Heavy rain poured over the forest of Alguna. It used to be a small kingdom. It was said to be one of the few who resisted the takeover of King Raydant during its early years of conquest. Now, only the name Alguna remained. The people and it's culture gone, eradicated.

The grey brick road passed over the province and Magnum was on the road wet under the rain. Flanked by the thick forests, he saw something white hiding under the lush greenery on his left.

“A ruin?” he thought as his body shivered from the cold wind and rain. He stopped and turned left from the road. He pulled his wagon over the grass and big roots to pursue what he saw. Some sort of structure started to appear blending with the trees. The wind and rain was filtered here by the canopy and Magnum rested under the biggest tree to save himself from the storm. He laid out some big stones over the grass and blasted his gunblade over it to dry them. Then he took out a few logs he has under his wagon to make fire. He sat beside it. Looking at the fire and through it he reflected on his latest battles over the past weeks.

“I could have saved that useless knight and those squires if my bombs were stronger. I need to adjust the formula.” he said.

Meanwhile in the depths under Midandria.

It had been two hours since Harthur entered the ruins. The cave was dark and damp. Maintaining his torch had been a challenge as the humidity was bad, droplets even form on the ceiling which make puddles on the ground. Harthur thought he could drink from it as a last resort but not yet, he was still not tired nor thirsty.

“Walls. Never ending walls.”

After the cave network, he arrived at some ruins inside a huge cavern. It was much more friendly to his torch but everything was dry now; the uneven ground, the sharp walls and even the wind. He had not seen any demons yet but ghost and skeletons were plenty. Ghost, he could always hear and feel them. It started when he was a kid; whispers and shouts delivered with cold emotions. It often scared him but he learned to ignore. It was his first time talking to a ghost though, he had been wanting to talk to ghosts ever since his parents died but he was never successful until now. Maybe it helped that he was not thinking about whether he was talking to a ghost or not. Maybe that was the key or maybe it was just a coincidence.

He expected that the ruins he was lost in were connected to the sewers of the city. He doesn’t know where to go; left, right, he might be walking in circles but the only direction he knew was forward. From what he remembered from the lessons from Father, the Great Knight Kalfred, water was the key to exploring the ruins. If only he could find some flowing water, he could end up back to the city or outside of it depending on which water source he followed. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t find any yet.

After a few more hours, his torch gave up. His ears were now ringing, his feet heavy, throat parched and his body hungry. Without his torch he was spending more energy; feeling the ground and the walls, finding for hints through hearing and smelling. He started to get worried that he might get jumped on anytime by demons, it made him walk slower but he pressed on.

“What’s that?”

He started to hear something.

“Drops? No. Much stronger!

The water was surging from above, a waterfall. He started to move quickly. The sound got stronger and stronger. A bit of light from above crept in as he went closer to the sound. Finally, he found it but the waterfall was dirty and it fell down to a small lake.

“Tsk. This must be from the city. It’s a dead end. But better than nothing, l can see a bit more clearly here. Now, let's see where this will take me.”

The rocks beside the waterfall were climbable so he did. He's thirsty now but he don’t want to drink the sewer water so he continued to followed the river. He saw few infected humans but they were walking straight to a wall and did not pay attention to him. He continued walking until the river forked, one came from the left, it was clean water.

“Good find!”

He quickly drank from the clean source and followed it into another cave. An hour after, he felt something cold brushed against him. He looked around, “No. Not a ghost. Wind?” Yes, a softly blowing wind, and then he smelled something. It was warm and tasty. He followed it. He walked further and several minutes later he found another huge cavern. It was dimly lit with a strange rounded house at the top of a large stone. And it's well-maintained: a house that could still be a home to someone but it's at the other side of a shallow crevice.

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

“There’s a lantern? What is this? There must be someone in the house.”

He tried to walk as quietly as he could but his tired feet couldn’t anymore. It was a steep downward slope to get down to the crevice.

“Oh no! Ahhhhh!” he slipped and dropped hard.

The door of the house opened and a man with a torch came out running.

“Young Master!” Sir Shane, in his butler suit, ran down the stone stairs.

“You arrived earlier than I expected!” He picked up Harthur like a log and then brought him up the house.

“Sir Shane! I knew it was you!”

“Me? Yes it's me!” Sir Shane opened the door.

“But I don’t think you needed to bribe the guard at all.”

“Bribe? I didn’t bribe the guard, Young Master. But tell me what happened,” Sir Shane said.

“What? The guard told me to go to the ruins. And he won’t tell anyone because someone paid him two-thousand silvers.” Harthur said.

“So someone paid the guard to release you?”

“Yes, and I thought it was your plan. That’s why it was fine for me to go to the ruins.”

“No, it wasn’t me. But you’re right, I didn’t need to bribe the guard if I need to save you from there. I know that you can save yourself.”

“I would have preferred that you save me, Sir Shane.”

“Well, it's good to see the fruits of your training, Young Master. So this means there is a person who wants you dead. Okay, I will investigate that. But your timing is great cause I just finished cooking! You did well arriving here. And I expect nothing less from you, Young Master,” he put down Harthur beside a chair.

Harthur flexed his arms and legs before sitting down as Sir Shane served the hot smoking soup. “Was this house a hide out? I did hear from Father that he used to train “In the ruins”. But how did you know the way here? Harthur asked.

“First of all, when I heard that you got arrested. I immediately thought that you will escape to the ruins so I have to prepare this house because I was sure you will be able to find it. Father brought me here once back then, and since his death, I come here and maintain it and try to kill the some demons. I knew that we will be needing it as some point.“ Sir Shane served the food at the table.

Harthur sat properly and started eating, “Sir Shane, I’m still seeing the horned tiger in my dreams. I feel it wants to say something.

Sir Shane rubbed his clean and pointed chin and appeared to be thinking deeply. “You know the story of the river tigers that came and guided the Father’s family from long ago?”

“Yes, but we’re not blood related with Father.” Harthur said.

“I don’t think it matters. If Father accepted us then we are part of the family and you seeing the river tiger spirit is proof.”

“But what should I do?”

“I suggest that you try to communicate with it and try to understand or look for clues on what it could be telling you.”

“Thanks Sir Shane. I’ll keep that in mind when it shows up again.”

As Harthur ate, Sir Shane was quiet standing beside him. Harthur doesn’t feel good about it so he tried to break the silence.

“How do we get out of here? Sir Shane?”

Sir Shane slowly stood up looking grim. “Going out? About that. There’s a complication.” He then turned around to get something from the kitchen. When he came back to the table, he was holding a peculiar instrument with straps and a sharp blade.

“I’m sorry young Master, but Harthur must die.”

Harhur was dumbfounded on what he heard. His heart pumped and he felt uneasy.

“Die?”

“...”

“...”

“...?”

“Wait. It actually makes sense!”

Sir Shane pulled the straps on the instrument, “You’ll be a fugitive once you go out young Master. And they can easily track you. You are now a threat. They are probably thinking that you will just die of hunger or thirst after a few days here in the ruins and I agree.

Harthur nodded while looking at the instrument in front of him. “He’s right. They’ll find out easily if I survive.”

“You understand now, Young Master?”

Harthur offered his right arm to the instrument, “I understand. You mean you will cut off my arm so the oath will read me as dead.

“Yes, Young Master.”

Harthur took a deep breath, “Where did you get that?”

Sir Shane started strapping Harthur’s right arm, “Bought it from a merc in the outskirts”

“You were expecting this to happen?”

“Yes but I expected to use this on me, Young Master. Not you.”

“Hmmmm,” Harthur looked up in the ceiling. “Ingrid will be safe with Sir Shane with her. This is a good plan after all. No, this is the best scenario for all of us.”

“Ready, Young Master?”

“Will you write a eulogy for me?”

“I can, if that’s what you want.”

“Good. Please make it something like he wanted to be a knight but now he wants revenge.”

Sir Shane smiled, “That sounds dangerous but I’ll do what I can.”

“Ready,” Harthur said, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

“Goodbye Harthur!”

Sir Shane lowered the lever on the side of the instrument. It snapped and Harthur heard the sound of the blade falling into his arms before he even felt anything.