Chapter 1: Ancient Ruins
Chapter 1: Ancient Ruins
DEEP within the shadows a flash of red hair and intelligent eyes gazed upon the unsuspecting Hero and his party. “Into the fray my easily baited prey steps. While goddesses, world leaders, and dark forces play their games, I finally get to have my share of the fun. Let’s enjoy this liiitle dance, Heroboy.” A light chuckle echoed through the cave as the presence all but vanished to be filled by nothing but the pitter-patter of droplets falling from the stalactites.
***
“…THIS place is kinda creepy if you ask me.” Mina shuddered as she swept her gaze over the cave walls and rounded ceiling.
Aki nodded in wholehearted agreement as she strained her eyes on the too-dark-to-see path ahead and at her feet where water droplets pitter-pattered in a lyrical rhythm.
With all the moisture built up, the dark limestone cave was slick enough that Aki feared she might slip and fall on the gravel if she didn’t pay close attention to her every step.
Light reflected off the wet stone from the lantern Elias held as he walked in front of the party, sending shadows dancing across the walls. The hanging lantern’s glow flickered like a ghost beckoning them into the chilly dark beyond.
Mina’s comment echoed off the cold walls. Elias stopped their forward trek and turned toward the women. “…This cave definitely has an unusually strong level of water element. It’s rare for any one element to be this dominant in a confined space.”
“…What’s a water element?” Aki tilted her head at the new term.
Louis, who was heading up the rear, broke it down for her. “Think of it like this: elements are the key component that all matter is composed of. It’s believed that everything in this world is made from elemental components.”
“Those are new concepts to me…” Aki pressed her fingers against her temples. Her knowledge of science collided with the fantasy talk, making it hard to imagine what he was talking about.
Mina glanced over her shoulder and smiled at her. “Aki, when the Creation Goddess created all things in this world, she used the elements as its energy and life source. Basically, this world runs by circulating the energy contained within the elements. And each element has its own unique attributes.”
“The key element types are fire, water, wind, earth, light, and dark,” Louis supplied.
Aki tapped her finger against her chin. “The world exists by circulating the energy contained within the elements…”
Her thoughts went straight to the explanation Johann gave her back in the castle: “Filling this world with Creation Energy is what allows it to exist.”
In other words, Creation Energy was just another word for the energy housed within the elements. And it was because this elemental energy was being depleted in the process of running the world that it needed to be reinjected on a regular basis.
And the ones responsible for maintaining the cycle of injecting the world with a new dose of energy are the Hero and Dark Lord who were created by the Goddess for that very purpose. Aki’s gaze naturally slid over to Elias. Does that mean that Elias was created by the elements? The very energy of this world?
Elias met her gaze and shook his head several times in warning not to let her thoughts travel any farther down that rabbit hole. He was reminding her not to bring it up in front of Mina and Louis who had no idea the Hero and Dark Lord were artificial life forms born of Creation Energy.
Louis, unaware of Aki and Elias’s hidden exchange, twisted his platinum bangs in his fingertips and remarked, “…This humidity is on a scale of its own. You can practically feel the moisture forming on your skin. Using water magic will be cinch, but it’ll be hard to work any kind of fire magic.”
“Oh yeah,” Elias clapped his hands once, “Minstrels use the same Lunar Magic as Mages, right?”
“Right. We have a different skill tree from Mages though. While Mages do a lot of heavy damage over time, Minstrels use a lot of support magic that inflict status effects.”
“Hey, Louis, is it the conflicting relationship between water and fire that makes it hard to use one where the other is more prolific?” Aki asked out of curiosity.
Louis fell into step next to her and nodded as if she had asked a question with an obvious answer. “Correct. Lunar Magic spells are activated by borrowing the elemental energy around you, but you have to be aware of conflicting elements such as water and fire. Conflicting elements greatly weaken in areas where their opposite dominates the field.” He directed his gaze toward the dark depths of the cave.
“In the case of this cave, the water element is abnormally strong, so water magic is much easier to cast and far more powerful than normal. On the opposite hand, it might be easier to rub sticks together to create a fire than try to use fire magic here.”
“Huh. Then you can make the most of your spells by taking advantage of the dominant element type,” she summarized.
“You’ve got it,” Louis smiled.
I bet Leo knows a lot about this stuff and would love to talk about it if he had the chance. I get the feeling someone with his insane level is capable of scraping together barely existent elements to force a spell into working where it normally wouldn’t. Aki giggled to herself as she imagined Leo munching on sweets as he complained about how tired he was after doing the impossible with magic.
***
THEY idly chatted away the time as they advanced deeper into the cave. The narrow tunnel path eventually gave way to a massive opening with a raised ceiling.
Wow! Amazing!
Aki hadn’t expected such a wide space to exist in the back of the cave. Some of the ceiling rock had crumbled over time, letting a single ray of sunlight stream in from outside. The dull light seemed mystical as it faintly illuminated the dark cavern.
Huge stone ruins loomed quietly along the rock wall in front of them. A number of finely sculpted columns with plant carvings supported the building that looked more like an ancient temple rather than a ruin.
Mina ran over to the staircase leading up to the temple ruins and looked up with a hand cupped over her eyes. “Oh my, this is a stunning temple! Looks like we’re finally at our destination!”
Round marble columns surrounded the outer sanctum on a stylobate carved from the cave’s bare rock surface. Pieces were missing from the half-broken columns, and the fragments littered the stylobate.
Seems like this temple was built a long time ago… Aki took in the ruins beside Mina.
Louis walked up to them from behind. “Looks like it was built using ancient Theophyllic architecture.”
Where have I heard Theophyllic before? Isn’t the Kingdom’s Crown Prince called Arnold Claudius Theophilus? Then maybe Theophyllic is an architecture style taken from the royal family’s name.
Louis tapped the back of his hand against a column. “Aki, Theophyllic architecture is a building style that has been passed down since ancient times. It mixes refined and dégagé elements. See the elaborate embossed carvings at the top of the columns here? It’s gorgeous to look at, but is rarely used now because of the amount of time and effort it takes.”
“Cool! You’re so insightful, Louis!” Aki exhaled in awe of his smooth architectural style breakdown.
Louis was versed in many disciplines, perhaps because he hailed from nobility. With his expert knowledge, Aki knew he’d get along great with Leo and Johann who were both experts in their own respective fields.
He playfully combed his hand through his bangs at her honest compliment. “Thanks. I’m always happy to boast that I’m more informed when it comes to the arts than most people.”
Meanwhile, Mina was staring hard at the ruin wall behind him. “Hey, there are a bunch of letters carved tightly together on the outer walls. What are they for?”
“Oh, let me see.” Aki moved beside her, brought her face close to the wall, and strained to see the letters engraved in the stone surface.
Intricate little letters were carved into the entire wall. To the untrained eye, it’d look like a normal pattern for artistic purposes.
Louis ran the soft side of his thumb along the letters. “Hmm. I’d say it’s telling some sort of story. A myth, perhaps? Doesn’t seem like a story I’ve read before… Plus, since it’s written in the ancient script, I won’t understand the whole picture without properly translating it.”
“You can read the ancient script, Louis?” Mina looked at him wide-eyed.
The corner of his lips slightly curled. “Only the easy stuff. I definitely can’t speed read through it.”
“That’s still amazing. Wasn’t the ancient script used back during the Creation Era? I’d heard only scholars were capable of reading it.”
“Thanks for comparing me to a scholar. I’m honestly happy to be complimented by you.”
“There you go deflecting my comments again!”
Aki laughed behind her hand. Louis and Mina got along so well she had a hard time believing they had only recently met. Their charming and friendly personalities gave them the advantage of creating instant friends with almost anyone.
“Mina, can I borrow you? The front entrance won’t open. Can you unlock it with a Thief skill?” Elias beckoned her with a troubled smile from where he was investigating the entrance to the ruins.
Aki jogged over to Elias with Mina. The double-leaf stone doors were firmly locked in place and didn’t budge no matter how much Elias pushed or pulled on them.
Mina perched her left hand on her hip. “Hmph. An obstacle right off the bat, huh? No point in us coming this far if we can’t even worm our way inside the ruins. Give me some time to try a few things.”
She approached the door, examined the upper and lower parts, the left and right edges, the base, the stylobate, and tried to unlock it by casting a small amount of magic here and there. The door didn’t react noticeably to her attempts.
Mina, who had pulled out all sorts of Thief gadgets from her pouch and nimbly tested various lock-picking skills, threw her hands in the air and strolled back over to Aki shrugging her shoulders. “It’s no use. There’s nothing for me to pick at or unlock. It’s like a door without a knob or hinges.”
“Did they make it so no one could enter from the front?”
If the temple ruins were purposefully built to elude entry through the front entrance, would it actually be possible to open it?
Aki casually reached for the door, and the second her fingertips brushed the smooth stone, black light shone from the carved letters and spread along the walls and door like ripples on a pond.
A sinister jet-black glow began dyeing every corner of the ruins.
Wh-What just happened?!
“What’s going on?!”
Louis gasped and Mina froze before the ruins emitting light as if it were a sleeping creature that had come back to life. The cave, which was slightly brightened by the sunlight seeping inside from the ceiling, turned darker than night from the eerie light given off by the ruins.
“Are you all ok—” Just as Elias reached for Aki, she buckled over from intense pain that felt like a knife piercing through her skull.
“O-Ow!” She clasped her hands to her forehead; it felt hot enough to burn her skin. The agonizing pain had her clawing away at her forehead until her fingers touched something that felt like the uneven lines of a carving.
Some sort of pattern is engraved in my forehead?!
“Aki?! Are you okay?! What’s going on—” Elias rushed over, dropped to his knees beside her, and helped her sit up so she wasn’t face down on the stone ground.
She looked back into his worried green eyes and frantically tried to gesture to her forehead through the mind-numbing pain. “Elias…my forehead…it burns…” she moaned.
“Your forehead?!” He gently pulled her hands away and looked at her forehead. He sharply inhaled at what he saw there. A mysterious crest that looked like a crescent moon embracing the full moon had emerged on her skin. “What in the world is—”
Elias’s flabbergasted utterance sounded as if it came from the opposite end of the cave for how faintly she heard it through the unbearable agony she felt. The pain from her forehead was too much to bear, and her consciousness began going in and out. Barely holding on, she desperately clung to Elias’s cloak.
“Aki! Aki! Stay with me!”
It narrowly registered with her that Elias was shaking her. But her consciousness swayed as if it was trying to escape the unrelenting torture, and then she lost the sound of his voice and the sensation of him shaking her.
Elias, Mina, Louis…I’m sorry…
Her words of apology left unsaid, Aki finally caved in to the pain and lost consciousness.
***
ELIAS all but ignored the encroaching darkness seeping from the ruins behind him, his attention focused on shaking Aki awake. “Aki! Aki! Come back to me!”
No matter how many times he called out to her, she lay limply in his arms with her eyes firmly pressed shut. The mysterious crest still loomed on top of her forehead emitting a black light the same color as the ruins as if it were resonating with whatever had triggered.
What in the blue blazes is this crest?!
None of the records ever mentioned or depicted such a thing. Was it some sort of magic? A curse? Whatever it was, suppressing the crest seemed like the only way to bring her back to him.
Mina and Louis were both running around checking the ruin walls and entrance for clues. Mina examined the entrance, while Louis launched viable Lunar Magic spells in hopes of one counteracting what did this to Aki.
Nothing they did had any effect on Aki’s crest or the ominously black light radiating from the ruins. Sweat streamed from her forehead and her lips grew paler by the second.
What should I do? What can I do?! Elias held Aki against his chest. I have to protect her! Just like how she saved me from the brink of despair, I have to save her.
Elias stood up with Aki leaning lifelessly against him. If the ruins activated because they responded to Aki somehow, he must cut off that connection in order to save her. Since he couldn’t think of a way to stop the connection; he used blunt force to break down the whole door that now pulsed to some eerie and obscure beat.
He drew the Holy Sword with one hand. Brandishing it in front of him, he closed his eyes. “Please, give me the power to help her…!”
Grant me the strength to protect those dear to me as Hero!
With that silent prayer, Elias swung the sword down in a giant arc. The blade slammed against the door. White light rushed through the entire ruins when the blade cut into the stone, overwriting the dyed-black letters.
Elias instantly felt the same burning heat in his forehead and rammed the Holy Sword into the ground in order to keep himself propped up on one knee.
“Agh…!”
“Elias! Aki!”
Mina dashed over to them the fastest and crouched down to support Elias from falling over on top of Aki who he stood protectively over. Hearing Mina’s scream, Louis raced over from the other side of the outer wall and brushed the bangs off of Elias’s forehead as he painfully moaned.
“…Is this…the sun?”
In direct contrast with Aki, the crest of a burning sun had emerged on Elias’s forehead.
“What in the world are these crests?!” Louis scoured his memories, but he had never come across anything like this in his research.
One crest looked like a moon and the other the sun. Did it have to do with the powers hidden within the Hero and his Right-hand?
As Louis contemplated the crests, the golden light that overwrote the black of the ruins eventually faded away as the two colors merged. At the same time, the closed door opened with an earth-shattering roar.
“No freakin’ way! It opened…! I don’t believe it!” Mina’s eyes were rounder than saucers as her jaw dropped.
Louis gently put his hand on Elias’s shoulder as the Hero frantically tried to stay up on one knee with Aki clutched to his chest. “…Elias? Are you okay? Are you conscious?”
He lightly shook his shoulder, and Elias, who had frozen in place with Aki, subtly shook his head. He turned his head toward Louis, focused his blurry vision on him, and smiled weakly. “Y-Yeah, somehow… The pain in my forehead has abated too.”
Louis closely observed his forehead. The crest that once ominously glowed there had vanished. Aki’s black crest left without a trace as well.
Elias gave her a small shake in his arms. “Aki? Are you all right? Can you hear me?”
“Ugh…”
The second time he shook her, she partially awoke and looked at him with unfocused eyes. As soon as she recognized him, tears spilled down her cheeks. “I-I’m all right…! Elias, I’m so sorry. Louis, Mina, I’m sorry.” She started to move away, but Elias wrapped both arms around her to make sure she was truly all right.
“Thank the Goddess that you are well… I was at such a loss when you were suffering.”
Louis put his hand to his chin as he watched over the pair rejoicing in each other’s safety. …A mysterious Shadow Tribesman lured Elias and Aki to these ruins through Mina, where a sun and moon crest appeared on both of their foreheads in reaction to touching the ruins, which correspondingly opened the door...
Each thread seemed unconnected at first, but might very well be connected by some unseen force. But solving that particular riddle required more information than they currently had.
The mysteries are only growing more convoluted. But it’s a fact that in all the history pertaining to the Hero and Dark Lord, there were never any cases of the Dark Lord trying to make contact with the Hero or any records on a moon and sun crest.
Based on that alone, the tale of Hero Elias will be a heroic one passed down to future generations as groundbreaking history. I have my job cut out for me as the Minstrel chosen by Elias’s party. I have to take responsibility for weaving the story he brings to life. Louis placed his hand over his heart in silent oath.
Elias rose to his feet and peered down at Aki’s face as she stood snuggled against him. “Aki, did it cause any lasting damage or side effects? We can turn back right now if you are in pain or fatigued.”
“Nope, I’m good. I feel perfectly fine right now, so much so that the pain from moments ago almost seems like a dream.”
“…Really? I don’t mind advancing inside the ruins if you are okay, but don’t push yourself. Be sure to tell me the moment it becomes too much for you.”
She laughed with amusement at the finger he held up in the air. “Got it! You know, Elias, I think you have a hidden Older Brother Attribute that pops up at times like this.”
“What kind of attribute is that?” Elias tilted his head to the side in puzzlement. Mina burst out laughing at what he clearly didn’t understand.
They must be okay if they’re well enough to joke around. Louis smiled as he watched over them. Still, he had to stay on guard for them since there was no telling when those inexplicable crests would reappear and bring them misery.
Chances were high that entering the temple ruins would bring out the crests again if they were as connected as they seemed to be.
Elias flicked his white cloak behind him and gazed up at the open stone door. “All right, party, it’s finally time to search the ancient ruins. Monsters will likely appear inside, so stay on full alert.”