When the sun rose the next day, Elian and Thorren were already a third of the way to their destination. They timed it so there’d be daylight when they traversed the outskirts of the Dark Forest. So far, they hadn’t encountered any creature that wanted them for breakfast.

“Are those perhaps spires of the Forbidden Temple?” Thorren pointed east at pearly towers poking through the verdant peaks of trees.

“Don’t think so.” Elian inspected the map. “Too nearby. Must be another set of ancient buildings; lots of them around here. Oh, here’s another statue. At least it doesn’t look disturbing like the last one we passed.”

The statue of the humanoid cat had too many arms, probably representing the Hundred-Armed Magistrate, most of which were broken off and lost through time. Unlike the previous statue posed in an agonized manner, this one was just sitting against a tree trunk that had swallowed a third of its body. Many more remnants of the catfolk civilization littered the surroundings. A small hill turned out to be the head of a gigantic cat statue. They didn’t realize it until they had descended and looked back to see its features highlighted by the sun’s rays.

Gideon’s map was fairly accurate, including the landmarks, though a bit lacking in certain areas. Marlowe and Frederick's additions saved them from getting lost a couple of times.

“This is the plaza Marlowe mentioned.” Elian brushed away vines concealing yet another statue.

It was of a catfolk astride what appeared to be a jarlion variant. They didn’t find this wrong? It’d be like a human riding a… gorilla or something. Although, if compared to other statues in the plaza—there was self-flagellation, forms bound in chains, and ritualistic scenes—this cat person riding a big cat was on the normal side.

“Where do we go next again?” Elian asked.

“Over there,” Thorren replied. “The shortcut our good acquaintance spoke of is behind that wall.”

A small section of an intricately carved wall depicting more rituals had survived to the present. It seemed to be part of a grand building no longer there. The rubble of the structure was gone; only its floor, consisting of white stone slabs, and the portion of the wall remained. Earlier, they spotted a Dabaron pulling a broken column using its four muscular arms. The bear-sized creature, preferring to make stone nests underground, had been clearing the land for generations. This area was the perfect place for their kind because tunnels from long ago were empty real estate waiting for them to move in.

It was sad that Dabarons erased much of the remnants of the cat people's civilization, but they also uncovered hidden tunnels like the one Elian and Thorren entered. According to Marlowe, this path would cut through the hills, take them safely under the new territory of the kudzun, and exit near the edge of the Dark Forest. From there, it was only a short trip to the hills of Solbasks.

Thorren raised his lantern ball to reveal more of the darkness ahead. “Do we trust Marlowe’s words?”

“I trust him that this is a shortcut,” Elian said. “If you’re asking, is it safe, then I don’t know. We met the Grumpbeing outside its usual territory. Hunters did alert us that monsters are behaving oddly.”

They nodded at each other and continued due south, maintaining their bearings with a compass Thorren brought. Once again, Elian was a tinge ashamed of being unprepared.

Fellenyr wasn’t magnetized compared to Earth. Instead of magnetic fields or whatever they were called—Elian forgot much of his high school science lessons—Fellenyr had streams of concentrated Aether rising from its magical core and running beneath the crust. This was how the living world dispersed the magic of its life across its surface.

Tune the compass to an Aether stream aligning with your destination, and it’ll hold that direction until reset. More versatile than an Earth compass, so long as it was made to point the right way beforehand. Not as easy to use because it required some knowledge of the Aether world lines.

Plenty of curiosities drew their attention as they jogged through the tunnel, their steps echoing in the lonely silence. Runes and sigils of ancient magic, side routes teasing mysteries, and remains of various creatures. Occasionally, more bizarre statues would appear. There were also carvings on the walls that Elian would rather not look too closely at.

A weird civilization, these catfolk.

It was enticing to veer off their course and explore other paths, but the human skeleton they passed was warning enough to stick to their mission.

“One day, when I’m stronger,” Thorren said, “I’ll return to claim the secrets of these ruins.”

“Just make sure to survive your Tribulations until then,” Elian said, smiling. He too hoped to explore this place and many others in the future. Defeat the Giants first, and he could adventure throughout the lands as if he were the main character of a fantasy book.

Sunlight broke the tunnel’s darkness. Up ahead was a giant hole through the tunnel’s roof. It was circular and lined with bricks all the way up—another work of the cat people. No stairs or ladders allowed anyone to ascend it. But many vines were dangling from above if they wished to climb.

“What is the purpose of this hole?” Thorren asked.

Elian showed him the map. “Judging the curvature of the paths, I reckon this whole network of tunnels used to be an underground magic circle. Can’t really see it in this map because it only shows a portion of it.” He pointed at the runes carved into the walls of the tunnels. “Those might be for directing Aether, but I’m far from adept at reading ancient symbols. If my guess is correct, this hole is an exhaust for pressure to escape and prevent explosions if something goes wrong.”

“Perhaps something did go wrong for this lost feline race,” Thorren commented in a tone as if he was talking about the weather.

“Er, yeah,” Elian said, raising a brow at the nonchalant morbidity of the Rakhonite. “Something definitely did. I hope it doesn’t happen to us.”

Other holes peppered the tunnel. Small ones. Big ones. Some had been covered by cave-ins; others had grown wider due to collapsing walls. More than mere vents, Elian now suspected they were for projecting the magics the cat people aboveground. The ceremonial sacrifices were probably part of it.

“We’re in the Dark Forest,” Elian said, pointing at the hole above them. Only a meager light came from above because the dense canopy outside blocked the sun—the oddly growing trees affected by the Forbidden Temple. “We must be past the kudzun territory. Do we go up or continue as we are? Frederick and Marlowe couldn’t agree if it’s still safe this way or not.”

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“Higher chances of monsters here, now that we are inside the Dark Forest,” Thorren said. “Higher chances of monsters up there as well. Down here, the monsters we’ll encounter would be limited in size by the width of the tunnels—a Grumpbeing can fit through here.”

“But we also have limited options for fleeing,” said Elian. He didn’t add that he couldn’t call down his Tribulation if needed unless they were under a hole. Only Thorren was the firepower of their party of two.

“Also true, friend. However, we move much faster underground and have been in relative safety. Let us continue for now and act accordingly if the situation changes.”

Not even five minutes later, Thorren stopped and raised a fist to warn Elian. Both of them crouched next to the bend of the tunnel. The path ahead forked, and shadows were moving from the path on the right to the left.

“Hold this.” Thorren tossed his lantern orb to Elian before unslinging his bow.

Elian shifted left to see past Thorren, holding the lantern to the side so Thorren’s shadow wouldn’t cover his target. The light had already exposed them; the creatures knew they were there. No point in handicapping themselves by turning it off.

A dark form moved closer to them. Larger than a man.

Was this a Dabaron? They had passed an empty stone nest earlier.

But a Dabaron wouldn’t make scratching noises when moving. It sounded like many pointy feet, as if a giant insect was walking. This mysterious creature moved forward into the light—some kind of lobster the size of a crocodile. In place of pincers, it had spear-like appendages for stabbing forward, the perfect weapon for fighting in the narrow tunnels.

“This is my first encounter with such a creature,” Thorren said. “Could this be a product of the Forbidden Temple’s insidious miasma?”

“I don’t know what it is either.” Elian tugged at Thorren. “And we don’t need to introduce ourselves to it. Let’s slowly back away. I see more shadows behind it.”

Thorren hesitated for a moment before lowering his bow. “Right, you are, friend. A losing battle to face those numbers in such a cramped space.”

The spear lobster—that was Elian’s temporary name for it—looked at them with eyes on top of stalks on its head. It didn’t follow them as they retreated the way they came. They returned to the hole and climbed up using vines growing from the top.

It turned out to be the right call because they didn’t encounter anything dangerous as they trekked through the Dark Forest.

Another point of fortune was that the kudzun had moved from its previous spot, just as Frederick had told them. If it hadn’t done so, Elian and Thorren would’ve needed to travel around it. No way to win against the powerful vine monster. Thorren, with all his magical arrows, could hurt only a small portion of the kudzun. In turn, the kudzun could engulf the two of them in a blink. What use was Elian’s tankiness if he’d just suffocate inside a ball of tendrils?

“That must be the kudzun’s previous spot,” Elian said as they circled a low wall around a huge hole, another of the vents made by the cat people.

The difference was that this was far larger than the other holes they had passed. Bigger than the plaza of Ambervale. In the middle rose a black obelisk from deep underground, adorned with grotesque carvings that made Elian’s head hurt when looking at them. He couldn’t figure out the designs because they were obscured by many dried vines.

And not just the obelisk. A thick weaving of tendrils covered the entire hole, looking like a calcified trampoline of veins.

“Is this the kudzun’s body?” Thorren asked.

“Previous body. It can’t easily disentangle itself from its spot, especially if it has stayed there for quite some time, so it molts like a snake. Unlike a snake, though, a kudzun leaves a chunk of its old body behind. It’s going to regrow and grow more at its new home. Probably has a hard time hunting food around here.”

The kudzun’s former territory marked the southernmost edge of the Dark Forest. Continuing farther south were more hills; one of those was the home of Solbasks.

Gideon had explained to Elian that some rare plants naturally grew on Solbasks because of the life-giving properties of their carapace. None of them was the Spectral Flower Azalea.

“Someone, sometime a decade or so past,” Gideon told Elian a few days ago, “had the brilliant idea of planting Spectral Flower Azaleas on the Solbasks living there. Over the years, the flowers grew. They adapted. They thrived and multiplied to other Solbasks. And they could be harvested for potions. The person who did the planting could no longer harvest them. Your task is—”

“Are you connected with why he can’t harvest them?” Elian asked.

“Don’t think of me as that kind of person. Although… I may be tangentially connected… in some minor way.”

And so, only Gideon knew of the rare flower growing here. If Elian could harvest lots of them, Gideon promised to reward him with plenty of potions for his plant symbiont.

“I’ve only heard tales of Solbasks,” Thorren said. “Armored beasts that collect the power of the sun for itself. You say a colony lives on one of these hills. How will we know which is it?”

“Oh, that’s not going to be a problem.”

Contrasting the lush green displayed by other hills, one stood out, mostly barren, with sparse trees here and there. A thimble came to Elian’s mind as he headed for this hill. It was shaped like one and had numerous craters that looked similar to the small pits covering a thimble. Those holes were made by Solbasks, who loved digging into the ground and fitting their craggy bodies over the hole as if they were fooling anyone with the laughable disguise.

“Quite an easy task finding this hill,” Thorren said, chuckled as he looked up. “The Storm God unburdens us after our ordeal with the Grumpbeing. Let us go and find—”

“We need to prepare first, or we’ll get fried.” Elian held up a bottle given to him by Gideon. Truly lucky the Grumpbeing spit out his bag, or this bottle would’ve been shattered. Without it, it’d be crazy difficult to complete this mission. “The liquid inside produces a smell that calms the Solbask. Not much in here. I’ll use it once when we’ve found the flower so I can get close to the Solbask. But while we’re snooping around their colony, checking each of their carapace, we need to disguise ourselves.”

Twenty minutes later, Elian and Thorren climbed the hill, covered in layers of ferns tied together by braided roots. Not much of a disguise, but it didn’t need much to fool a Solbask. Intelligence wasn’t their strong suit.

Solbasks were plump giant worms encased in armor, walking around on six stubby feet that ended in sharp digging claws. Most peculiar about the Solbasks was that they sunbathed to eat. Crystals on their craggy shell could be thought of as magical solar panels. Throughout the day, they’d reposition themselves all over the hill to catch the sun, just digging and growing their entire lives.

They were very destructive and considered pests. He’d seen many areas devastated by Solbasks look like the surface of the moon—Earth’s moon. He didn’t know what the moon of Fellenyr looked like up close.

Elian scanned the hillside as he went up, looking for clusters of freshly dug craters. A Solbask was hard to miss up close, but this far away, its camouflage worked pretty well. He’d start where swarms had been and look for them from there.

After three false leads, they found a Solbask with Spectral Fairy Azalea. At the right side of the Solbask’s barely discernable head grew the flower—many thin purple petals radiating from a golden center. Elian didn’t need to check what it looked like because Gideon shoved a picture of it to his face several times.

“Look over there,” Thorren whispered as he elbowed Elian. “Another Spectral Fairy Azalea. The Solbask beyond it also has one. We are blessed with bounty.”

“Very blessed indeed,” Elian said as he crawled forward, Gideon’s concoction at the ready.