chatting about various topics and sharing stories from our lives. At some point, we suddenly reached a large chasm.

"Stop!" I halted everyone and continued, "Careful, we’ve reached a chasm."

"Hey! Let me see!" Angela said, her mood clearly lifted.

She walked up to me and started peering ahead. I followed her and examined the obstacle in our path.

"I wonder how deep it is," she said, picking up a nearby rock.

Tossing it a couple of times, she threw it into the abyss. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—suddenly, a loud thud echoed; the rock had hit the bottom. The depth of the chasm was astonishing—falling into it meant certain death.

"It’s really deep," Frederick said with slight concern.

"That’s true," Eliza added. "But the main problem is how to get to the other side."

"Look, there’s a ledge over there," I pointed in the right direction. "And there’s a path leading across."

In the distance, we could see a small stone bridge that could take us to the other side. I managed to spot it thanks to the crystals that emitted a faint glow. These crystals jutted out from the walls throughout the chasm, but unfortunately, reaching them was impossible. And beyond the bridge lay the continuation of the tunnel that led further to our goal.

"We need to get over there," I said, pointing to our destination. Then, I approached the ledge.

Luckily, the ledge sloped slightly downward and extended all the way to the crossing. I firmly secured my flashlight to my backpack and fastened it tightly to myself. The others did the same. Once I was ready, I turned to face the wall and stepped onto the ledge.

Moving slowly, supporting myself with both feet and one hand, I progressed forward. After I covered some distance, the others began following me, maintaining a safe distance between us. We had all learned how to traverse narrow ledges during training, so this path wasn’t a problem for us.

After two minutes, we all reached the crossing. Taking our flashlights off our backpacks and holding them in our hands, we continued forward. The bridge itself was a couple of meters long and about two meters wide. We crossed it quickly and saw a sign nailed to the wall near the passage leading into a narrower tunnel.

"That means we’re on the right track," Eliza said, pointing at the sign.

Exchanging glances, we moved forward. As we progressed, we encountered another small obstacle. At one point, we reached a dead end, with the only option being to crawl through an opening near the floor. The opening was small, but a person could fit through without much trouble. However, with backpacks on, it was impossible, so we had to take them off and drag them behind us.

Crawling took quite a long time—about twenty minutes, it seemed. During this time, we became quite exhausted and started feeling cold due to the damp floor. On top of that, our bodies were beginning to go numb.

Finally, after half an hour of crawling, we emerged into a much larger part of the cave. Standing up straight and stretching, we started examining our surroundings.

Everything was covered in a layer of green moss, and in some places, there were small pools of water. Numerous vines hung from the ceiling, intertwining to form various and even bizarre shapes. The vines were green with yellow veins resembling blood vessels. Small leaves, similar to yew leaves, grew on them, and at their tips, there were clusters of yellow grape-like berries.

The ground was adorned with flowers that resembled white roses. The only difference was the complete absence of thorns. Their stems were very short, causing the buds to nearly touch the moss on which they grew.

"Wow," I said in shock. "I didn’t expect to see a Loza Grove here." My voice carried both amazement and admiration.

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"I didn’t expect this either. This will be a perfect place to take a short break," Eliza added, slowly sitting down to catch her breath.

"Incredible!" Angela exclaimed. "I’ve only read about this place, but I’ve never seen it in person!" Excitedly, she ran off to examine the vines and flowers.

"I’m seeing a Loza Grove for the first time too," Frederick added with admiration.

"You guys, just don’t eat the berries. We need to do something before eating them," Eliza quickly warned. I simply nodded.

"Well, should we take a break here?" I asked.

"Yes! Let’s do it! I want to explore everything here," Angela answered cheerfully.

"I agree. A little rest wouldn’t hurt," Frederick said.

"You already know my answer," Eliza added.

Having made our decision, the three of us prepared to have a meal while Angela continued running around, examining everything.

We didn’t go far and settled by one of the many small lakes. Turning off our flashlights and one lantern to save their charge, we sat on the stones we found and began our meal. Angela soon approached as well and sat down next to us on another stone. In her hands, she held a bunch of appetizing yellow berries.

"Hey, Eliza, you said something needs to be done with these before eating them. What exactly?" she asked, clearly eager to try them, looking at the berries and reaching out to Eliza.

"Nothing special," Eliza replied, plucking one berry. "See this little protrusion on the bottom? You just pull it out carefully to remove it completely."

When she did this, we saw a seed in her hand, from which that very protrusion had grown. But the most disgusting part was the tiny white fibers sprouting from the seed, resembling nerves.

"These 'nerves' are called toxicorizomes. If someone eats them, they first get paralyzed and then die from toxicosis. But the pulp itself is completely safe to eat," she said, tossing the seed away and eating the berry’s pulp.

"I see. Well, let's try it," Angela said and repeated the process exactly as she had been shown.

Frederick and I decided not to stay out of it and also took a berry each, which Angela shared with us. Doing the same trick, I tried mine. The berry was very sweet, and its juice slightly tingled my tongue, fizzing a little like carbonated candy.

"Not bad," Frederick said. Angela and I just nodded in agreement.

Even though I had been to Lozovoe before, I had never tried these berries. After eating one, I wanted some coffee, so I took a thermos out of my backpack and poured myself some. Taking a few sips, I glanced at my wristwatch and realized we had been in the cave for five hours already.

"Oh… So we've been walking for that long? It only felt like two hours to me."

Distorted time perception in a cave is not uncommon, and apparently, I needed to check the time more often—I was getting too relaxed. If I were alone, the situation could have become dangerous.

"Guys, we've been underground for five hours now," I said to warn the others.

"What, already five hours?" Eliza said, checking her watch. "Well, according to the plan, we need to reach the catacombs, and we can sleep there, right?"

"Exactly. We have about two more hours to go, so we’ll get there soon. Let's finish eating and move on," I replied and started drinking my coffee, which was already getting cold.

About ten minutes later, we were ready to move forward. We packed our things and also picked a couple more bunches of berries for later. They were delicious, after all, and none of us would turn down the chance to eat them again, but later—why waste the opportunity?

Once we were done, we continued onward. As we advanced through Lozovoe, I got lost in thought and nearly fell into a small lake. Fortunately, Frederick grabbed my backpack just in time and pulled me back; otherwise, I would have had to walk in wet clothes for the next couple of hours. I thanked him for his help and focused properly on the path.

"Yeah… With this habit of mine, I’m sure I’ll trip over something in my old age and die in the dumbest way possible."

Half an hour later, we finally reached the end of Lozovoe. Our path now led through a dark tunnel—just an ordinary cave. Along the way, we talked about various topics to stave off boredom, and at some point, the conversation turned to our pasts. Surprisingly, even though we had known each other for a couple of years, we had never talked about this—aside from the occasional spooky or mystical story.

Eliza spoke first. As a child, she was very intelligent, excelling in school not by memorization but by truly understanding the material. Among our small group, she was the only one like that. Her interest in medicine also began in childhood—she was always reading books and asking questions of her parents, who happened to be a doctor and a veterinarian.

Because of this, she constantly brought home injured or sick animals to care for. At first, her parents didn’t mind, but when she kept doing it tirelessly, they forbade her from bringing in more. However, they didn’t throw out the ones she had already taken in, allowing her to continue caring for them. Once they recovered, they found them good homes, and in the end, only a cat remained—one Eliza refused to part with. Her parents decided to keep it as a pet.

After that, her mother sometimes took her to work so she could help and learn. This continued until graduation, after which Eliza chose to study medicine rather than veterinary science. After finishing her studies, she joined our workplace, where she also picked up basic archaeological skills.

Next was Angela. When it was her turn to speak, she suddenly blushed—and the reason was that she had been quite a troublemaker as a child. This started in middle school when, out of boredom, she decided to beat up a couple of guys she already disliked.

The reason? Those boys were typical "cool kids" in class—they smoked in the school restroom or behind the building, constantly interrupted lessons, disrespected teachers, and, of course, took money from younger or weaker students. One day, she saw them behind the school and decided to fight them. She snuck up quietly and threw the first punch—one against three. Since Angela was quite athletic, even back then, she managed to hold her own against them. But at one point, a passing teacher saw them and rushed in to break up the fight.

When they were scolded in the principal’s office, Angela snapped back at the principal and ran away, skipping the rest of her classes. At home, no one scolded her—her parents simply didn’t care about their daughter. Perhaps their attitude was why Angela became a delinquent, frequently getting into fights and trouble.

She explained that her parents had conceived her by accident and noticed too late to do anything about it. Throughout her childhood, she was alone. They never scolded or praised her. Sometimes, she went hungry because her mother simply forgot to cook for her, so at a young age, she had to learn to cook for herself.

By high school, Angela had stopped acting like a delinquent. The reason was a girl she befriended. They were inseparable, spending all their free time together. Her friend was always drawn to exploring different places and wanted to become an archaeologist. Angela had no plans for her future, so she decided to go with her friend.

During their work, her friend fell in love with a guy and later got pregnant. Angela always supported their relationship. She also got along well with the guy, so she was sure he would take care of his child and his wife. After her friend went on maternity leave, Angela continued working and eventually joined our team.

After hearing her story, we finally understood one of her habits. Angela always tried to do something to receive praise, even without realizing it herself. She did it so often, but until now, we hadn’t understood why, and she denied wanting any praise. Feeling sympathy for her, the three of us hugged Angela. She didn’t understand why we were acting this way, but she didn’t resist.

After standing there for a while, we continued onward. It was now Frederick’s turn. His father had been an archaeologist for a long time, and his mother had died during childbirth. Because of this, Frederick and his father frequently moved from place to place for work. He never blamed his father for this—he understood that archaeology was all he knew.

Due to constant research trips, his father couldn’t always spend time with him. But they lived with a nanny who took care of Frederick. She became the mother he never had. His father never blamed him for his mother’s death—he knew it wasn’t his son’s fault. Through his father’s work, Frederick developed an interest in exploration and history, so after school, he followed in his father’s footsteps and eventually joined our team.

When it was finally my turn, I suddenly stopped. A small tunnel ahead opened into a vast cavern, where the entrance to the catacombs was located.

"Guys, we’re here," I suddenly said. "Now we just need to find the passage to the catacombs."