“What do you want in exchange, Dvarga?” asked the lava creature. Mark understood every word the creature said, like it was his first language. He remembered then that he had gained an ability related to his Divine Name.

[Language of flames: understand the language of any creature related to fire.]

This ability was what helping him understand the lava creature. And he didn’t know how, but he somehow knew what the creature was and its abilities, ‘a balrog.’

From what he knew of them, they were wrathful beings that only seek to destroy any living or non-living things in their ways. Whatever the dwarfs did before seemed to have pacified the creature. And for it to have a conversation with them, whatever they give it, it must be something it very much wanted…or needed.

The Dwarf, or Dvarga, as he was called or was it the name of their race, was sweating profusely from the fire aura the Balrog was emitting around him. As soon as the sweat left his body, they would evaporate in the air. Mark was sure the Dvagra was wearing something that decrease the heat coming from the Balrog.

He answered the Balrog in the same language he had spoken before and the Balrog seemed to understand what he was saying.

“You want me to kill a Seargrim? That will cost you more than you promised.”

‘What is a Seargrim?’ Mark asked himself. ‘the dwarfs want to kill it. Why?’ he had questions but he didn’t know how to approach them. And most of all, he was afraid of the Balrog. He only knew their ability, not how powerful they can be. So, he watched silently as the Dvagra fidgeted for a few seconds. He would turn to look at his companion, but they would avoid direct eye contact, as if afraid or ashamed to look him in the eyes. At last he turned to the Balrog and gave him his answer.

“Very well. I’ll see it done.” Then the creature submerged into the lava and disappeared.

The group of dvagras released their breath they had been holding since the start of the ritual. Summoning a Balrog was a tremendous gamble, even if it was for something as grandiose as taking the throne. They fell on their hips and wiped their sweats; the leader had sweat more than the rest as he was closer than it and had to face its overwhelming, almost suffocating pressure that was coming out of the Balrog. When Mark looked closed, he saw the leader had a wet pants, which almost made him laugh, but considering he would have fared much worse than him, he stopped.

He saw them collect themselves and head deeper into the cave, following the lava upstream.

He followed them until they went into a narrow, dark underground tunnel. The leader took out a white orb that had some kind of runes drawn all over it. Immediately after they went inside, he saw the leader channel something into the orb. The orb emitted a bright white light immediately. So, not to be caught, he stayed behind.

After waiting for a while, Mark went after them. The tunnel was dark, the only light coming from him. After walking for a few minutes, he came out of the tunnel and was met with a bustling underground city. There were loud noise, from a blacksmith workshop to a stonemason hammering down on a stone to build walls, homes or other crafts.

It surprise Mark to find such rich and developed city with lofty towers that could be seen from afar and transport that seemed to move faster than an eye could follow. Some if had a levitating transport, but the speed of such vehicle looked slow compared to the other, but still as fast as a modern car.

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There were other crafts and technologies that Mark had never seen but were magnificent. He was so absorbed by them that he didn’t notice the passage of time. Only when the lights around the city dimmed and the noise died down that he noticed there were giant white orbs like the one he had seen the leader use but much, much bigger. It was as big as a football stadium and there were three more like it spread throughout the entire city.

‘They must have used those as a substitute for the sun.’ Upon a closer look, he noticed that the runes on these white orbs were slightly different. ‘It must be for the intensity and color of the light.’

Their technologies and advancement were high. Mark doubted that any other city in the world could match theirs. He followed the lava river from before to find it was coming from another lava river that had split, but it looked like it was not because of natural cause. After some investigation he found that the Dvagra had used some techniques to divide to lava river and use it for their own purpose…mostly to craft something.

The main lava river came from something that looked like a waterfall, but instead of water, it was lava. He wanted to follow the lava, but something pulled him back, like his strings were being pulled by something invisible. He turned and looked around to find nothing…no one. Despite searching his surroundings, he still found nothing. When he thought it was nothing more than his imagination, the feeling came again, but this time was more powerful.

He followed the pull for it to disappear again, so he waited and the feeling came again. He continued to follow the pull until it vanished and wait for it to come back. After a while, he reached the source of this pull.

It was a two story home made of stones and rocks. It had a beautiful design and some decorations on the wall, but when he got closer, the decorations brightened up a bit. That was when he realized they were runes carved into the walls. Thankfully, he didn’t enter the house.

He heard hurried and heavy footsteps getting closer by the second. So, he immediately bolted out of there. He didn’t what to meet whoever that could set up a complicated rune like that…runes he didn’t understand for most parts. But he did understand some that were related to fire. If an intruder was detected and if they were closer enough to the door, they would have been incinerated.

He tried to find a way out of this underground city, or maybe he should call it a country or an empire. It was so complex. There were many other cities like it. Some were small, and some were bigger…much bigger.

It was crazy to think that there was this whole new world underground, and it was dominated by Dwarfs or Dvagra as they were called in this world.

During his search, he met beasts he never had seen before and some he did, like the ten feet giant tarantula, luckily it was weak since he burned it to ashes. Or the giant mole. He didn’t have much problem moving around, but he avoided going deeper into the earth.

After searching for what felt like days, Mark finally found an exit to the world above. It evening as the sun was setting, bathing the sky red and orange.

He found himself on the other side of the misty mountain range. This side was also filled with trees as big as the ones on the previous side. It was almost like the mountain range appear in the middle of the misty forest.

When he used more energy for his Energy Eye, the world became brighter, like it was filled with colors and every detail in the surrounding became clearer for him. He saw an army of ants carry their food back to the colony, or other insects prey on another. Or as a tiger stalk his unsuspecting prey, everything on its body becoming detailed for him to study. Slowly, he floated toward the forest’s end, enjoying every moment and appreciating the sights. He wouldn’t have seen such things back on earth, but here…things were different. There were many such scenes, or maybe even more magnificent, for him to see, enjoy, and explore, and he couldn’t wait for it. It differed from the misty forest as it wasn’t covered in that much of mist that could be difficult for the human eyes to see within a two meter radius. But here the mist was thin and others could see for about twenty meters ahead of them, maybe much larger than that if they were well versed in Astral Essence. When he was about to reach the end of the forest, two individuals intrude on the range of his Energy Eye. The two intruders were running. One chasing the other.