"... STOP! Let... me... go!"

A woman in a long dress was thrown against the side of a wall. Her dress was a mix of black and white with a bow tying the back of her hair up. Her shoes were once clean and black, but now held scuffs along the edges as if she were dragged along the ground for a distance. She supported herself with the wall and quickly rose to fight against her captors. Glancing around her surroundings, she saw the room she was in was well lit, yet its near barren furnishings left an empty feeling inside her. One of the many men outside the room sneered and quickly approached her. He pressed his body against hers heavily and ran his finger across her chin. The woman pushed the man back as strongly as she could, but only ended up popping a button off the man's attire. He bounded backwards playfully while jeering towards her.

"Amazing! Are you trying to undress me? What a treat this woman is!"

Her fear was slowly climbing after she noticed a peculiar pane a glass embedded into the wall she was backed against. Although her experience in glass work was minimal, even she could tell the pane was specially made with a tint and it held a darkened room behind it. She was able to see a figure in the dim room seated in a luxury chair. Unable to control herself, she slammed her fist against glass pane to grab the figure's attention.

"Don't worry about him. He's only there to watch the show."

"Show?!"

In desperation, the woman tried to rush past the man and breech the exit that was blocked by the remaining men. She knew it was futile, but that door appeared to be the only exit from the room. The man reached for her arm as she ran by and yanked her back to his side. He ran his hand up the side of her dress before smiling and then threw her against the inner wall once again. The woman regained her standing once more but remained pressed against the back wall. As he watched her, the man's lecherous face twisted before moving abruptly towards her. The woman's gaze danced left and right trying to find an escape, but it was futile as the man quickly cornered her. As she slowly slid away from him, her body eventually edged against the corner of the room preventing further retreat. Like he was hunting a rabbit, the man inched closer and closer to her. Fearing for her future, the woman attempted to hit the man in his face, but her arm was caught and the man forcibly covered her mouth with his. Her tears spilled quickly but in defiance, she bit the man's lip as hard as she could.

"ARGH! You bitch!"

The man backed off from her while rubbing his mouth. The blood smeared across his hand as he repeatedly wiped away the flowing liquid. He flushed red and stepped forward rapidly raising his hand and bring it down across the woman's face. As she tumbled to the ground, the man drove his foot straight into her side knocking her down further as she gasped in pain. Turning to the men cheering him on from behind, he issued simple orders.

"Give me an hour then send the next guy down."

"Keep her alive for us boss. We ain't into that necro shit!"

"Don't worry, she'll just be a little more docile."

The men laughed at him as they slowly worked their way out of the room. Behind them, the 'clank' sound of a door locking sealed the woman's fate. Moving towards the woman once more, the man started humming a light tune as he unfastened the rest of the buttons on his suit top. Standing before the woman who was gasping for air on the ground, he smiled again before sending a kick into her leg.

"Eeegh! Ple... ase... Sto...p it..."

The feeble noise crept out from the woman and he applied pressure on her side and thigh. The woman wasn't raised in an environment where she took abusive punishment and so the pain was a new feeling for her. The man slipped from his top and threw it across the room before reaching down and yanking the woman up be her arm. She gasped from the strain of his pull and the pain from her side and could only manage the strength to look the man in his eyes with tears streaming down hers. As if to etch the memory into her very being, he closed the distance and licked the side of her face running from her chin up towards her eyes. Every trail of tears he saw, he lapped up and chuckled closely towards her. He placed both her arms into the air and held them in the corner with one hand while he used his other to freely explore the contours of her body.

Using a single finger, he outlined her modest chest and wandered to her nape. He found a loose string near the back of her neck and tugged on it tearing the string free of its knot. He saw the dress loosen slightly and smiled widely at the woman again. She still had tears pouring from her eyes and her gasps only drove the man further as he became trapped in his desires. He pulled a piece of wood from his pocket and forced it into her mouth. From the glint in his eyes, the woman understand his intent and bit down hard.

Moving his hands back to her side, he lightly traced her outline once again causing her to shake. When he reached where he had kicked her earlier, the sneering smile on his face sank further and evil ideas flew through his mind. He placed his hand on her side and lightly rubbed it as if to sooth her pain before tightly grasping it with all his strength.

"Akhhhhh!!"

The woman screamed from the pain in her side and bit harder on the wooden post in her mouth. She believed the kick she received earlier probably fractured a bone and the man squeezing her side nearly caused her to pass out. Seeing the light slowly fade in her eyes, the man lightly tapped the side of her face.

"Oh, woops. Stay with me dear. I can't have you disappearing on me quite yet. Well, I gave you the stick, so how about a carrot?"

He moved his finger back to her side and traced it down the edge of her dress. until he met another lace. Pulling it free yet another knot and the side of the dress peeled slightly to reveal white undergarments. The woman quickly turned crimson in shame but the man continued his journey with a sickening smile until he reached the final lace on the opposite side. He pulled it lightly as well and the dress loosened completely. He chuckled as he saw it was only being held on by her being pressed against the wall. Grabbing her hands from where he pinned them, he turned quickly and threw her to the ground in the center of the room. As she fell, the dress fully dropped off and her sobs range out louder. The man reached for an iron hook and drew from it a rope. He sat down on top of the woman and forced her hands together only to wrap them with the rope.

With both his hands free now, he felt around her stomach and then reached for her breasts.

"Wow... I don't know how someone like you got silk, but I bet it feels nice against the skin. It's a little in the way tho isn't it?"

He slipped his hands underneath the bra feeling up the woman's breasts. Her face shaded crimson once more, though rather than embarrassment, it was from the shame of a man other than her husband touching her. She turned her head to the side and continued to cry, leaking the whimpers through the spacing of the wooden block. The man sneered further and grasped the bra before tearing it off. He swung it around in the air a few times cheering, but eventually tossed it to the side before moving his eyes further down. The woman's breasts were firm to his grasp and as he rubbed them with his hands, his carnal desires flared. He removed himself from her torso and hitting on the woman and moved to her lower body forcing her legs apart without mercy.

As the woman screamed out in defiance, he landed a punch against her leg placing her into pain. Feeling the mood somewhat ruined, he brought his fist down onto her stomach and side until she stopped moving. Between the gasps of air sucked in through the wooden block, the woman slowly accepted her fate with her tears pouring from tightly pressed eyes. The man smiled viciously and returned his focus to her lower torso. Forgoing the removal of her underwear, he simply tore the item in half revealing her in full nudity.

He played around, tracing his finger along the edge of her labia and pinching her clitoris lightly as a tease. The woman moaned in displeasure and audibly cried at each of his touches. He continued to play around and tease her with his fingers inching slowly towards her cavity. Every rub slowly excited the woman's body against her will as the physiological response itself betrayed her mental state. The man laughed subtly after noticing the wet sensation covering his fingers. He rose to his feet and quickly tore off the rest of his clothing, tossing them to the side of the room. He stood erect above the woman and laughed at her before thrusting his penis into her, shattering the last mental bastion left for her.

***

Stopping near a clearing in the woods, an older gentleman carrying a large backpack nearly matching his own height turned to the adventurer beside him.

"So this is what you saw back then?"

"Yeah. The skyline looks almost exactly the same as it did last week. There's no mistaking it."

"Move out! We'll setup camp at the edge of the ruins!"

Kelvin was in the middle of discussions with the leader of an archaeology expedition team. They had finally arrived on site where Kelvin first saw the ruins peeking from the surface of the ground. Their current position was in the South Western border of Lore Forest inside Klasika territory. The man leading the team quickly waved the dollies and carts behind him to push further into the forest. THeir destination was obvious, the visible opening of the ruins which stood barely 10 meters above the ground. Kelvin had only noticed it due to his unique positioning during combat, but the entrance was far smaller than he was expecting. As he watched the caravan of bulls and horses tugging along excavation equipment, food and tents, Zeena approached him from behind and tapped his shoulder.

"We're almost there."

"Yeah..."

"Nervous?"

"Somewhat. I'm more curious on if they will find anything. What do you think?"

"I don't know... I'm still not sure what even happened last time. It seemed as if that woman saw George and my race for the first time though."

"Yeah, she just ignored Silas and I... Have you managed to invoke any of the magics in that book?"

"That dusty old thing? Hahaha! Us Elves have advanced beyond those petty tricks in recent years. I have an idea of other magics to use. If I have to, I'll fall back to the book, but I doubt it will be needed."

"Well, that's good to hear. Let's keep pushing. We can't fall behind the ones we're here to 'protect'."

"Haha, true."

Zeena watched Kelvin from behind and he quickly jogged off to catch up to the leader of the caravan. Her gaze extended towards the relics in the distance and her eyes clouded over with worry. She had already sent a report to her homeland, but their reply was less than favorable telling her to simply 'standby'. Such an order was absurd in this situation. Taking it upon herself, she refused the standby order and prepared herself for the ruins. Every Elf outside of the Elven Nation was taught about various legends, their importance to the Elves, what to look for and how to find it if they ever thought they came across it.

Her memories ran back through the meeting they had with the woman and the Human that suddenly appeared in front of them and her only conclusion is that the woman was part of those legends. Zeena started down the hill towards the ruins with a look of determination etched into her face. She knew that tomorrow, their team will split from the main archaeological team and investigate the lower cavern they found.

***

Amongst the many facilities located in Inmont City, the Adventurers Guild is said to contain the most advanced knowledge related to magics and the mystic arts. Unlike common hierarchical organizations, the Adventures Guild was rather flat with a single director overseeing the entire facility. Each clerk waiting at the front desk for Quest completions, every butcher deployed with an adventurer party, and all mentors, trusts, and lore smiths held equal weight when discussing matters of the Guild. This strange assortment of distributed power enabled the members to speak up against rules or policy that would clearly hinder the Guild or its adventurers. The distribution of power also facilitated the creation of policies that would otherwise remain obscure due to each profession looking out for their own.

Inside Inmont City's Adventurers Guild, Guild Master Lenard Segui was pacing back and forth around his office. His desk which was normally kept in order, was disheveled with a plethora of old books and crumpled papers. Atop the precariously stacked books and tents of paper, one parchment in particular stood out. It was rolled out across the table, consuming the entire top and covering parts of the mess behind it. The document strained to close itself back into a cylindric storage shape, but four books planted on each corner kept it taunt. Scribed into the paper was a clear map marking the Klasika territory. Splattered across the territory were painted red crosses laying over unique terrain and relic markers. Amongst the many red crosses, one would notice a single area that stood out.

Lenard continued his pacing and finally circled from the end of his office back to his desk to look at the unique area of the map. It was located just South of Profectus City and partially extended into Lore Forest. The small markers resembled a series of buildings under a dome and the entire glyph was circled with red ink. His eyes were furrowed and as if decided he fate of the world, he continued pacing across the room entirely lost in his own thoughts. The man had spent the past few days doing nothing but research on historical documents related to the ruins circled on paper. He was trying to find any link he could from his position and had even ordered historical records from the Palace to be delivered to him. Today in particular though, he was waiting for a unique party to drop by. While not nervous, the seriousness of the situation drove him to move his body out of sheer anxiety of what they might find. Those clerks who were on duty could hear the repeated pitter patter of the man and his cane as he circled repeatedly only to stop and stare at the document occasionally.

Whilst he moved his body, a knock sounded from the solid door securing his office entrance.

"Mr. Segui, your company has arrived."

"Send them in!"

Lenard quickly walked to the door hobbling with his cane to welcome the party inside. The large door pulled open akin to a vault revealing a small pantherian bowing lightly to a group of individuals. Each member entered quickly covered in robes trying to get to business. Finding four chairs offset from Lenard's desk, the male centered in the group quickly sat down center most while his entourage continued standing. The man's robe was high quality and as he dropped the cover from his face, Lenard smiled lightly. Lenard quickly walked around to behind his desk and lifted four scrolls off it.

"These are the Quests I've written up so far. Team Satyr is already on their way with the archaeological team."

Those standing guard around the man moved to receive the items but a gaudy hand reached up from the still seating man to accept one of the scrolls. He unfurled the parchment and read through it while letting an accepting grunt escape occasionally. The man folded the document and placed his hands down onto his lap. He crossed his legs and drew back the robe that covered his head.

"Did you have a hard time reading with that heavy robe over you, King Asalerian?"

"It's always fun to act like I'm sneaking around... How's life as a Guild Master?"

"I'd like to quit and return to adventuring."

"Well, that isn't going to happen. Is this Quest accurate?"

"Yes. The only reporting currently is from Team Satyr, but they are reliable."

"Where are they now?"

"I've sent them to do a follow on examination of the site. Unofficially, they are escorting an archaeological team to the ruins. Officially though, they will split off once on site and perform some investigations where they met the mysterious woman and man."

"What do you think? Is this and the early reporting from Profectus related?"

"I don't know. I don't have enough information. I've sent them in conjunction with the issued Quests to gather intel."

"When do you expect a response?"

"The end of next week at the latest. Should I pay a visit to the Palace once they return?"

"Do it. I don't believe in legends, but we have reporting from the Elves that they've started moving. The Fairies are also acting strange..."

"Even the Fairies?..."

"Something come to mind?"

"Nothing more than conjecture. I'll be sure to visit you in the Palace on their return, my King."

The older gentleman chuckled lightly at the semi sarcastic tone sourced from the man he put in place as Guild Master. He rose to his feet and toss the document he was holding to one of his guards before pulling the hood back over his head. As he turned around to leave the room, he glanced back to leave parting words.

"The world is potentially on the brink of change, Lenard. If we want to be the leaders in that world, we need to get ahead of this as quickly as possible. I'm relying on you."

Lenard bowed deeply after setting his cane aside.

"I understand, my liege."

The subtle smile across Lenard's face revealed his impression towards the man leaving the room. As he rose himself back up, he grabbed his cane and headed back towards his seat to start planning for the potential future scenarios they might come across on Team Satyr's return.

***

The sun rose into the sky slowly illuminating the low hanging mists around the archaeology team's campsite. The night lookouts began their morning setup with relighting the campfire, preparing food from the carriages and waking their camps. The camp slowly grew more restless as the members fully woke up and started packing the site while their breakfast was cooking. Beside the professional explorers, team Satyr started their wake up routine as well. Following after their escort targets, the team started their breakfast while the remaining members packed their gear. Zeena and Kelvin quickly dismantled their tents leaving the food to Silas and George. At their fire, a steel pan laid over a ring a rocks with a potent fire wrapping around its edges.

Atop the pan, eggs gradually paled to white and bubbled as the sausage oil slowly cooked into it. Bringing a small pot from his pouch, George drizzled a small amount of honey onto the egg and sausages along with small amounts of pepper, salt and herbs similar to basil he found nearby. The sweet oder drifted through their camp waking their stomachs up to greet the day as well. The team carried little on their trips and they were seasoned experts at exploring at camping. The results of such expertise allowed Zeena and Kelvin to complete their packing earlier than their escort targets and savor their breakfast with patience. No matter the team, the time, or the location, Team Satyr knew the mental strength a decent breakfast gave an individual early in the morning.

From near their site, a lone man wielding a large backpack atop himself stepped into their site with a slightly baffled expression at their state. The team ignored the man until he moved closer to them and sat down on a stone near their campfire. While suffering from the double damage of gazing at their breakfast and salivating from the smell, the man tried to talk business.

"Good Morning. It's somewhat a surprise to encounter such a delicious looking breakfast out in the wilderness."

Kelvin lazily drifted a small cut off sausage into his mouth while replying.

"You can't have any. We only made enough for ourselves."

The man appeared to smile and brush off the brusk comment. He knew that if they shared with him, their escort target, it would be the same as inviting the rest of the caravan to partake as well. He was an experienced traveler as well and as such, didn't hold any grudge towards the otherwise rude remark.

"Well, that's fine. The smell alone is enough to top off my breakfast from earlier. Anyhow, We'll be relying on you for the rest of the distance. Once we're at the site, what are your plans?"

"Our team will scout the surrounding area and widen the protective net around your caravan. You might not see us for most of the time you're there, but don't fret. We will be watching nearby in case anything happens to slip through our defenses."

A bold faced lie. Such a bold lie was spewed from the mouth of one of the most innocent looking members in the group causing the rest of his team to react slightly. Rather than spreading a net, his team was carrying a plethora of beast wards to drive any normal creature away from the site. By mixing the wards with Zeena's magic and George's sense of smell and pantherian instincts, they could free themselves up to visit the lower cavern and do some exploration of their own. None the wiser to his lie, the man only smiled lightly and nodded his head.

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"Yes, that's fine. It's reassuring to have an A ranked team accompany us for once. You certain do thing different from the lower ranked teams... Well, thanks for the breakfast. I'll pass the plan along to the rest."

"Ah. Have a good one. We'll come meet you when it's time to head off."

The man tossed a final glance at the final sausage cooking on the pan when Silas stabbed a sharpened stick into it and brought it to his mouth while gazing straight at the man. Responding with a wry smile, the man nodded his head to the group before leaving their site. The team, now alone, broke into laughter while pointing out Silas' antics. During their fit, Zeena casted her eyes onto Kelvin.

"So what's the real plan, 'Lord Belmore'."

"Stop that. You're going to make me embarrassed."

"It was obvious he knew who you were though. That was an obvious attempt at buttering you up! I guess it couldn't hurt them to please a potential investor."

"Well... Enough about that. We'll setup the wards and proceed as planned. Nothing changes unless you or George sense something pass the safety boundary. Zeena, how confident are you with the magics from the book I sent you?"

"Easy stuff. I hope you're going to pay me back for this later?"

Her fluttering eyes and expectant gaze didn't slip past Kelvin, but he held his focus on his food determined to play the stoic character.

"Well, we can consider that after we get back. I'm sure we will have a day off or two on return."

Hearing the unexpectedly positive reply, Zeena froze in place with her gaze locked on. Her playful demeanor quickly disappeared only for a serious expression to overlay.

"That's a promise. You hear me? That's a promise!"

"I know. I meant to take you out for drinks last time, but this excursion interrupted my plans."

Kelvin smiled lightly and replied to her seriousness in earnest. In truth, he knew Zeena harbored and emotion of some sort towards him, but his position as the Belmore heir never allowed him to act upon it. Now that their team was slowly entering the upper stages of adventurers, he didn't want to waste his time and potentially regret it later. After hearing Lenard's opinion on the likely future events that will start occurring if the cavern site tests positive, he didn't believe his title was any longer a reason to keep his distance. Glancing from his plate, he met eyes with the surprised George and Silas across from him.

"That means you two as well. Let's grab a drink after. You were always telling me about that bar in town, weren't you Silas?"

"... Uh... yeah. Let's grab some drinks their after."

Surprised by the sudden change in their team leader's attitude, the rest of team Satyr sat frozen while watching their leader finish off his breakfast.

***

Grunts and groans repeatedly bent around a corner reflecting off the walls of an inner room. The men relaxing there were hardly dressed and focused on their game of poker. The occasional scream of pain echoed through the room, but rather than questioning or worried looks, it only drew a series of laughs as they played their game and drank the abundant alcohol. The men swapped between a variety of drinking and card games while sometimes foregoing either and instead took bets on the number of screams heard within a particular time frame. As has happened multiple times over the past day, a winner was selected amongst the men, this time from a poker game. The man smirked and boasted about his 2 game streak to the men across from him and stood to claim his prize.

He moved to the door where the grunts and groans slipped through and walked down the deep hall. As he neared the end, he turned into the room just before the last in the hall way. In his sights, a woman whose face held crusted tears with drool seeping around the wooden block down her chin was dangling from the wall. Her body was bruised all over and the shackles holding her wrists were crusted with blood from the repeated abrasions. Pressing repeatedly against her, a man continued to thrust into her without mercy while striking her periodically.

As he approached, the man slapped the shoulder of his partner.

"Yo, my turn. Your time's up."

"What?! You again? Damn, those fucks can't win to save their life. Well shit, enjoy."

"Yeah."

Pulling out, the man walked to the corner and threw on his pants before leaving the room. The woman hardly reacted having seen this sight multiple times now. She slipped out a whimper, but the man approaching her had no mercy to give. He smiled as he approached and whispered into her ear.

"Hey, we've been told to take it up a notch...Haha. This is going to be great!"

Worry clouded the woman's face and her confusion only intensified. She lacked the experience to know what the man meant was was forced to imagine what could be worse than her current situation. The man continued his sneering and grabbed the woman roughly by her waist and twisted her body against the wall. Her bruised side was pinched and she wailed in pain, but the man just ignored her continuing his smile. With her planted against the wall, the man traced her naked back with his hand enjoying the tremors of fear that ran through it in response. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, setting it beside the woman on a shelf in her visual range. He watched her back tense up at the sight and the excitement drove him further. He dropped his pants revealing himself erect and passionate and examined her lower hips.

He moved his hands down her sides and over her hips resting on her buttocks. He massaged them lightly spreading and closing them until he felt the shivers from the woman insinuated she realized what he was focusing on. Her whimpers slowly increased every time she felt her butt spread apart. Her sight included only the wall she was pressed against and so her reliance on her sense of touch was all she had to understand what was happening with her body. Her imagination ran its course and her once dry tears welled up once again. She had already learned her lesson on resisting though and so she expressed her rejection in the most subtle ways she knew wouldn't get her hit. She moved her hips away from the hands touching her and clenched her cheeks but a searing pain suddenly ran down her back forcing a scream from her clenched mouth.

The man watched as the blade drew a shallow cut down the woman's back. The blood pooled across the wound but the shallow cut only allowed enough to flow that surface tension alone kept it in place. The man watched the blood rise and moved his thumb over it to smear it along her back enjoying the dampened screams as he did so. Once he felt her muscles loosen up, he spread her cheeks and thrust himself in. The woman screamed loudly through tears as she felt her anus spread and grip the object pushed into it. Her pain wasn't destined to stop though as the man moved his blade to her front while thrusting and with the knife in hand, he slowly scratched the underside of her breast that was pressed against the wall.

In the new method of torture, the woman's screams continued with more invigorated now that her situation resorted to pain once again and drew smiles from the knowing men sitting down the hall. They continued their game knowing their freedom to hurt the woman and act on more of their desires reached the next stage.

***

Before Kelvin stood a semi dome raised from the ground. The rocky outcrop stood a meager 7 meters off the ground but its hollow innards held the skyline of their targeted ruins. Unlike those he saw in the cavern, these buildings were clear victims of the surrounding elements and the few standing buildings that compiled the skyline appeared struggling to support themselves. Their pillars were damage with fractures visibly coursing over their surface and the mortar laid over the walls was crumbling with even the slightest of breezes. Kelvin was certain the structures wouldn't even exist anymore if the cover of the dome had weathered away first.

The leader of the archaeology held sparkling eyes on the site since it first appeared in their sights, yet his face now was one of absolute awe. His eyes scoured the site in silence along with his fellow travelers as they each took internal measurements of the ruins and developed preliminary theories on its origins. The caravan itself halted nearly 20 meters from the entrance of the dome where they started constructing their tents and temporary labs. Their resource teams quickly spread out from the site to gather food and wood from the immediate surroundings.

George walked up next to Kelvin with his ears twitching subtly. His cat like eyes crawled the site as well, though he was looking for anything alive and unrelated to the ruins rather than the buildings themselves. Silas approached the two as well coming up on Kelvin's other side.

"What do you think, boss?"

"It's more impressive than I saw from the distance."

"It's certainly that...", he responded while tilting his head to analyze the dome's structure. Silas followed the rim of the dome tracing it down to its merger with the ground.

Without averting his eyes from the site, Kelvin questioned the two members.

"Have you noticed anything, George?"

"No. As far as I can tell, nothing inside the dome is dangerous enough to warrant eliminating. However..."

He turned his senses to the surrounding wood line where the camp was slowly being structured at. He could smell the markings of beasts and knew they intruded into their territory, yet the surroundings were oddly quiet.

"This should be territory of the wolves. I can smell their markings, but they aren't fresh... It doesn't make sense. They're the apex predators in Lore Forest..."

Kelvin glanced around the site and noticed the lack of pressure in the air as well.

"Did they get into a fight with another pack?"

"No, I didn't smell or see anything like that on the way here... It's like they disappeared all at once and left the territory behind empty."

"Do we need to worry about another beast filling in that territory?"

"Soon, but not yet. Their spray is still ripe enough to keep away competitors. In another rain or two though, I imagine Lore Forest will have a new master."

Kelvin frowned slightly as he realized the difficulty and information on Lore Forest will now have to be updated to the Adventurers Guild in order to help keep future adventurers safe. He returned to the conversation.

"Where's Zeena at? I thought you two were setting up the site?"

Silas returned his focus to his leader rather than the interesting dome.

"She's invoking some magic to check the surroundings. We figured we'd hold off on setting up camp for now since the forest was so strange. I can't remember the last time I felt practically no leering eyes from this forest. The discrepancy is making me itch."

Hearing his shaken voice and seeing the shiver from the corner of his eye, Kelvin chuckled lightly before turning his back to the ruins. He made his way to the caravan leader with his teammates in toe surprising the man who was engrossed in planning with his team.

"O-o-oh! Sir Belmore! These ruins are amazing! I'm so glad you reported this! Who knows what we might find inside!"

"Y-yeah... Listen, we're going to split off from your group until it's time to return. We will keep the perimeter safe, but if something slips past us, make sure your men call out. We will be nearby at all times."

Taken aback from the fanaticism leaking out of the man's every pore, Kelvin delivered his orders as their escort and proceeded to meet with Zeena who he saw in the distance invoking magics. He neared the woman and felt his internal organs tingle for a moment. Glancing to his side as they walked, he saw George's displeased face and smiled lightly as the fur covering him slowly stood on end. They continued their approach until they were mere meters away and saw the massive magic circle engraved into the ground around her. They stopped near the edge knowing it would be dangerous to intrude any closer and potentially break her concentration.

The circle pulsed with light from the inside engravings and traveled towards the edge. The pulses slowly weakened until the circle itself faded from view. In it's place, a tired Zeena wiped the sweat from her head and smiled at the sight of Kelvin nearby. She quickly jogged to him and delivered her report with a brimming smile.

"Kelvin! I didn't think you'd come to me first, what a pleasant surprise..."

"So what'd you find?"

She could tell from his expression that something was strange, and her discovery only sealed the deal on that feeling. She had invoked an area scanning magic that sent waves of mana out from her as a circle and reflected back off anything that contained mana of a certain degree of power inside it. Oddly though, she found nothing in the surrounding area. Thinking the site was just oddly placed, she expanded the magic as far as she could, stressing her limits of control over the magic and yet, she found nothing.

"This forest is empty. I don't know what happened since we last came here, but none of the wolves that use to be here exist any more. Many of the sub species also disappeared. I take it from your expression you guys came to the same conclusion?"

"Yeah, I can smell the territorial marks, but they're a few days old. I haven't seen any trails or leftover hunts for the entire trip either. My conclusion was the same as yours."

Silas summarized the situation with slight exasperation.

"So let me get this straight. Not only did a man and woman appear from thin air around here, the ranked A and B creatures disappeared from the environment within days of that appearance. Sounds to me like they were hunted."

"That's impossible."

"George?"

"Like I said, that's impossible. In order to hunt a pack of wolves into extinction, you'd need to lure every single one into the same area. Unless you could do that, they'd just run away and keep their distance from whatever threatened them. Those wolves are ranked A and B for a reason. They are pretty smart."

The team looked at each other, gauging their reactions and speaking with their expressions. Seeing the situation not progress, Kelvin just shut it down and moved them onto their goal.

"Whatever... It doesn't matter for now. Luckily for us, that just makes our job easier. We can focus on the cavern without interference. Zeena, keep a small sensing magic invoked over the camp site just in case. Silas, George and I will go place the beast deterrents. We'll meet back here in the afternoon."

The team acknowledged their roles and split apart. Their minds still worried over the empty forest, but as adventurers, they had a Quest to complete and so moved to accomplish it.

***

A butler was walking down a rather short hall nearing a simple study room door. He wore a black and white suit and his tail poked out from his backside through a specially tailored hole in his clothing. His black shoes shined and his ironed top revealed the effort he took to maintain his appearance and professionalism in his job. He arrived just before the door and took a death breath. His face was covered in disappointment and he held himself in front of the door gathering his own thoughts before knocking against it. He waited a moment listening for a response and knocked once more a little louder after hearing silence. The sounds of shuffling muffled against the door before a resounding answer drew him in.

"Enter!"

The butler opened the door gently revealing a messy inner room. Amongst the many stacks of documents, a woman attempted to sit collected on a study chair, but the man could tell from serving her for years that she was a wreck. No... Even a stranger could probably tell at this point. The woman's hair was a mess with it partially slipping from the bun that once tied it altogether. Her dress was wrinkled all over and the clear signs of her brushing it out for appearances caused the butler to worry further. He entered the room and approached in front of his master.

"Countess Sugimoto, we've yet to find Lady Delphi. The other servants are positive she stayed behind to wait for you during the battle. They couldn't be wrong as she pushed me out the door herself yelling she couldn't leave without you. I've found signs of the house being cleaned, but besides that, I can't seem to find any traces of where she went."

"I see..."

The woman's features dropped in depression. Maid servant Roxanne Delphi had been missing since the day of the battle. The young woman was a loyal friend of Aria and her personal servant. To say she held a place inside Aria's heart would be an understatement. Even if she were to reappear in front of her right now and say she overslept, Aria would likely forgive her on the spot and just be happy nothing happened.

"It's been two days now... Has her husband heard anything?"

"I'm afraid not. Sir Leroy arrived earlier to ask us if she showed up yet. The poor man is a wreck as well, he was showing obvious signs of exhaustion."

"Is... that so..."

The butler watched his master's form slowly crumple. She was no longer putting on a show, no perhaps she just didn't have the energy to. He saw the tell tale signs of exhaustion in her as well. Not only had she monitored the logistics during the battle, but she performed the role of three of the council members at the same time. The exhaustion from that bundled with the missing Lady Delphi kept the young master awake at night with worry. As he saw her visage sadden further, his ears twitched and he immediately changed his demeanor rushing to the front of his master and taking a defensive stance. The immediate movement and change in atmosphere was too much for the Countess and she only glanced around in surprise trying to figure out what was happening.

"Wilfred! What's going on?"

"There's someone here, Countess Sugimoto. Please keep your wits about you."

His ears twitched rapidly trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound he heard earlier. The twitching ears and his senses slowly focused his attention near the door he just arrived through earlier. The presence he felt earlier slowly came closer until a young boy rounded the corner.

"Hiiro!"

Aria yelled the boy's name out surprising Wilfred slightly. She didn't include a rank with his name, so he wasn't sure how to treat the man before him. What he did know though, was this boy appeared inside the estate without notifying anyone else on the premises. As he watched his smile, the thought that the man revealed himself to the pair so as to not sneak up on them cross his mind.

"Hey Aria. Lapis told me to check up on you and make sure the meeting for tomorrow is still good."

Wilfred watched the young man as his expression slowly changed from a smile to concern.

"What happened?"

As if a damn broke, the flower of Profectus broke down in the presence of her own servant and a random boy. The astounded butler only stood frozen not knowing what course of action to take to the unique situation. The moment his focus dimmed, the boy was suddenly beside he causing him to jump to the side in surprise. He watched the boy kneel beside his master as she reached for him and cried into he chest. She sobbed the entire situation to include the heart wrenching theory that was slowly consuming her mind.

Seeing how relaxed her master was with the boy, Wilfred slowly excused himself from the room choosing to trust the young man and moved to grab snacks for the two before delivering a report to Mr. Redmon.

***

Overlooking the edge of a massive bowl, Kelvin sat with his legs dangling as he waited for the members of his troop to show up. The sun was slowly dropping in the sky and the moon strengthened its presence as if to chase the sun from its domain. As the shadows of the cliff ate away at the inner bowl, dropping it into darkness, Kelvin heard a pair of footsteps arriving behind him.

"Want to sit next to me? It's an amazing view."

"No, the others are right behind me. You aren't kidding about the view though. Last time I saw this, it was pitch black. This certainly is... something else."

Silas walked his eyes across the circumference of the bowl and the trees outlining it. The nearly 300 meter wide bowl showed early signs of weathering as the edges started to erode from rain and wind. The vast curving plane inside the bowl contained only dirt, but he managed to capture the slight signs of life such as moss and weeds popping out in the distance. The early signs made him thing the sight might become something of a vacation area with the proper maintenance.

Coming up on the two, George and Zeena walked together while chatting. They soon ended their talk once beside the other two members and joined in on the sight seeing. Kelvin directed his sights to the sky and felt the warm breeze scraped off the surface of the bowl caress him and mix with the colder surrounding air.

"Are you ready? This is the night we make history... maybe."

"I'll always be beside you, Lord Belmore."

""Same.""

The three asserted their friendship with a mocking bow knocking Kelvin from his languid attitude. He smiled and started kneading mana. Feeling his countenance change, the members followed his lead and began kneading mana as well.

"Patch, support me."

[Reply. Executing physical enhancement. Requesting support]

Their leader pushed himself off the cliff wall and with a physical enhancement after supplying mana to his companion orb and he began sprinting down the bowl face headed straight for its inner center where a pitch black hole sat. The four members quickly called upon their respective orbs and made their way down the side of the bowl similar to their leader followed by sliding to a stop around the rim of the hole. They glance over the edge and locked eyes with each other before Kelvin nodded once more and compressed mana in his hand. His companion orb glowed slightly assisting him as he ignited the bundle of mana as an emission magic and dropped it into the hole. The team watched as it bounced off the shards of sharpened rock jutting from the inner edge of the walls lining the pit. After it reached the bottom, Kelvin jumped into the hole utilizing sky walk magic to generate stairs along the way. As he leaped from stair to stair, he made note of the damage along the wall. His fear was that the few days the pit had been left open might have been enough to start a collapse into the inner cavern and a potential sinkhole might be forming. Luckily, the ground seemed to be solid with any erosion scratching only the lose dirt away.

The team hopped their way down the hole leaving behind the final vestiges of lights and embracing the depths of darkness. Nearly twenty minutes after descending, Kelvin reached the floor of the cavern and quickly covered his nose. The Earth Dragon they fought was left behind and started decomposing. Without an exit, the gases started building up in the cavern. He realized the danger of staying too long and launched more emission type magics into his surroundings to light the area up. Below him, a pool of water seemed to extend out along the floor and was nearly an inch deep. As he looked around, his thoughts on the changes to the site flowed naturally from his mouth.

"The rain from the previous days must have built up... There's no drainage lower than this, huh?"

Three splashes around him brought back the Quest to his mind.

"Zeena, are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a moment. I'll try out some of the magics from the book first. Let's see how good you Humans are at magical research."

The arrogant smile across her face only made Kelvin smile lightly. He watched as she stepped forward towards the ruins where they encountered the woman and she opened the book Lenard provided them. After selecting a particular survey type magic, she began kneading mana and asked her orb for support.

"Intra, Dimensional Feeler."

[Reply. Executing Dimensional Feeler. Requesting support.]

The small orb levitated to the front of Zeena and rested in an empty space between her now out stretched hands. Zeena kneaded mana and slowly transfered it back and forth bewteen her campanion orb and herself. Each time the mana was threaded between the two, it appeared thicker and less ethereal. The mana increased in density until even those with low mana sensing capabilities would be able to see the strings. The threading continued for another ten minutes until a slight change occurred. The thread of mana started extending into the open space of the cavern dividing itself rapidly from a single string into tens and from tens into thousands.

Each string listlessly extended out touching the ground and open air in all directions. One of the tendrils approached the site Kelvin remember the first fracture appeared at and it suddenly lurched into a straight line as if a fisher pulled back on a fishing rod. The other tendrils slowly collapsed from their positions onto where the taunt mana string was hooked at. As they moved, they stopped and became taunt in areas of space near the first string. The tendrils slowly stuck to the space and like glitter blown onto a glue outline, the misshaped visage of a three dimensional crack slowly started to glow.

While Zeena focused on the magic and maintained its invocation, the other members slowly moved to circle the site. The teal and turquoise highlights running through the air clearly showed the outline of the tear in space they saw previously. Kelvin moved a bit closer to the sight when suddenly Zeena let out a stressed yelp. Worry flashed across Kelvin's face as he turned to face her. Before his eyes, the mana strings that were originally under Zeena's control seemed to start sucking the mana from their host. Unable to keep up with the demand, Zeena fell to her knees. Without losing focus, her determined spirit ramped up the kneading of mana, but she could tell it was a losing battle.

The members rushed to her side to help her, but she yelled with a raspy voice at them.

"Stay back!"

Her voice conveyed the stress she was feeling and each member halted a short distance away with worried looks. They could tell she was struggling and her forehead was drenched in sweat. They could see the copious amounts of mana being sucked from her and knew she was playing a tug of war of sorts with something. As her breathing became ragged, Kelvin considered destroying the mana conveyor, Intra, to halt the invocation. To his surprise, Zeena looked him straight in the eyes conveying her determination. He bit the inside of his cheek to hold himself back and returned his focus instead to the fractured space.

The outline appeared smaller to Kelvin than it did previously. No. No, it was no misunderstanding. The fracture in space itself seemed to be healing as it consumed Zeena's mana. The highlighted outlines slowly disappeared as the mana surrounding them was absorbed. Not 30 seconds later, the fractured space completely disappeared leaving Zeena unconscious on the ground. Kelvin decided the situation was too dangerous and ordered the team to retreat to the surface of the bowl. He followed behind George and Silas while carrying Zeena on his back. Luckily, he felt her breathing and she didn't seem to be in pain, so he was somewhat relieved. After pushing themselves, they reached the surface after nearly 16 minutes, beating their descent rate by a decent margin.

"Silas, George. Setup camp here. We wont leave until Zeena wakes up. We need to know what that was first."

The team started a fire and laid the unconscious woman beside the fire to keep her warm as she recovered. As they finished setting up the tents, a small mumbling from their side notified them Zeena was finally coming to.

"Zeena! Zeena! Can you hear me? Can you recognize me? Zeena?"

Kelvin quickly knelt beside her and tried to ascertain her health. Although she appeared to recover her consciousness, her faded eyes clearly conveyed her fatigue. She grasped his arm and pulled herself into a sitting position while taking deep breaths. After a few moments to calm down and regain a little energy, she spoke to the group.

"We need to return to Inmont as quickly as possible. That fracture wasn't a force of nature but a scar left over from lack of mana in the area."

"Lack of mana?"

"Yeah... Remember when we first saw that woman? She was chained to something and suddenly, the entire cavern dropped in temperature. I think she absorbed all the mana on the site and so the fracture in space couldn't fully heal itself. Thanks to that, I was used as a freaking battery."

"I see, so that means..."

"Yep... Lenard hit it dead on... Something from another dimension cross into ours. I don't know what that woman is, but she isn't from this world. Frankly, I can't imagine how terrifying she is to be able to cross through dimensional space... much less carry a passenger with her..."

Kelvin could see Zeena's arms shivering slightly, not from the crisp late night air, but from the terror at what could have happened to them had the woman taken them as an enemy. It seemed the other members noticed the same thing and their faces tightened at the thought. As they sat in silence around the fire, Zeena's head rapidly looked to the sky. In her shaken state, she stood faster than her body was able to and nearly toppled over. As Kelvin caught her, she looked straight into his eyes.

"Kelvin! A Demon just passed through the barrier! It's headed towards the archaeology team!"

His face quickly turned serious and he order the team to abandon their site and rush up the bowl face to intercept the creature before it could hurt the archaeology team.