Everyone followed Gongarza into the base of the giant tree.

Giant parts were burned away but it somehow seemed to grant them passage to the roots.

While finding their way down on different parts of the tree, the group followed each other in a line.

Gongarza was in front, with Eto behind him.

Behind Eto was Veronica, who kept an eye on Eto who had just recovered but was already jumping around, smiling and looking around.

Hawk looked around, breaking the silence to question something.

‘This place seems awfully burned. Was it always this accessible?’

Gongarza turned his head while he kept walking and shook it.

‘No. Our former master buried the ruins with his roots. It seems he had secrets he wanted to keep from the rest.’

‘Why keep secrets from your people? Sounds to me like he had something to hide,’ Vanessa answered.

‘Could be. Some secrets could hurt people. Best to keep them a secret. I believe our former master would have had his reasons.’

The silence returned as they made their way deeper and deeper.

Soon, TYO turned on a light and some torches were being lit.

Their way was long and seemed to last a long time before they finally reached what seemed to be a level.

Stone pillars and platforms were woven in between the roots and made it look like ruins which were grabbed and tangled in the roots of the trees.

Gongarza kept walking and led the party inside.

At the end of a long hall, a room surrounded by stone and roots came into sight.

Inside were princess Morinojo and her brother, Otzareta.

‘Eto!’ the princess yelled and when she ran towards Eto, she almost jumped in to hug him.

‘Hello princess,’ Eto said and he didn’t seem to know how to respond to the hug. Veronica walked by with misplaced shame.

‘Prince Otzareta, I bring you the group as requested,’ Gongarza said as he kneeled in front of the prince.

‘Thank you, Gongarza. And that is not necessary,’ the prince said as he waved his hands to let Gongarza know he could stand up.

The rest walked to the middle of the room and looked around.

‘Would you look at that! These stones hold old text and drawings,’ Hawk said, who jumped forward to study some of the stones up close.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Now everyone could see it.

On the different stones stuck between the vines, drawings and numbers could be seen.

‘Ancient?’ Djon asked and the prince nodded.

‘From our people, a long time ago. I knew my father had these ruins passed on but he decided to bury them with him. When he took his role as the leading tree.’

Vanessa thought about the giant tree and the words of the princess about her father.

‘I’m sorry. If it really was your father, it’s a shame he was burned away.’

Otzareta nodded but he smiled.

‘That’s okay. Maybe it’s a sign that the next one in line should be ready.’

Without anyone noticing, he looked at his sister for a moment.

‘What do you think these mean?’ Vanessa asked who also walked around to look at the stones.

‘For as far as I can tell, they tell the story of the ancient beasts,’ Otzareta said.

‘Ancient beasts?’ Eto asked with wonder.

Otzareta walked to one of the drawings.

They looked like simple drawn creatures in the stone, all in a huge circle.

Each creature had a line drawn to a circle in the middle of them.

‘It seems the ancient beasts have something to do with the center of the universe.’

Eto walked next to him and looked at the drawings.

‘The last world?’ Veronica said with a soft voice.

‘Where I need to go,’ Eto mumbled.

Otzareta looked at Eto and sighed.

‘You have a long and dangerous journey ahead of you. I don’t know why you need to go there,’

Eto also gave a sigh.

‘Wish I knew. My grandpa told me the fate of the galaxy rests on my shoulders. And it means going there.’

Otzareta nodded and gave a smile, understanding the determination Eto had for his unknown mission.

‘Wait a second,’ Djon said and he walked to the drawing where Eto and Otzareta were looking.

He walked past them, rubbing dirt and leaves from around the drawings.

Symbols and numbers came to light at which Djon looked.

‘These are coordinates,’ he said, reading all the symbols and numbers.

‘To where?’ Eto asked but Djon held up his shoulders.

‘Don’t know. It is still in our sector but I don’t know any planets or what happens to be there.’

‘Maybe an ancient beast?’ Veronica asked but Otzareta shook his head.

‘It can’t be possible. The ancient beasts haven't been seen for a long time.’

‘Well, whatever that is, it has to have something to do with them. Otherwise the coordinates wouldn’t be there.’

Everyone looked at the symbols and drawings and a silence occurred for a few minutes.

‘You know how to get there?’ Eto asked and without looking, Djon nodded.

‘Than that’s where we will be going.’

They heard footsteps behind them and when they looked, they saw princess Morinojo running away, back up again.

‘I guess she really would have liked for you to stay,’ Veronica said to Eto who still looked in the direction in which the princess had run away.

‘I don’t understand. She knew we had to keep going. Maybe she wants to come with us.’

Both Veronica and Gongarza looked at each other in a little shock. Both knew that the princess needed to stay here.

Veronica slowly walked to Eto to tell him why but Hawk interrupted her.

‘Eto, why don’t you go up and talk to her? Then we will make sure we are ready to leave.’

‘Alright,’ Eto nodded and he also started to make his way back to the surface.

They waited till he was gone before they spoke again.

‘Best for her to see and tell him everything she wants. He will understand. He has to. It’s gonna be a long road.’

‘Yeah,’ Veronica nodded and understood why Hawk stopped her.

‘Well then. Let’s get ready,’ Djon said as he walked past them with Vanessa following him. ‘We have a long way to go, according to these coordinates.’

‘Can’t wait,’ TYO said sarcastically as he drove to follow the rest.