Thorin strengthened the grip over his sword as he felt the scorching air, the temperature in this area was so high that even breathing was becoming unbearable. After a few seconds of mustering courage and preparing his throat, he finally spoke. " Plant the monoliths!"

The group of soldiers behind Thorin looked around confused, yet, a trace of relief was evident on their faces. They barely had entered the area, and continuing forward was already impossible.

After a second of hesitation, the soldiers began to lower the four stone slabs that they carried.

-" THorin! What is the meaning of this? We need to reach the center!" A man dressed in clerical robes suddenly shouted. " If we don't hurry the anomaly may perish."

Thorin gave the man a fleeting glance and turned his gaze to the path forward. " Maybe it's for the best if this thing dies."

The cleric was struck without words as he heard the man. " Letting the anomaly die? This order came from the overseer council, and they clearly said we must acquire this anomaly."

-" Our soldiers can barely continue, and soon enough we too will find ourselves unable to go on." Thorin cleansed the sweat on his brow as he finished speaking. " This isn't a normal anomaly."

The cleric was about to scold the veteran soldier once again, however, the man beside him laughed wrily.

-" Which one of us anomalies is normal?" The man adjusted his bird-like golden mask and continued. " If you fear for the lives of your men so much, so be it. We will continue without them."

Thorin watched with interest as the entire environment began to change the moment that the masked man raised his hand. The previous arid air began to cool down at a rate visible to the eye.

-" Let's continue, the monoliths will be managed by SBS-19 and SBS-13." The masked man's hand now shone bright yellow, and he softly grasped it with his other hand, as if in pain.

Two more men with a similar mask, however in silver color, moved as soon the man gave the order and picked up the monoliths. Originally it required a group of four soldiers to move the monoliths, yet, with little effort, the silver masked men raised two monoliths each.

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Soon enough, the group left the common soldiers behind and continued their path into the destroyed village. Thorin was shocked to find that the whole village was in ruins.

-" I doubt that anyone survived this." Thorin's face was serious as he began to understand the severity of this disaster. " Julius, can you locate the anomaly?"

-" I can't be sure, the energy levels here are all messed up, but, the compass is pointing to the north." Julias used the collar of his robe to shield his face from the hot air, worry was also evident on his face.

Every single building in the village was destroyed, only ash was left from the one made of wood and straw, some of the buildings constructed with stone could still be seen standing, yet, they came crumbling down with minimal force.

Before long, they found a Cathedral, and even the huge stone blocks that made up the cathedral were left in a bad shape, some of them even melting. Thorin anxiously stopped at the entrance of the Cathedral, but, an angst cry of an infant caused him to move once again.

-" This is it! That thing must be here." Julius felt happy that they finally found the anomaly, after all, not even he wanted to stay here any moment longer.

The man with the golden mask helped THorin in cleaning the entrance of the Cathedral, and after entering they saw a small child lying on the floor. Ash filled the area around the child making it a dreadful scene.

THorin gulped as he imagined what had happened here, it was clear that the infant had just been given birth and the ash around it was likely from his mother, the midwife, and the other Cathedral workers.

-" How such a small thing can cause so much destruction?" Thorin was still incredulous, he never expected that a newborn child was responsible for all of this.

Thorin held tightly to the hilt of his sword as he approached the baby, but, he was stopped by the golden masked man.

" You shouldn't think about this."  The masked man held his glowing hand with even more force as it was clear that his discomfort was evergrowing.  " This much power even causes me to grow fearful of this thing, but, we need him."

The two of them watched the newborn baby, a mixture of fear and adoration could be seen in their gaze, and after the monoliths were placed on the corners of the Cathedral, they finally moved closer.

After some hesitation, Thorin placed his hand around the head of the baby and raised it, which caused the newborn to begin to cry as he grew anxious.  Thorin awkwardly tried to calm down the baby, but, he didn't know what to do, after all, he had no experience with children.

-" Shh, calm down." Thorin immediately began to copy the gesture many mothers did with their newborns, and began to softly rock the baby.

The newborn baby slowly began to calm down and eventually hugged Thorin's arms. Thorin was relieved as he noticed that the baby had stopped crying and was almost falling asleep.

-" Didn't ever imagine that you would be so good with children." Julius laughed loudly as he saw the scene. "Let's finish things here, we need to pass this thing to the overseer council."

Thorin wanted to retort, but, he feared that the baby would wake up, so he just nodded back and placed a small blue necklace around the baby, and began to chant some mysterious words.

Julius, SBS-13, SBS-19, and the golden masked man took positions next to the monoliths and followed Thorin's chant, The eerie chant reverbed around the Cathedral and after a few seconds, a yellow light began to flow out of the newborn baby into the monoliths.

The yellow light kept pouring out of the baby, causing him to grow pale. His face only regained a healthy countenance after the ritual had stopped.

Thorin gently wiped the newborn face and covered him with his cape as he turned to the Cathedral exit.