The sound of footsteps echoed through the cramped tunnel. The travellers were forced to walk in a single file with the shaman squashed between the taller women as they slowly descended further into the dark depths of Niuran.
It had been two days since they renewed their journey and all the overflowing enthusiasm had seeped out of Kia and she finally collapsed like an unpowered golem into her creation's arms as the two nights of fighting her exhaustion finally caught up with her delicate body.
Whenever they stopped the elf would spar with Shiro, uncertain if nekos's words of punishment were real or not since the punishment never came. Kia would grumble for a while before leaning against the wall and watching the two women fight. Iris felt a faint feeling of happiness as the girl's eyes watched her train and get stronger. Like a clockwork golem Kia would stand up after the melee warriors had finished training and sneak behind the oblivious fox, pouncing on her fluffy tail and using it like a pillow as she pulled out something from her inventory to entertain herself further.
As time passed the tunnel turned up slightly levelling off their decline into a straight horizontal line which led them further into the dark. Even with Kia's light dimming after her mind drifted into a deep rest, Shiro effortlessly navigated through the winding tunnels which often intersected each other in a maze of ghost trails.
"I'm hungry." Nakatei rested her hand on her stomach which had announced its presence with a loud growl. Her grassy eyes took a peak at the sleeping necromancer with chocolate crumbs all around her thin pink lips.
"There is a place we can rest not that far away from here." Shiro turned around her upper body, taking a break from vigilantly watching the area in front of her.
The sulky fox turned around before nodding as she matched her step with the nekos. Truthfully it didn't take long for Shiro to announce they were only a bend away from a cave they could all set up a camp to Nakatei's great delight.
"Huh?"
"What is it?" The shaman stood up on her tip-toes trying to see what caused the white-furred cat to suddenly stop.
"Shiro?" The quiet risen broke her long-standing silence.
"I didn't expect this section to collapse," Shiro tapped the butt of her spear on the pile of rocks and loose earth. "Mmmrr."
"What now?" Nakatei asked.
"We have to turn around and go through the lower stratum and leave through a different exit," Shiro turned around and then proceeded to rough up her nervous ward's fiery hair. "We will only graze a few of the highest layers of that stratum but we will have to take much more precaution when we go in there. The two upper strata are quite empty with the upper stratum being practically empty and this layer is only slightly worse with maybe an occasional ogre spider here and there or a goblin tribe blocking a useless tunnel but the lower stratum practically crawls with actual monsters." Shiro warned the young shaman before turning her around.
After reorganising, Shiro led them inside a tunnel which resembled the inside of a rib cage as whatever carved it into the solid rock dug evenly spaced groves through the entirety of the tunnel.
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Once again the cat's knowledge of the underground was proven right as not a bell had passed and an unnatural light beamed from the opposite end.
"Wow." The shaman's voice reached the elf as the demi disappeared into the blinding light. Iris felt she bumped into something as she continued to walk forward with her sensitive eyes closed. After feeling her eyes get somewhat accustomed to the bright light, the elf began to slowly open her eyes.
A bizarre sight caused the risen to disbelieve her own eyes as she rubbed her lying eyes. The lie proved to be true as she looked up and the mute feeling of sunlight hitting her snowy skin made her body long for it. All around her greenery flourished on the stone floor and walls as it whispered in the gentle wind. As her eyes panned over the fairy scenery her eyes were drawn upward. Towering over everything a massive door frame made out of yellowish stone stood there empty. On both of its sides, vines crept up its vertical pillars. Somehow a tree managed to grow in a crack in the top right corner of the door frame where the stone was worse for wear.
"Tur off de fireball..." In the elf's hands, Kia began to wriggle around eventually managing to turn onto her stomach while pressing her hands against her eyes.
"Welcome to the lower stratum," Shiro who didn't stop to marvel at the bizarre sight turned around and stretched her arms outward. "Nice isn't it?"
"Yeah." The shaman responded to her guard while unable to look away from the sun-filled sky above.
"Ibis?" Kia wormed her right arm from beneath her and began to feel Iris's face like a blind woman.
"Did you sleep well?" Iris grabbed the girl's arm by her wrist and waited for the mage to wake up after giving her a rough shake.
"Bright." The undead put both of her hands above her eyes, blocking the overhead rays of light. The ancient undead indicated she wanted the elf to let her go which the risen did. She looked around the circular area but as the gentle wind picked up momentarily, Kia's eyes shot in the direction of the empty doorway.
"There is a lot of mana coming from there." Kia motioned to the darkness past the gigantic doorway.
"To be expected. No matter how many monsters you kill there, their population remains a perfect shitload." Shiro twirled dexterously a blade of grass with a fussy ball of seeds at the end between her fingers as she imitated the scholarly accent spoken by Geni'i.
Kia stared intently at the towering stonework in front of her as she sluggishly picked up her legs as the other three women began to move forward. "Site P-029..." Iris heard Kia mutter as she turned around only to see the undead mage had caused the thick layer of flowering vines to turn into a black sludge which dripped down onto the ground, revealing a plaque.
"What is she doing?" Shiro asked. Her beliefs told her to intervene but after what Nakatei and Kia did she wasn't sure if disrespecting these gates to the depths of the world mattered too much.
"Don't know." Iris responded as she walked over to the other side of the door and casted Flame, exposing further writing underneath. Her eyes followed the flame which swiftly turned the vines into ash uncovering further naked stone before she spotted a tablet carved about five and a half meters from the ground. Looking at Kia's side the tablets looked to be mirrored copies of one another.
"Site P-029-OB. Property of the Royal Astronomer and Advisor to the Great Heir of Orlak," Iris read the tablet carved into the base of the door before reading the same thing on the remaining three tablets.
"I don't understand," Nakatei spoke. "This is the place where the heart of darkness resides how could it be that someone owns this? What does P dash 029 mean even?" Behind her Shiro nodded to her ward's words as both of them stared at the elf who had read the incomprehensible writing.
"P means that this site is private or personal property, I think." Kia chimed in, sounding like an old family member recalling something from their past.
The other woman turned toward the girl's voice only to see her crouched in front of a huge book far too large for human use which had crushed all vegetation underneath. They stared confused as the girl bobbed her head side to side as she flipped pages covered in letters which looked alive ready to hop off the page and wonder off at any moment.
"I was right, see." Kia's slender finger pressed against the yellowish paper. Her discovery could have only been confirmed by Iris who read the list Kia proudly showed her while the two demi-humans looked at each other.
"And what OB stands for?"
"Ehh..." Kia flicked through the pages before she suddenly stopped and tapped on a letter before flicking back two pages and tapping the paper again. "Opificinae Biologis... hehe." Kia let out a small giggle as she touched the large book causing it to disappear after saying words none of the people around her understood.
"What so funny?"
"It's spelt wrong," The undead replied casually before Iris felt Kia's mood sour as she gave the stone door another look. "Are we going? I don't want to be here anymore... it reminds me of something."