"Then let's go on a little longer. I go first.” Apparently a habit was formed between the two of taking turns with each other without either proposing it with words.

The bridge was stable, although slippery, the constant impact of the waters created drops that soaked every last centimeter making the crossing more dangerous.

When they reach the other side, it doesn't take long for them to be stopped by what appeared to be the cave wall marking their end.

“Satisfied?” Lyaria asks lamenting in the same way as Ezer for not finding anything.

“Let's walk this wall a little more, it's a pity that we have explored the whole cave thoroughly and that we are missing this part.”

Ezer doesn't give up, perhaps out of pride, while Lyaria sits back and waits for him to satisfy his explorer wishes. She knows him and knows that he will not stop until is sure that there really was no possibility of escape in this cave, so she rests and laughs internally when she sees Ezer's serious expression.

However, against all odds, Ezer manages to find an area where the rock wall smoothes like the tunnel they passed through. With a closer look, he manages to make out small lines running down the wall and follows them until he reaches some kind of pedestal that he hadn't noticed.

"What do you think it is? Elvish?” Ezer asks Lyaria who arrives at his side in a matter of seconds upon noticing the discovery.

“Yes, it is definitely elvish. It looks a lot like the ruins I've seen in the past, although these are in better shape.” Lyaria gently strokes the flat lines and glyphs on the surface of the pedestal.

“Can you understand it?”

“No one can, some tried, but there was never anyone with real results or the ambition to continue.” Lyaria shrugs.

“It's almost the same for humans, I think there are some phrases that were managed to decipher, although they were the most repeated and unimportant. However, I have not heard that there are as many ruins as there are north of these mountains. I'm sure it would be a feast for scholars.”

“And now? If there is a pedestal there should be other things, perhaps a hidden exit.” It was at that moment when Lyaria's hand touches the center of the pedestal, where all the lines converged, and by an act of fate, coagulated blood from the wound on her finger falls causing a soft blue illumination that spreads through each line on the pedestal.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Like a chain reaction, the epicenter being the pedestal on which the blood had already dissolved, the cave comes to life with a brightness of the same strength and tonality as each line that formed it.

“This is impressive.” Ezer can't even believe his eyes.

Now that the cave was slightly illuminated by the glow of the countless blue lines, Ezer and Lyaria can see the magnitude of it. The huge convex ceiling that was supported by stone columns that were still standing, while others had broken falling to the ground generating debris that hindered their movement before and the bridge they crossed.

However, the most striking were the two huge statues that stood on the sides of the pedestal inside recesses carved into the stone. Both had an approximate height of ten meters being at a level in which the light of the torch could not illuminate previously, so Ezer had not seen them until now.

“They don't have faces.” Lyaria instantly notices the detail in the humanoid statues.

“Obviously they once had, only now they're broken. The one on the left is in especially bad shape, even missing an arm.” Holes, cracks and missing parts were plain to see.

“Ezer! The pedestal is... red!” The impression of the place diverted all their attention and they did not notice it until now.

"Did you touch something!?"

“No!”

Quickly, two red lines on the pedestal extend along the walls in opposite directions until they reach the two statues, dyeing them a reddish color. It was at that moment that two voices reverberated throughout the cave with short sentences and in a language completely unknown to both Ezer and Lyaria.

"Let's run to the rope!" Despite not understanding the words written, Ezer immediately gets a bad feeling just like Lyaria.

The statues begin to move and withdraw huge halberds from the holes in which they slept. Their exterior looked like rock, but when they move, they expose their internal metal parts, especially the one that was missing an arm.

Lyaria and Ezer quickly cross the bridge, feeling the wind blowing from the blade of the halberd behind them.

"Do you think the bridge will hold?" Ezer asks breathlessly as they both ran towards the rope.

“No, I don’t think so.” It was at that moment that they heard how the bridge cracked, due to the weight of one of the statues that was trying to cross, and it broke into pieces that were dragged by the current. The statue manages to tilt its weight backwards avoiding falling into the river.

"We're safe for now "

“Watch out!” Lyaria lunges forward, knocking Ezer to the ground just as an halberd flies overhead, launching small and large rocks as it slams into a nearby pillar.

"How do we get to the rope?" Neither of them remembered the distance of three meters that separated the rope from the ground.

"There's a stone not far away, if we jump, we might make it." They jump having climbed the wet rock which gives them enough distance to barely reach the rope hanging freely in the air.

Going up was extremely difficult due to the speed at which they were climbing, afraid of another attack like the previous one, in that place they were exposed and had no way of fighting against the titanic statues.

“That was dangerous.”

“Yes, we returned to the starting point.” Once again they are inside the tunnel, only this time with much more fatigue in their bodies.

"We should rest and start removing whatever is blocking the entrance when the sun comes up." Although they were reluctant to do so due to the possibility of meeting the beast that was chasing them. They had no other options anyway.