The path that Nightingale and his companions journeyed into stretched forwards to an inestimable distance, filled with lights from lanterns hanging above.

Ceramic lined the corridor walls, with red drapes hanging on the sides. Paintings and statues of knights from ages past stood on either side, exuding a noble and righteous aura.

Nightingale felt strange to notice that the area they were in was cleaner than he had expected. The pathway was probably more than a dozen centuries old but it did not show any signs of decay or dust.

“How did they keep this place hidden and yet so clean? It doesn’t make any sense,” asked Shuen, looking around with her eyes filled with amazement. Evidently, she too felt surprised by the condition of the corridor that they were travelling through.

“You have to acknowledge that from this very point in our journey. There will be things that science and logic would never be able to explain.” Nightingale replied to her question, his finger in the air.

Continuing along the pathway, it continued to lead deeper underground and it would seem that the path’s end was far from their sight. They passed their time by occasionally giving glances over at the paintings, between each statue.

The paintings showed the ages during the medieval era, but what surprised them were the creatures inside. Most or all of them were nothing but myths and legends, only to be found in fairy tales. Dragons, giants, gryphons and others could be seen coming into existence within the paintings as they continued journeying ahead.

“These paintings are amazing! It's like an art gallery!” Telvinder gasped as his eyes were widened and drawn towards the paintings’ magnificent art and colours.

“Beautifully drawn dragons!"

"And the realism in it too!” He added as the others stopped to join him by the painting.

Nightingale gave a brief moment to stare into the eyes of the dragon in the painting. His spine shivering as he quickly looked away and stated his opinion.

“Maybe too real,” Nightingale said with his cool and chilling voice as his mind began to wander deep into thought. Shrugging himself out from the thought, he continued down the path followed by the rest.

“But dragons though!” Telvinder exclaimed with his face filled with glittering and excitement.

“Dragons, yeah! But even if they were real, they’re the last creatures on my list of wanting to meet.” Nightingale replied.

“Why not have a glance at the statues. If you had been paying attention, each statue seems to represent a knight of a different house.” Nightingale stated as he pointed out towards one of the statues on his right.

“See that knight’s crest and how it differs from the others’. It seems that this corridor is a memorial for them.” He stated.

“So there’s a chance that we’d see King Arthur’s memorial here?” Telvinder asked.

Without a sudden notice, Nightingale stopped in his tracks, taking a deep breath before facing him with an answer.

“No, not here. But we might in Avalon.” He replied before continuing on their path.

Twenty minutes had gone by before they finally saw the path’s end. Exiting the corridor, they found themselves led into a large hallway. Amazed by the sight of three great statues of knights stationed on each side in between pillars in a height of 30 feet.

Stopping for a brief moment to look above, there were large and old looking chandeliers sprouting from above. Lights sparkling and glittering, as if the ceiling was filled with stars. On their right were large tinted glass windows that had an overview of the area outside.

The others rushed towards the windows and their expressions were shocked and amazed. Curious, Nightingale too went ahead to join them.

His eyes widened with surprise as he saw them hanging above a large ravine with a river of gushing water.

“What the heck is this place?” Pee Aun asked as his eyes stared out through the window in wonder.

“A stronghold within a ravine,” Nightingale answered.

Moving away from the windows, something glittered in the corner of Nightingale's eyes as he immediately turned to look, it disappeared, and in its place was one of the tall statue's head. He brushed it away, thinking that it was nothing and noticed that the others had already started ahead. Heading towards the hallway’s end, where a tall archway was in place leading into the next area.

Through the tall archway, the path ahead was split into three different sections. Two of the paths were a stairway circling down leading below, while the remainder was a path leading straight ahead that continues on into a path filled with torches.

“Let’s have a look below,” Nightingale suggested as the others nodded in agreement and followed him down the steps.

Stepping down from the end of the steps, they found themselves entering into a dark room. Immediately as they took a step foot in, fire from torches immediately lit up upon their arrival and brightened their surroundings.

The fire from the torches welcomed them with its heat and as the air turned warm. The torches too had brightened up the once dark room and revealed a small tomb with coffins and statues were seen about.

It was not just an ordinary tomb, Nightingale thought, as the coffins were gold plated with crests that identified them as royalty.

“A tomb of kings,” Nightingale whispered to himself as he took a step deeper into the tomb.

Looking around he saw that the coffins within the tomb were arranged in order by their given statues that resemble the deceased.

"With each generation passing by," He thought as the arrangement of the coffins. But what attracted Nightingale's attention were the four statues that stood in the spotlight; in the centre of the tomb.

The members of his crew had already gone to view the coffins about, exploring a bit more of the tomb as Nightingale too decided to have a look at the statues that stood in the spotlight.

Taking a step closer, he saw that the first of the four statues was an Elf with a young masculine face and long hair which most would easily mistake him for a woman. The Elf wore scale plated armour with both hands wielding a sword by his chest. The sword had an Elvish design as it was slick and were similar to those in fantasy movies.

“Prince Elënnor Thirindril of The High Elves,” Nightingale whispered to himself as he read the statue’s plate which to his surprise was written in Old English.

He took the chance to look into the other three statues. Circling around the statue of the High Elven Prince, Nightingale saw that the second statue was a Dwarf with a stunning mighty beard, holding his great axe up from the ground. “Prince Gråthil Shatterstone of The Dwarves.” The nameplate read as Nightingale circled around towards the next.

“Prince Cedric Reimond of The Race of Men,” Nightingale spoke in a soft tone as he stared deeply into the statue’s face as he felt a familiar vibe. The Prince of Men too wielded a sword that seems to resemble of greatswords from tales and legends as Nightingale's fingers gently touched its blade.

Circling around to the final statue. He saw that it was a Demi-human, a race that only existed in fantasy books. A being with a humanoid form and animal features. It was no longer a fantasy as he had just learned of their existence as seeing a statue of one standing before him.

Examining carefully of the demi-human's features, he noticed that the Demi-human had a pair of wolf-like ears, a fluffy tail and claws indicated that he was a wolf with broad shoulders and sharp wolfish eyes. The statue of the Demi-human wielded no weapon but his claws were sharp and terrifying.

“Ranael Silvermoon of The Silver Wolves.” Nightingale read the plate as he took a step back for a full view of the statue of Ranael. The statue felt alive, giving a shiver up his spine as he stared into the beastkin's formidable face.

“Guy’s come over here, quick!” Alicia beckoned everyone to come over and join her. The others quickly left the coffins that they were viewing to group up back with Alicia.

Peeking over to the side of Ranael’s statue, to Nightingale's surprise, he saw everyone gathered around Prince Elënnor’s memorial. Heading to join them, Nightingale saw Alicia crouching down towards a plate that he had missed, placed just below Prince Elënnor’s memorial.

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“Look at what it says,” Alicia said as her fingers slowly traced the words as she read quietly of the words written on the plate.

The others around her were shocked to notice that the texts she was reading were in a language foreign to them.

“Alicia, you can read those letters?” Shuen asked her as she was amazed and surprised. Turning around to face Shuen, Alicia gave her a smile, “Yeah I can. It’s Old English, it’s part of my History lecture.”

“Don’t you guys have it in your studies too?” Alicia asked them as they exchanged glances among one another before returning her an answer.

“Well, we didn’t take history major like you did.” One of them replied her with a shrug.

"Then listen carefully," Alicia said as she looked back at texts and started reading it all out.

"Herein lies, the four representatives of each race,

Elënnor Thirindril, eldest prince of the High Elves,

Gråthil Shatterstone, third prince of the Dwarves,

Cedric Reimond, seventh prince of the races of Men,

Ranael Silvermoon, a warrior of the Silver Wolves tribe."

"These four were deemed as heroes as their unification founded the expedition to traverse the unknown land, they called Gaia—"

"What's Gaia?" Pee Aun asked.

"A name that the greek used to call our planet, Earth," Nightingale answered as he appeared from behind them.

"They started out wanting to connect their world with another, to build a kingdom, and expand their home. With the help of a great mage and the dwarves' expertise in magic-science, they built a gateway that opened and linked to Gaia. Thus led their foundation, a city was built on an island that was soon to be named as Avalon." She stopped.

"But their quest in building a new home was filled with many treacherous encounters and thus their lives were cut short into an end. Yet their legacy would live on as others would soon carry on the linking of worlds."

"Herein lies, the heroes and the founders of Avalon." Alicia finished as she stood up and slowly regained her breath.

“Elves, Dwarves and Demi-humans, they exist!” Telvinder gasped with the others as they slowly examined the statues and noticed the Elven ears and the Silver Wolf’s furry tail and ears.

“Look at his tail!” Shuen exclaimed with her eyes sparkling as she grabbed hold of the Silver Wolf’s tail.

“It looks so fluffy! Oh, I want to grab hold of one so badly now.” She added.

“Well, you should probably refrain yourself from doing so to the real thing. They definitely wouldn't like it.” Pee Aun chuckled.

He walked over towards Nightingale giving him a large pat on his shoulder.

“So what now, boss? Shouldn’t we get going?” Pee Aun asked Nightingale as the others were still fixed in their amazement in seeing the statues of races found only in fantasies.

“Yeah, we should.” He answered before turning to face the rest.

"Alright, let's get going."

“Look, you ruined our fun,” Telvinder growled as he gave a hard jab into Pee Aun's back.

"Gah!" Pee Aun jumped as he felt a ticklish sting on his back.

"Cut it out!" He yelled at Telvinder who started chuckling mad.

“Shhh.” Nightingale silenced them with his finger, breaking them before they started fighting.

“Did you guys heard that?” He asked as the others stayed silent and tried listening to the sound that Nightingale had heard.

“Heard what?” Pee Aun asked with a bewildered expression.

"Huh. I swore I heard something." Nightingale shrugged as the others were left in confusion.

"Let's go back up." He said and began heading back towards the stairs.

After reaching back upstairs, they noticed that Nightingale had left to return back into the large hallway. His behaviour was strange and they ended up deciding to use the chance to rest in wait for his return.

"What was that all about?" Pee Aun asked.

"No idea," Darren answered.

"Maybe he heard something that we didn't and left to investigate," He suggested.

Darren's suggestion was on point as Nightingale had gone to investigate the strange eerie feeling he was having as if something was amiss.

He stood staring into the large hallway, his eyes scanning area. Fortunately, nothing was amiss. He felt relieved, letting out a small sigh. But he felt strange as he swore he had heard something moving.

He turned away from the hallway, thinking that it was all in his imagination and decided to rejoin the rest.

But the sudden sound of rocks rumbling from above sent his heart pounding. In a sudden breath, he realised that he was not mistaken, as he slowly turned around to look up and saw that he had overlooked something important; that the giant statues of knights had come to life.

Nightingale's crew saw him running towards them with a face filled with emotions. Emotions that they never thought that he would have, a face filled with fear.

"You've been acting really strange." Pee Aun informed him.

"Not now!" Nightingale yelled at him.

"Run! Run!" He ordered them, in a voice filled with desperation.

They did as they were told as they began running in the top of their lungs. Those in the front were able to catch on as they realised what Nightingale was desperately running away from. But Pee Aun was left confused as he turned around and saw great tall statues of knights were in chase.

"Oh, Jesus almighty." He exclaimed before joining the rest.

The three giant statues were following and were not far behind them as each of their stomping steps, sent a tremor in the ground.

It seemed that due to their large size their speed was limited, but the corridor was large enough for the giant statues to fit through as it bad news for them.

“Oh, they had to make the corridors big enough for them to fit!” Pee Aun cried as he saw the statues fitting through.

“I know right!” Darren agreed as he had managed to catch up towards the front with his fast sprinting legs.

“Haha, Telvin! You peed in your pants yet?” Pee Aun shouted at Telvinder who was running by his side.

Astonishingly Pee Aun was laughing as he ran. His fears had already left him as the feeling of adrenaline and blood rushing through his head had filled him with excitement.

“This is thrilling!” He added.

“It's not all fun and games if we die, asshole!” Telvinder roared.

His face had already gone red as he had been sprinting faster than he would normally be able to. He was frightened to death, but the sight of the corridor’s end filled his eyes with tears of joy and hope.

Nightingale who was running behind them too spotted the corridor's end. He noticed that it led out towards the open, as there were no walls but only a bridge leading ahead.

It was a wooden bridge built out in the open area to allow people to cross to the other side of the ravine. It’s structure and the material seemed rather weak and not too fragile but it would break if the giant statues tried crossing over.

He quickly estimated the bridge’s length to reach the other side and understood that it would take too long for them to cross over before the giant statues caught up.

“Keep going, I'll try to buy you guys sometime!” Nightingale ordered them to continue as he tossed his bag over at Darren who was closest to him.

Nightingale stopped in his tracks as he turned around to face the upcoming threat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a magic stone.

Without a glance, he knew that he had taken the one he needed out. He went on a defensive stance, spreading his legs open. Both his hands stretched out, holding the magic stone in the direction of the giant statues.

He closed his eyes and began chanting the spell to activate the magic stone. He listened to the sound of the statues footsteps as it grew closer and waited for the right moment strike.

As soon as he heard the loud stomp that was only 10 metres away, he opened his eyes and saw that the statues were in range.

The magic stone began to glow bright red, as the markings carved on the stone began forming a projected image of a magic circle.

"Fireball!" Nightingale roared at last.

The magic stone's colours died away as it shot a massive fireball straight into their direction.

The fireball exploded and sent a blast that knocked Nightingale off his feet.

A fire had begun spreading all around. The attack was successful as it had blown away one of the giant statues and created a large hole that bordered him away from the remaining two giant statues.

“Yeah!” Darren and Pee Aun cheered as they saw Nightingale's attack was successful.

The large hole would buy them enough time to make their escape as it seemed impossible for the statues to find a way across.

Nightingale's crew had reached the bridge and already began making their way across. It was a long drop as they looked below, as there were streams of strong gushing water.

A smirk of success grew on Nightingale's face as he turned away from statues and began sprinting towards the bridge. The feeling of proudness grew into him until another tremor was sent into the ground again.

It sent a shiver down in his spine, as he turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock as he saw that the behaviours of the statues had changed.

The second giant statue extended its leg back, taking a stance, ready for a sprint.

“Oh no!” He screamed in his heart as he had a bad feeling of what was to come.

He began sprinting with all his might. hoping to make it across the bridge in time.

The statue kicked its foot into the ground as it started its sprint towards the large hole on the corridor's floor. Shockingly its speed had increased by an unfair amount as it attempted to leap across the hole.

The statue was successful in leaping over, but it did not stop in its tracks as it continued sprinting, heading towards Nightingale's direction.

He felt a surge of blood rushing into him. In his adrenaline, he pulled out the handguns he had kept out from his coat.

Peeking over his shoulder, he saw the giant statue with its steadfast speed drawing closer and closer towards him. Clenching his teeth hard and he had made his resolve, he turned half his body around and slowed down his sprint.

He began unloading bullets at the statue. Unfortunately, it was to no avail as bullets only scratched the statue's surface and it did not even falter in its sprint.

A gleam of red light shined on the helmet’s forehead as he had remembered seeing it previously. His eyes were drawn towards it and at that moment a thought of realisation sprung into him, “A magic stone!”

Putting himself at risk, Nightingale bravely lowered his pace even more so that he would be able to get a clean shot of the statue’s magic stone.

It was all in his speculation that the magic stone was powering the statue. He had nothing to support his conclusion but the statue would soon be on top of him as he only had but a moment’s breath to make a decision.

The moment came as the giant statue was nearing towards him, but its head did not face him but continued facing its real target in the far front.

Nightingale realised the cold truth as the giant statue’s aim wasn’t him, but it was aiming for the bridge where his crew were still crossing over.

He felt the adrenaline rushed through his body. Twirling both of his firearms, he leapt towards the front before turning his whole body around to face the giant statue’s head.

He pulled the trigger a dozen of times, shooting a stream of bullets towards the magic stone.

Death was upon him as the giant statue’s hand drew around to swipe him away from the path it was running through.

“Hit, HIT!” He screamed within his heart as he shot the last remaining bullet in his handguns' magazine.

The bullet had made its way towards the magic stone, blowing it into pieces. The magic detonated and sent a concussive shockwave that catapulted Nightingale flying far into the direction of the bridge.

The giant statue immediately went lifeless is it started crashing into the ground sending a massive tremor.

The tremor reached all across towards the bridge as Darren and Pee Aun stopped to look behind. They saw Nightingale flying into the air and came crashing onto the hard ground. Nightingale groaned in pain as he landed on his back, but was thankful to still be alive from his lucky attempt.

“Nightingale! You alright?” The two shouted out for him with concerned looks.

“Don’t mind me, just get to the other side!” Nightingale shouted out an order to them as they hesitated, wanting to help. But at last, they followed his order and continued ahead towards the other side.

Strangely, the tremor had not stop after the crash until a sudden realisation came to him. “The third!”

Turning his head back to face the lifeless body of the giant statue. He saw the third speeding towards him in a sprint faster than the second.

Nightingale immediately pushed himself up from the ground and began sprinting towards the bridge. He saw his firearms had been blown away from him during the concussion. He made an attempt to retrieve it, grabbing hold of the sides as he continued sprinting ahead.

Peeking over his shoulder, he saw the third giant statue drawing nearer. Nightingale had made his resolve to try an attempt to take down the final statue.

In his haste, he threw the empty magazines aside and loaded his firearms with new clips.

As soon as he finished, he did the same as before, spinning his body around, pulling the trigger and shot a stream of bullets at the statue.

This time it didn't work as the giant statue had become smarter, shielding its magic stone from the bullets with its arm.

It made Nightingale realise that from each statue he had taken down, the magic it that powered it became stronger, increasing its speed and intelligence.

Nightingale knew it was hopeless in trying to stop it as he immediately turned his body around and sprinted for the bridge. His hands reached towards his coat, keeping his handguns back inside but a larger tremor was sent across the ground, sending Nightingale into the air again.

He immediately landed into a roll and continued himself in a sprint but one of his handguns had been lost as it had slipped from his grip during the roll. He turned around and saw the handgun not far behind him.

The giant statue had managed to leap over the lifeless statue’s body and was the cause of the large tremor. It continued into a sprint and headed straight for the bridge.

Nightingale made a decision to abandon it as he continued to make for his escape. He saw that the rest of his crew had made it safely across and it was his turn to cross.

With only looking ahead, he sprinted with all his might as he rushed across the bridge. The bridge was swaying hard as he ran across, but he did not care for caution as there was no time to waste.

Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened with shock as he saw the statue finally reaching the bridge. The statue did not stop its sprint as it continued with its speed and attempted to cross the bridge with him.

The statue's large and heavy foot tore a hole into the bridge as the front ropes and bindings of the bridge had torn apart and the bridge started to fall. The statue had fallen through the bridge and down into the ravine.

Nightingale was only halfway across as the adrenaline surged through his blood, as he began sprinting with his life on the line.

He saw their faces shouting at him, screaming for him to run. But his hearing had gone deaf from the adrenaline and the bridge had lost its momentum.

He leapt towards the end before the whole bridge had fallen off into the ravine. His life flashed before him as he had missed the ledge.

Nightingale was saved as his hand was immediately caught hold as Darren had managed to caught hold of him.

Looking up, he saw Darren’s smiling face as him and the others slowly pulled Nightingale back up. And their final member had successfully made it across.

Nightingale rested his hands on his knees as he had slowly regained his breath. He was out of breath as he had been sprinting without stops.

“Let’s not do that again.” He said, at last, with a soft tiring voice giving them a smile.

The others were looking at him with a newfound respect. They saw him as a different person now, after seeing what he had accomplished. Not as a friend or a member of their expedition, but as their leader.