The troops set up camp to replenish their energies after a long day; they had earned a well-deserved rest.
The next day, they resumed their advance. What was supposed to end soon proved to be a much longer and tedious task.
It turned out that the forest beings had already explored this temple before, and there was nothing outstanding about it, so they had forgotten it. However, they had never encountered the magical labyrinth before.
The answer for Athena came in the form of a large hole in the wall that they had never seen before.
"Impossible, these walls used to be quite strong, even when casually hit, they showed no weakness or passage," said the confused owl.
"It doesn't seem like this hole is the result of violence; rather, if you look at these traces, they seem to be remnants of a ritual. Whoever was here before had a solid clue on how to enter," Dregg told the group.
"This explains why they're here and why the forest creatures had left these ruins so neglected," Alex replied.
"So all this time these ruins were hiding under our noses," Athena asked rhetorically.
"Dregg, do we have any leads?" Alex asked.
"Not much, sir. We've started to explore, and behind the hole, there's a large staircase that seems to descend for a long time. We've thrown rocks, but we haven't been able to feel the end, and there are doors every certain amount of steps," Dregg summarized.
"Any sign of enemies?" Alex asked.
"Yes, sir, we found some corpses with strange clothing, however..." Dregg hesitated a bit before responding.
"What's wrong? Is there something odd about the corpses or something indicating they're not invaders?" Alex asked.
"Well, the problem is that they are literally corpses; their bones are so worn out that they seem to have been here for too long. However, their clothes seem strangely new," Dregg replied.
"Could you identify anything from their clothes, where they came from?" Torel asked.
"No, although it's obvious they belong to civilized races," Dregg said, shaking his head. "The next group to return should bring back some of the samples they've collected; they should arrive soon."
When they brought back some corpses, Torel was able to confirm the suspicions.
"This clothing is of elven make, and I'm almost certain I've seen these uniforms before; they belong to an auxiliary regiment," Torel said.
"Auxiliaries, you mean troops from other races?" Alex asked.
"Something like that, although they're elves, they're not from the same lineage," Torel replied.
"How does that system work, Torel?" Alex asked, confused.
"In general terms, you could consider that there are 5 races of Elves. These classifications broadly are: High Elves, Meridian Elves, Solars and Lunars, as well as Dry Elves. You can also find at least another 2 dozen pairs, but any others are much harder to find. For you, they all might look the same, and honestly, there's so little difference that it's not worth mentioning, but for Elven society itself, which is quite stratocratic, it's very important. Not to mention half-elves and mixed bloods," Torel explained.
"So, the first four are the most pretentious," Alex commented.
Torel burst into laughter. "Indeed, those are the pretentious races that consider themselves superior within Elven society. The princess you met was a High Elf."
"Was Marquis Rhenar Tholens also of the High Elves? I'm intrigued because I never felt any attitude of superiority from him; it contrasts too much with the image you give of Elven nobles," Alex asked.
"That name, mmm, Rhenar was a complex character within the empire, although if I remember correctly, he used to be quite elitist. I'm surprised he really treated you so well," Torel said.
"Wait, aren't those void marks?" Alex asked abruptly.
Athena and Torel immediately went on guard, which caused tones to tense.
"Indeed," Athena replied.
"Why are some of their bones marked by the void? Were they perhaps consumed by the creature Athena fought?" Kragash asked.
"Rather the opposite, creature," Athena replied.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"It means that it seems that the reason that creature is here is because of them," Torel replied.
"So they invoked it, why would they do such a thing?" Alex said.
"I don't know, but we must find out, and quickly," Torel said urgently.
Alex looked at Athena.
"During my fight, I eliminated that void spawn, however, these marks prove that there is an original connection nearby. As long as the offspring remains alive, it can return. Although the best option would be to wait for reinforcements to fight it, any coordination from the forest will take at least a couple of weeks, and given the proximity of this area to your forces, you may want to consider the option of eliminating it," the owl advised.
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Alex clenched his fists and jaw, but he also knew that there was nothing else to do; he had to bite the bullet and take the risk, or else a dangerous enemy could emerge from his rear while the bulk of his army was fighting against the orcs.
"The break is over, form groups of 20 and assist the scouts. We will advance quickly, room by room, searching for the source of the ritual and the void spawn. If there are any signs of enemy troops or any other monster, you must retreat to provide information," Alex communicated his orders.
The troops were still fatigued from the previous day, but there was no other choice. They had heard what Athena had said, and having that thing appear at any time in their settlements was not a promising prospect.
To maintain the morale of his troops, Alex decided to lead a squad along with Kragash. He also dispersed his initiates among the different squads so that each one had enough combat power to maintain their positions if necessary.
The descent that at first was very slow began to pick up speed. The immensity of the staircase, however, never ceased to amaze everyone.
How did this get here, who built it, and for what purpose?
Reports suggested that people used to live here, many people, since they had found residential areas, commercial and industrial zones, gardens, and squares. There was everything in the long corridors.
However, what surprised them the most were the statues in the religious areas. These were the only remnants that remained standing, as it seemed that the ancient inhabitants had taken the time to take all their belongings before leaving. Occasionally, in some floors, they would find some small-scale rituals with void-marked corpses. After destroying each of those altars, Athena slowly began to feel the origin of the void energies.
"I can feel a source of corruption much further down, but it's better if we don't rush. By destroying the small altars, it begins to weaken," she said.
"Alright, let's keep going like this then. The descent will be slow, but it will be much better if we leave nothing for our enemy to use," Alex responded.
The army continued with the descent, tediously searching room by room. Occasionally, they would encounter some underground monsters, such as large snakes or mole soldiers, but never in quantities they couldn't face.
At first, the rooms were mostly empty and clean; it was evident that their inhabitants had had plenty of time to take everything away. But as they continued descending, the situation began to change. The cultural shift started to become obvious, giving a clear sense that on the lower floors, another race, perhaps even a completely different species from the upper floors, lived, adding more confusion about the original owners of these ruins.
Most importantly, there were possessions now, and monsters fighting for them.
The soldiers began to report a variety of things found during their patrols; there were all kinds of furniture and other common items, however, from time to time, they would find valuable resources in the form of herbs, powders, or tools.
"Athena, can you sense how much farther we'll have to go down?" Alex asked.
They had begun to find a wide variety of resources, and there were many things the young human wanted to take back, but it would require a great deal of effort to do so.
"Much farther. If we continue at this pace, it will probably take us about 3 or 4 days," Athena said.
"Damn it, we can't risk so much. Attention, soldiers, we'll only take the most important resources we can carry. We'll organize them in bags and leave them on the stairs for the surface groups to retrieve. During the exploration, I want you to make finding the void altars and destroying them your top priority, then return immediately. We must hasten our pace," Alex ordered.
There was a supply convoy on the surface with civilians and wounded soldiers who couldn't keep up with the rest of the troops. It would be up to them to collect the loot the troops found, as for Alex, time was of the essence. Not knowing how many enemies remained or if they would be able to summon the void entity again, he couldn't take as much time in collecting resources as he would like.
The descent became much faster, although the troops felt aggrieved at leaving so many resources behind, they consoled each other by saying that there would always be more time in the future to recover the resources. Even if they had to share, there would be enough for everyone.
The troops encountered more and more resistance as they continued descending in the form of underground monsters, so they had to gradually reduce the number of groups to reinforce the others.
The descent lasted two days of intense fighting room by room until finally Athena had some good news.
"Alex, I think your boys did it. Whatever the enemy ritual was, it has dissipated. There are no more sources of energy," she said.
"Very well, boys, did you hear that? We'll charge straight down from now on; don't worry about the resources we'll leave behind. There will be time to clean up this place afterward," Alex shouted.
The soldiers shouted affirmatively. This expedition, although relatively short, had been infinitely heavier on the soldiers' minds than the open war on the surface. The darkness of the staircase that threatened to consume them, only kept at bay by the torches' fires.
The vastness of the staircase made them feel like a long procession of ants facing the abyss.
By discarding entering any room and limiting themselves to fighting down the stairs against the enemies that rarely came to meet them, the advance began to be much faster. Still, the troops descended for two more days before finally reaching the bottom.
"This is really strange," Athena suddenly said.
"What?" Torel asked, somewhat bored.
"Previously, I felt that this temple was incredibly larger, although before my senses were being interfered with, now I'm sure, we shouldn't have descended more than a hundredth part of this temple," Athena replied.
"You're joking, right? We've been descending for days, although I'm not sure down here, it feels like you've been descending for more than a week, and you're saying that's only a hundredth part?" Kragash exclaimed.
"No, child, we are at the bottom, that's what confuses me. At the speed we descended, we shouldn't have been able to reach the end so quickly," Athena replied.
Alex looked up. It was almost impossible to see anything since the torches couldn't illuminate very high, but inside, he knew that if they tried to climb now, they would never reach the surface again. The only way out was behind the door in front of them.
Something was altering the temple; apparently, that same something wanted to lure them here, or perhaps it was the opposite and something wanted to keep them away, but by destroying so many altars, it lost the ability to do so. Whatever it was, the answers would be behind this door. Alex hoped all the answers were here.
Alex took a deep breath and began to look around the last floor where they were.
The bottom of the temple was a vast open space, a surprising contrast to the narrow stairs and corridors they had traversed. The stone walls were covered with ancient carvings and murals, worn down by time but still visible. The murals depicted scenes of battles and rituals, and the carvings were full of symbols and writings in an unknown language.
The torches cast dancing shadows on the walls, making the murals seem to move and come to life. The air was charged with a silent antiquity, as if the temple were holding its breath, waiting for its secrets to be revealed.
In the center of the space stood the great door of the last floor. It was an imposing structure, made of a dark, smooth stone that seemed to absorb the light from the torches. The door was adorned with intricate designs in gold and silver, forming complex patterns that seemed to change when viewed from different angles.
In the center of the door was a large emblem, a circle surrounded by figures and symbols. The emblem seemed to be made of a different metal, one that reflected the light in a way that made it seem to glow with a soft brilliance.
The door had no handle or visible lock. Instead, on the floor in front of the door was a stone pedestal with a slot on top, inside was a key that somehow didn't match, somehow it seemed as if they had fooled the door, and the cold glow of the door showed this grievance.