Aria and her team had stumbled upon their goal, the goddess' holy flame, accidentally. The elf mage girl transferred some of the holy fire from her wand to the lantern held by Aria. Finally, they had completed half of the examination. "What now?" the elf archer boy asked, realizing they were still trapped inside the room with no visible exits. "Let's look for a hidden mechanism," Aria suggested, her experience with dungeons coming in handy. The team scattered around, feeling the bricks, observing the statues, and stepping on each floor brick, hoping to trigger something. The team fell silent for a while, but then the drow girl asked Aria out of nowhere, "Have you been in places like this before... umm," she paused, trying hard to remember Aria's name. "Alice, and yes, I have," Aria replied with a sincere smile. "Right, umm, I'm Ophelia, by the way. Ophelia Pyralis," the drow mage girl introduced herself, a bit shy. "Nice to meet you, Ophelia," Aria said, pleased to finally know the drow mage girl's name, although she felt a bit guilty for not revealing her own real name. The elf archer boy remained quiet but felt left out, so he spoke up. "I-I'm Idril Mithrandir, but don't get me wrong! I'm not here to get mushy with you guys. It's just so it'd be easier to communicate!" Idril tried hard to assert himself to the team, but everyone could sense his loneliness. "Pleased to meet you, Idril," Aria locked eyes with him and smiled. Idril became embarrassed and shyly averted his gaze, his cheeks blushing. "Hey guys, I found something!" Ophelia called the team as she discovered a peculiar symbol on one of the room's walls.

The room was bathed in a blue hue due to the holy fire, making it difficult to see the etchings on the wall. Ophelia, however, managed to make out some carvings on the brick walls in a language she couldn't comprehend. Aria and Idril joined her to take a closer look. "It looks elvish, but not any form that I know," Idril offered his opinion on the carvings. Aria studied the letters, realizing she could partially understand this ancient elvish language. She had seen similar writings before, like warning signs. "It's ancient elvish," Aria said as she traced her fingers over the letter carvings. "Didn't you study this as an elf, elfboy?" Ophelia asked Idril, raising an eyebrow. "I-I'm not good with books!" Idril admitted, feeling embarrassed. "And don't call me boy!" he added, slightly annoyed. "And aren't 'you' supposed to know this as well, being a high-ranking mage in the institute?" Idril inquired, looking at Ophelia with suspicious eyes. "Wah- I'm not that high up in the ladder!" Ophelia blurted out in a rush, also feeling embarrassed. Aria then interrupted their banter. "It roughly says, 'Here lies the Elf Queen. May she be forgotten'," she revealed. The team exchanged glances, trying to decipher the meaning behind these words. "Elf Queen? There have been many elf queens in the past, but I don't recall all their names," Idril spoke, scratching his head in confusion. "Perhaps this one was special, and this catacomb was created just for her," Ophelia speculated. However, Aria's attention was fixated on the phrase "May she be forgotten." She pondered its meaning, sensing danger and unease in this place. It reminded her of the feeling she had when she entered the Demon Lord's castle. Below the letter carvings, Aria noticed etchings that resembled the hand of the goddess holding the holy flame. But the next etching depicted the hand of the goddess holding the sun instead of fire. Adjacent to it, there was an open door with a woman's figure depicted in the following etching.

Aria gazed at the holy fire held by the statue of the goddess. Her curiosity outweighed her fear of danger as she prepared to solve the puzzle. Setting up her portable workshop, she began creating something. Idril and Ophelia watched intently as Aria worked, their eyes fixed on her every move. "What are you going to do?" Idril asked, curious about Aria's plan as she ground a chunk of rock. "Did you figure out how to get out of here?" Ophelia asked, her eyes filled with hope. "The drawing on the wall suggests that a door will open if the hand of the goddess holds the sun," Aria explained. Both Idril and Ophelia looked confused. "What do you mean? How can you bring the sun here?" Ophelia asked, her curiosity piqued. Aria then took out a piece of soft metal and began peeling it off, creating small grains of the metal. "The symbol we see here is the holy fire that is commonly found in apothecary books, just like how the symbol of the goddess' hand with a teardrop represented the goddess' tears that I use in my concoctions," Aria explained as she mixed the ground rock and metal grains together with a viscous liquid. After completing the process, Aria stood in front of the holy fire held by the goddess and poured the compound mixture onto it. "The symbol of the sun held by the goddess is called 'Lunaria's Hope'," she said. Suddenly, the fire was extinguished. "Well, now what?" Idril asked, his voice filled with concern. Within moments, a glow appeared in the hand of the goddess, and a ball of pure white light, resembling fire, illuminated the entire room, revealing a door on the opposite wall.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Both of Aria's teammates were amazed by her. "How did you do that?" Ophelia asked, her eyes full of admiration. "Well, I ground some moonstone to make moon dust and shaved some sunsteel, then mixed them. It was one of the greatest discoveries in the world of apothecary." In the back of Aria's mind, she knew that Ophelia's question had a deeper meaning, but she couldn't help but show off a bit, her smile smug. "Now we can get out of here!" Idris exclaimed, overjoyed to have found a way out, and he ran towards the door. "Wait!" Aria called out, causing Idris to stop in his tracks. "I have a bad feeling about what's out there." Aria picked up some unlit torches from the ground and lit them using Lunaria's Hope. "The light emitted by these torches is a strong repellent against unholy monsters and demons. As long as you stay within the range of their brightness, you'll be safe. Take these, please." Aria handed a torch to both Idris and Ophelia. The torches shone brightly, like the sun, and their light was blinding. "Why didn't you make these earlier? They could've saved us some time," Ophelia wondered, waving the torch around. "You cannot create Holy Fire. It can only be taken from a source," Aria explained. "The original holy fire is in the Kingdom of Luminaris," she added.

As they entered the next room, they were greeted with darkness. The place was dusty and musty, and they could taste the dust in the air as they breathed. The eerie atmosphere made them feel like nobody had been there in a very long time. Despite holding torches with the brightness of the sun, their light could only illuminate a few steps ahead of them. They noticed knight statues lined up on the sides of the room, holding their swords upright. The shape of the room was indiscernible due to the darkness. As they examined the walls, an uneasy feeling washed over them, as if the statues were still alive and staring at them through the slits of their helmets. Shivers ran down their spines. Aria approached one of the knights and noticed the intricate and ancient designs on the armor, which seemed odd for a statue. Huddled close together, they continued to explore the place. "I don't like this. Let's just look for an exit and get out of here," Ophelia expressed her wariness, her wand at the ready. Staying close to one another, they walked along the walls, searching for another door to make their way out of the dark room. However, Aria caught sight of something at the center of the large room—a faint blue light. Aria signaled her teammates to approach the center, thinking it might be another goddess statue with the holy fire. Converting it into Lunaria's Hope would illuminate the entire place. But as they drew nearer to the blue light, they realized it was not what they had expected. Just a few feet away, a different sight greeted them—a huge round dome that emitted the blue light, with runes surrounding it, resembling a magic circle. "This looks like some kind of barrier," Ophelia observed. "Look!" Idris pointed at the center of the barrier dome. There appeared to be a person inside—a woman wearing a white dress with long white hair. Strangely, Aria felt a sense of familiarity with the magic dome, but she couldn't quite place it. "Hey!" Idris carelessly called out to the person inside the dome. "Stop! What are you doing?" Ophelia yanked Idris to stop him from addressing the mysterious person. Suddenly, the person inside moved, and as her long white hair fell away from her face, a grim image was revealed. The group gasped in unison as they faintly saw glowing red eyes staring back at them. Fear gripped them, freezing them in place. The person inside stood up, and green flames illuminated the entire area, revealing the vastness of the dome. The woman then approached them, chains made of light attached to her hands and feet clanking as she moved. Their eyes widened, and their hearts sank as they beheld her visage. She was thin, almost skeletal, with pale white skin and wrinkles covering her body. In addition to her long white hair, she had long elf ears, but her intimidating red eyes captured their attention. They locked gazes with the being. Once they were only a few feet apart, with only the barrier dividing them, the woman spoke, but it was in a language they didn't recognize. The woman pointed at Aria and her pocket. Aria was flabbergasted, and her teammates looked at her in confusion. Aria was speechless, having no idea what she was looking at. "My, my, well done!" a voice from the entrance they had come through was heard. "I knew you could do it, Aria Nightbloom." Aria was taken aback, as someone knew who she really was. But what was even more appalling was the person who spoke. "Long time no see," the man said, giving a sinister smile.