We are now standing in front of the newly discovered cave

“Hey, let’s go and enter this cave.” a young girl said it very energetically while my hands toward the entrance of the cave.

“I’m not sure about this Christine; The Elder stated that we mustn't enter this cave since this just newly discovered and we should wait for the warriors to search it first to ensure if this place is safe or not.”

 “This place seems to be safe, and there is nothing to be afraid of Melisha since I’m here the daughter of the strongest warrior in the kingdom” (Christine)

She said in the very radiant smile that took me aback

We are now in the interior of the cave. 

The one that pulled my hand is Christine due to her father work; she got her training in sword fighting as much earlier compared to us. A short sword is hanging in the waist of Christine, she is wearing a black tunic and black leather trouser with green colored boots that reach halfway to her knees, she also wears a breastplate for protection.

She is around 160 cm which is quite small compared to me who 170 cm, and her hair is always tied in a bun to avoid blocking her view when she’s fighting in close quarter combat. Among us, she is a most beautiful girl who attracts the gaze of all men in the village or the guys in the town and villages.

“See! There’s no problem in the cave, it’s very safe, we haven’t encountered any monster or any beast at all.” (Christine)

“Well, I hope that it will be like this until we reach the end of the cave. What do you think Rika?” (Melisha)

I asked the other girl with a wry smile

“I think this place is safe, cause if it’s not, we already encountered some enemy.” (Rika)

Rika agreed with Christine since she also has experience exploring caves or structures discovered beneath the soil surface.

She is 16 years old with 150 cm tall smallest in our group. She is an expert at using a dual dagger and a scout. Due to her small stature, she is also the fastest and most flexible person among my acquaintances. She wears a green tunic with leggings and a belt for the sheath of her daggers and short boots, but for her protection, just like a lightweight leather armor.

Many people can easily recognize her due to blond colored hair in drill fashion which she saw in the fashion book that is unearthed by her father.

“sigh*, I guess so.”

I only made a big sigh with their opinion since I can't complain too much since it’s my first time doing the exploring.

We continued exploring rooms and passageways around us, while I’m clutching my short bow hard because I feel anxiety because of our peaceful surrounding.

“This place is quite small; we already reach the end of the cave.” (Rika)

“Yeah, let’s rest here first and eat something before we go back, there is no danger in this place.” (Melisha)

Christine stayed silent because it’s depressing because we haven’t found a single valuable material here.

Our food is only black bread and some meat we hunted in our way here.

We ate silently; then we sound a bang sound I looked to where the sound came.

It’s Christine; She punched the ground hard enough to create that sound, bit her lips to the point that it bleed.

It’s her first exploration after becoming independent and given the approval to arrange her team.

We stood up, but Christine is still not saying a word, her usual energetic attitude is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the ground shook badly that we lost footing and fell

“What the hell is happening!!” (Melisha)

I’m frightened because of the fear of getting buried alive.

Then it happens, just like the stories our grandparents telling us

Then suddenly the ground split open and swallowed us.

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I heard whisper like groans near me

I looked around and barely see the area, luckily Christine and Rika are near me.

Behind us is an enormous hole, and it’s impossible to climb due to the steepness of the slope.

“Christine, Rika are you all right.”

I shake them slightly to wake them up,

The first to open her eyes is Rika and followed by Christine.

“Where are we?” (Rika)

“I Don’t know, but apparently we fell from that hole, lost consciousness either during or after the fall.” (Melisha)

Answering Rika’s question while pointing at the hole behind us.

“Then there is no way out.” (Christine)

Christine's face darkened with just the only thought we might not be able to get out of this place.

“Don’t worry, if there is a way down, there will always be a way up.” (Melisha)

I faced Christine and reassured her, but deep inside me, I also scared.

“•••••••••••  [Magic Light]!” (Melisha)

Casting a primary spell of the light magic, and a ball of light as big as a head appeared and started hovering a meter away from me.

I looked at them who is behind me, and only nodded that we should go forward and try to search for an exit.

Our surrounding changes when we finally notice it.

The interior of the cave suddenly changes from stone walls to metal.

Unable to suppress my anxiousness.

“Is it normal that this kind of changes is happening during the exploration?”

I said with a shaky voice, but Christine’s answer made me more anxious.

“No, it’s not. Typical caves have walls made of soil but, not metal.”

“I’ll go scout ahead to gather information.”

“All right, Rika be careful, if it becomes too dangerous, pull back immediately.”

“Take care Rika.”

Rika Started running straight ahead of us, while Christine and I continued to check the rooms for any items can be sold, but the rooms are empty with any items or materials inside, while the others have things like destroyed or broken chairs and table, dust or another thing that are unidentifiable.

We kept walking at a good pace that even if an enemy appears we can react efficiently and fight back.

Even this place is buried underground for millions of years, compared to hear things in the academy, seeing the actual places makes me excited since it’s my favorite subject because I want to become a Historian.

I might not be good fighting with weapons, but I can still boast I can fight tons of book and understand it enough and rival scholars.

During my academic years, I was eight years old that time.

That’s when I first learned that there is a human civilization existed before us and made technologies that can easily surpass our technology, but the saddest part of it, Those discovered technology is not something we can replicate.

So I made my mind that time.

I will become a scholar and discover the way how to replicate that technology.

“Hey! Stop spacing out!” (Christine)

She shouted at me when I was to walk directly on the wall.

“I’m sorry, I thought of something because this place is bewitching, even though this place is over a million of years old; the metals are still intact.”

I analyzed the wall touching it and removing some molds covering metal walls.

“GUYS! There is something I want you to see something spectacular!.”

Rika suddenly appeared in the dark corridor while shouting something.

“Rika calm down,  please tell me what do you see?”

I asked her while she still grasping air, but she just answered me with excitement all over her face.

“Rather than telling you, it’s much  better for you to see it yourself.”

“Then let’s go!” Christine shouted she is trembling with excitement.

We run as fast as we can and took us 20 mins to arrive at the end of the cave.

What stood there was a large metal double door that left us speechless.

Christine is the one to recover first, but still, even this is the 2nd time, Rika sees it; she still stands frozen in front of the door.

I also manage to get back to reality and started walking closer to the door.

We tried pushing the door, but it wouldn’t bulge.

We tried many things such as blasting it with magic, slashing it but it didn’t open.

“Haaaiissst! Damn, I’m tired! Is there anything we can do to open the door.” (Christine)

“I’m out of mana; there is nothing more I can do anymore.” (Melisha)

“Same here, I think there is some barrier protecting it.” (Rika)

The Three of us slumping in the floor like a withered vegetable because of exhaustion.

Unable to hide my frustration, I stood up and started examined the metal door.

But to my surprise, after those attack, the metal door didn’t get a scratch or a dent.

Then I saw something on the right side of the door covered heavily by molds.

“What are you doing?” (Rika)

She asked me while standing behind me with a curious face.

I ignored her question and continued analyzing the box-shaped thing attached to the wall; I don’t want to touch since it might be linked in a trap.

After confirming it’s safe, I tried removing the molds.

The thing that is attached to the wall is a small black rectangular box.

“Again, I thought it’s a way to open this door.”

I was shocked at the sudden remark of Christine beside me; I didn’t notice her that she’s already recovered from her slump.

“Yeah, I guess we should get back and ask for assistance to open this door,”

I said my humble opinion to her since we’ve tried everything just to open the door.

I turned around to start walking back, but I became dizzy and supported myself by putting my hand on the wall.

A light suddenly appeared on the wall; our eyes shifted to where the light is coming,

It was the box-shaped thing that’s emitting light.

Then we heard a voice of a man saying something in a language we don’t know. We become wary of our surrounding and holding our weapons prepared to attack the things that might appear.

Cold-bead of sweats started to form in my head.

Then floor suddenly shakes very hard that we almost fell, but we manage to stand our ground.

During the sudden quake, the sounds of metal hitting each other reverberate around us.

The locked door slowly opened by itself.

We instinctively covered our eyes to protect it from the dazzling light coming from the gaps in the doors.

The door is now wide open.

Our eyes widened because of the things we saw inside are still intact.

Many box things show moving pictures in black and green colored, or images of the forest, seas, mountains and other landscapes that we haven’t seen before.

“wow!’

A voice admiration escaped my mouth. We started walking in a different direction to search the area for valuable items.

“Amazing!, This will bring us a fortune! It’s the first time in the history of exploration to uncover a working technology left by the last civilization.”

Christine said in exclamation because of her excitement about our discovery, but Rike threw her rebuttal.

“Your exaggerating Tine, There are also unearthed weapons that are still in excellent condition.” (Rika)

“I don’t know; I got a feeling that this place must be sealed forever” (Melisha)

“Melisha, We made a significant discovery, we will be wealthy and famous, and we might even become a noble if this were to publicize.” (Christine)

“But, I don’t want to become a noble, I just want to become a scholar to study the ancient civilization” (Melisha)

We stop our conversation because a flashing red light appeared out of nowhere, and a deafening sound that we haven’t heard resounding the whole place.

The door on the side suddenly opened, and something went out of it.

Metallic automata.

Their weapons look like the one in the halls of discovery.

We gulped our saliva because of their number exceeded 30 and we can still several of them standing on the other side of the door.

We might not able to see the outside world and this place will become our grave.