More trials. Somewhat, it makes sense. If the Trio can give us specific trials, obviously Eziakophael can do the same to his abductees.

As we look at the rewards, a timer appears above the pyramid. In twenty-four hours, something will happen. If I have to guess, it will be a reset of the trial. Still, we are running low on food for me, and stamina for Mewtwo. I collect our rewards, and we make our way back to the main entrance.

Nothing jumps us. Not a single monster has appeared, making it that clear light somehow disables the spawners. As we near the top of the stairs, muffled groans, hisses and the clicking of bones reaches us. Once we arrive in the main chamber, the sound is almost deafening. The walled passages are still walled, but the monsters have once more started to multiply within. Probably more spawners.

Before we depart, we look upon Aster's mangled skeleton. It feels wrong to leave it here, yet a single touch would see it reduced to dust. I look at my inventory, I have some wood, some stone, a lot of raw materials as well as processed ingots. I could make a chest, it could serve as a good temporary coffin, or at least a way to bring Aster's remains to the surface. Still, I apprehend Princess reaction.

She must have been the one to seal this place, and I presume She did so after Aster died there once. It suddenly hits me that we might have inadvertently opened what was in essence one of Aster's grave. Still, what sort of grave is the cold floor one dies upon?

"I want to try and bring his remains back up. He deserves a better grave." I tell Mewtwo.

With our second long pause above Aster's previous body, Mewtwo had guessed as much already. I could try to transport the bones in a telekinetic hold, I should be able to keep his remains intact.

"Would it be easier in a box?" I ask him.

Perhaps, yes. You will need to take care of any monsters we meet along the way however. I feel too drained to be able to fight and keep these remains safe. He warns me.

"With how well we have ben lighting up the caves, I feel like we should be okay on that front." I make a chest, and put it down. I make sure to avoid using the builder tool. I do not want it stuck where I put it.

The chest looks similar to the ones we saw below. Brown-orange with black iron edges along with a single grey clip at the front to secure the lid. I open it, and Mewtwo slowly and gently moves the bones. He places them within the chest, piling them neatly. The bones remain intact, not a single one breaks.

He then start to lift the whole thing. I can see his powers continue to hold the bones, making sure they do not move chafe with each others. Quite thoughtful there friend.

Once Mewtwo is certain he can hold onto his cargo without damaging it, we begin our ascent back to the surface.

As I expected, nothing happens. The passages we take are brightly lit by my torches, and no monsters appear. Once we reach the vine door, it opens without a second of waiting.

We return within the tree, and start seeking Princess throne room. This search reveals a small issue with my map system. The system is able to map underground passages quite well, as the more we lit up the cave, the more the passages became registered. However, it displays multiple layers at once. The result of this mapping decision is a mess of overlapping passages impossible to distinguish from one another. This ends up confusing us multiple times, and we end up having to be turned around more than once.

We end up roaming through the tunnels of the tree, trying to find back the way the zoroark had led us through. We end up going in multiple circles and even back outside the tree at some point.

"Can you not feel her?" I ask in frustration.

Too many signals, and I never looked at what hers is like.

Damn it. I look around, trying to find any help. We exited at another side of the tree, This side has little hut like structures built, along with what appears to be training grounds. I watch as few gardevoirs spar with each others. The air ripples and shimmers as they exchange moves with each others. On the side kirlias keep a little flock of ralts entertained. Two indeedees are discussing on the side, while keeping an eye on training grounds, clearly ready to fix any messes that may be left behind. I also spot the large and scarred pangoro that broke me several times during the picnic.

The large black, white and gray panda is teaching a breloom how to fight, with a few fighting types pokemons watching on the side. The breloom is clearly experienced, and quite agile. Still, his attacks harmlessly smash upon the large panda pokemon. Not because he misses, but because the pangoro is somehow able to deflect a lot of the hits. The breloom extensible arms are swept away every times it tries to hit.

We observe the dance for a minute, enthralled by the spectacle, until a questioning growl has us turn around. I am pretty certain Princess helpers is unable to understand why we would look so relieve to see him, but Trio are we glad to see him.

We quickly explain the situation to him, and the upright fox expression shift from curious to alarmed. He gestures for us to follow and takes out on all four a great speed. I am not surprised by his sudden mood change. I am almost certain he has reached the same conclusion as us. Princess WILL want to hear of our find, and Princess WILL be absolutely livid at our actions.

We swiftly follow the red and dark gray fox and soon find ourselves on yet another exit of the grand tree. One whose front is quite familiar. It is Princess garden. Once more, we find the florges floating above her flowers. Wisps of green and pink waft from her faded orange bouquet framing her head, and the multiple flowers beneath glow along with her.

She is not alone, however. A couple of humanoid gray pokemons with bulging pink protrusions on their hips, shoulders and the back of their heads are working with some stones and wood, along with a pokemon that looks like it is wearing a puffy green ball gown. The timburrs and the liligant seems to be trying to assemble a petal apothecary, The wooden beams put to the side must be the timburrs' signature beam they carry everywhere they go. On the side, holding the copy of the Lexica Botanica, is a drowzee that seems somewhat familiar. The upright tapir pokemon has her eyes furrowed in deep concentration as she tries to understand the contents of the book.

Princess has already started working on her own attempts to bring to reality the wonders of Botania flowers.

We patiently wait for Princess to finish her work, although the zoroark looks more and more agitated as the minutes pass. Once she is done, the zoroark goes almost flat on the ground as he explains our presence in half-muffled yips and growls. I can see him tremble as he finishes his explanation.

Princess piercing glare makes us shiver. Her gaze wonder upon the chest Mewtwo still hold afloat.

Follow. Her command leaves no place for discussion.

Princess exchanges a few words with her botania team, and then lead us back into the root corridors of the tree. Soon we once more stand within Princess throne room. The air feels electric as we come to a stop half way to her throne. She says something in her sing-song pokespeak, and the zoroark bows his head before swiftly exiting the room.

Deposit that box on the ground legend. She orders.

Stolen story; please report.

With utmost care, Mewtwo execute himself. Once the box is safely on the ground. Vines grow and secure it.

Before either of us can start to question what she intends to do or why she is protecting the box, two beams of yellow-green light impact upon us. Mewtwo is flung upon a wall by the force of the impact, and I am pierced through the one aimed at me. Before either of us can react, pinkish blades of wind slams upon us leaving cuts and gashes upon the whole of our bodies.

Does thou realize what has been unleashed? Dost thou not realize WE had condemned this cursed place for a reason? Princess thoughs slams within my mind with such pressure I can feel my eyes bulge. A cry from Mewtwo tells me he is experiencing something similar.

That singular action has endangered the entire sanctuary beyond anything that ever threatened it before.

"Wait! Your high- Agh!" I try to speak up, but psychic pressure unlike any I have ever felt slams me on the ground.

Silence! We will not suffer thine excuses revenant, nor yours legends. Another cry makes me realize she has stopped Mewtwo from broadcasting his thoughts. Were the endless hordes beyond the vines not enough to deter the both of thee? Hast thine strengths grown so much that thou consider thyselves beyond retribution?

Vines slowly slither around the both of us, and we are soon hoisted up and brought back before Princess on our knees. Her arms are locked behind our backs, and our head is held so that we are forced to look at the florges. Mewtwo whines in pain, and I try to wiggle a bit, to no success.

Now seeing as thou both sported injuries already, we can only guess how close to catastrophe we are. Now speak. How long until the hordes reach our gates?

"Your highness, there are no hordes coming!" I try to clear up the misunderstanding. But thorns start to slowly saw through my joints and neck. My already battered armor bulges in some places as the vines slither beneath.

Oh? Ah, but of course thou would not know. Thou must thing that clearing the one left behind hast solved the issue. Sadly it has not. It has only delayed it. Now when has thou returned here? How long ago?

Thumping can be heard as the scarred pangoro along with multiple fully evolved pokemons of many types enter the room.

They all look at us with disgust and distrust once more.

"You do not understand! We solved that issue! We found the source." I plead, looking with dread as what little of my energy reserves plummets toward zero.

Princess looks at us uncertainty slowly mixing with her cold fury. Thou has? Then what malefice caused this place to endlessly fill with monsters?

Spawners, your highness. Cages that contains... something that makes monsters endlessly appear close to them. We found many within the structure, along with a trial chamber dedicated to the dark god. We overcame the trial, although not without injuries, as you have noticed. Mewtwo explains.

I try to corroborate his claim, but the vines finally saw through my vocal chords, or whatever equivalent my body uses. What comes out instead is a garbled screech that cuts midway through my attempt to speak.

Thou claims that these... cages were the source? Then how dost thou know no more monsters will come from them?

Light, your highness. If you were to send one of your charges to explore, they will find large parts of the cave system now lit by torches. No monsters seems to appear where light shines. Although the light need to remain in order for monsters to stop appearing. At least, that is what we gathered. The same phenomena was observed with the spawners, we left a torch on a room, unaware of the spawner existence, and no more monsters came from this room.

Princess fury slowly abates the more Mewtwo explains. What I assume are either her guards or fighting force also look bewildered by Mewtwo's claim.

Are thou certain of thine claim?

We encountered no monsters going back up to the surface. We also confirmed that no monsters appeared within any lit room with a spawner. If they could still appear, they would have swarmed us during the trial. I nod at that. With how unfair Eziakophael seems to play, the barrier that would have stopped us from leaving would have let monsters pass through unaffected.

We shall confirm thy claim then. Thou will both remain here for now.

Princess orders the pangoro, and he in turn selects a couple of quick moving pokemons to go and confirm our says. The pangoro bows his head along with his remaining forces, then leaves the room.

Mewtwo, ask her about the remains. He looks at me, clearly hesitant to bring what must be another sore subject in front of an already furious Princess.

Might as well get it over with now.

He rolls his eyes and groan.

Your highness, there is something else. Mewtwo starts, pointing with his eyes at the still vine covered chest.

If thou speaks of my liege remains, we shall give him a proper burial next to the Altar. That is... that is the least he deserves. A shadow passes over Princess expression.

As much as I wish to know more, Princess clearly is not ready to share what might have happened beneath so long ago.

Also we have the Trio-damned journal! If you wanted to satisfy your curiosity, you might as well wait for us to go free! Mewtwo chides me.

The journal, I forgot about it again. Mewtwo is right, it must have some answers.

The vines slowly recede, and my body start to heal. Mewtwo is sporting multiple cuts and scrapes all along his body, all bleeding, but already slowly healing. I can see the little shiny drops of water falling along his body, making it look like he is sweating. the use of the move seems to cost him however, as he is no longer floating and is barely standing upright. I can see him wobble more and more with each passing minutes.

After what feels like hours but has merely been ten minutes, the pokemons sent to investigate returns. Their leader, a small blue gray ninja looking slug with a pink head, reports to Princess, while his two companions, a couple of boltunds await. The canine pokemons wait in a sitting position, ears up, ready to go into action at the slightest moment.

Princess expression goes through multiple shades of surprise and confusion before nodding and dismissing the reconnaissance squad.

It is as thou has claimed. No monster hordes is coming, although they claim two are stuck behind walls. They also report a two layers of stone placed to stop large crowd from moving. Thou would not know where such constructs came from by any chance?

Mewtwo points at me and I raise my hand, still unable to speak.

Princess nods, before continuing. They have explored all that was lit, and report floating numbers in a large room.

That would be the trial room. The numbers are a timer. Astra speculates the trial may be attempted again once it reaches zero.

The florges nods once more. They have also found these strange cages thou spoke of. Most peculiar creations if we are to believe them. We would like to see one up close.

I look at Mewtwo, and he looks at me. Could we collect one? Without breaking it? What would even happen if we were to break one? We will have to try the next time we go down.

Still, thou were indeed telling a tale most certainly true. No monsters shall come to us it would seem.

"You-you-your hiiiiiighne- ne- ness. I was-z-z-z-z currrrious." I try to speak, my regenerated vocal chords equivalent still calibrating. I stop for a couple of seconds. "My apologies." Why am I apologizing? She's the reason I am like this! "As I was saying, I am curious about something. Is the capacity for light to stop the appearance of monsters not known?"

Princess tilts her head to the side, and seems to think for a moment. It... is. However, not all can create what appears as everlasting torches as thou can revenant. Most are made of lit up wood, making them last quite the short time. One needs a fire-type pokemon or a pokemon that knows fire type moves to truly keep fire based light source. There was a rumor of one finding some odd and smelly black liquid that was said to burn quite nicely, although the smell is quite potent.

That would be oil. Interesting to note.

None has been found within the forest sadly, it could have helped us quite a bit.

And that goes from immediately interesting to future endeavors.

I believe I need to apologize. Hearing that thou had broken the great protections of the monster dungeon made me imagine the worst. It... Thou should read life seventeen. Thou shall then understand our worries. Now go, return to thine dwelling, I have affairs to return to.

With her dismissal said, Princess floats away and we follow her out of her throne room. We quickly find back the path to our exit and return to the cottage. Not much has changed, although the presence of spiderwebs over some of the structures we placed tells us someone came over to play, maybe even a lot of someones.

Laughter in hisses echo across the clearing, and we only catch glimpses of green bodies and blue and yellow legs disappearing within the branches. The spinarak gang has visited while we were away. We leave the clearing as it is for now, and head inside. Mewtwo grab a chair and wince as he sits, the burnt flesh of his legs stinging when in contact with the wood. I also go to grab a chair, but stop myself. I instead pull it in my inventory and place it with the builder tool. It becomes fixed, and I sit on it. It does not even creaks. It is, however, stuck in place. Well, too bad. I'll just remove it, at some point.

That was... a day. Mewtwo declares.

I only nod at that. I can see my las square of energy blinking. I go look into the storage room and come back with some food. Not much, but enough for now. Mewtwo eagerly bites into a green berry, a lum berry. The effect is immediate as his burns recede all over his body. Damn these fruits are efficient. I take a bite of stale bread, and old fruits until I have at least three squares.

"Let's call it for today." I propose.

Mewtwo looks at me and nod. Are you going to try to sleep as well?

I consider it, and in the end, nods, yes. I am going to try and sleep. Because frankly? That day was long enough as is.