Rai stood in the dim chamber, now completely alone.
"Great," he muttered, kicking a loose pebble. "Get sucked into some tragic ghost's dying wish, mocked for being weak, and now I'm a fate-twisting anomaly. Just another Tuesday."
Rai gave a half-shrug. "Honestly? His situation is quite relatable to my own. Except my betrayal didn't come with a cool armor."
"Guess I've got a ghost's grudge to settle. I will have to add that to the list right under 'survive crazy gods', figure out the situation with the moon goddess and don't let Alex blow himself up.'"
The eerie glow from Sir Malvik's tomb had faded, but the memory of the knight's words still echoed in Rai's head.
'Because you… you carry a curse. One that distorts fate'
"Cool, cool," Rai sighed, looking at the stone coffin. "Next time maybe give me a ghost that offers cookies instead of lifelong vendettas and talks about revenge."
There wasn't much else to be done here. The ghost had vanished. The high amounts of mana still hung thick in the air, and the dust-covered banners swayed slightly in the stagnant breeze. Rai pulled his hood back up, taking one last look at the tomb.
He stepped back toward the hallway, only to notice something strange.
A faint shimmer near the unmarked pedestal.
He tilted his head. "Oh, don't tell me there's more."
Approaching carefully, he reached out. A prompt flashed before his eyes:
[Quest Updated: The Path of the Forlorn Guardian]
Objective Added: "Find evidence of Vortan's betrayal. Uncover the names of those involved in the conspiracy."
Optional Objective: "Collect the Hollow Sigil scattered across the tomb."
"Yep. Knew it," Rai muttered. "It's never just find the ghost and leave, is it?"
Still, despite the sarcasm, a spark of excitement flickered in his chest.
This wasn't part of his past life's experience. This was new. Something fresh.
'Only I have this questline. No one else will know how to trigger it.'
He smirked. "I'll milk this place for every possible item and piece of loot possible."
Turning around, he made his way back through the winding cave system of the ruined place. The flickering torches barely lit the hallways, most of which were cracked, overgrown, or caved in. He paused at several side rooms—most were empty storage spaces, but one seemed to hold an old war room.
Faded maps, rotted wooden chairs, and a shattered table.
Rai poked at the pile with the hilt of his dagger. "What I'd give for a magical vacuum cleaner. Maybe one that doesn't try to kill me."
Another hallway, another dead end. He looped back to the central tomb and chose a different route.
This one led to a corridor filled with armored statues lining both sides.
Their visors stared down at him, empty and lifeless.
"I wonder how Malvik created all of this."
"Let me guess. One of you is totally going to come alive and try to murder me, right?" He squinted. "Maybe you, Helmet #3?"
No response.
He tiptoed past anyway.
Thankfully, none of them moved. But at the end of the hallway, he spotted something glinting behind a cracked column. Carefully, he pried loose a hidden compartment and pulled out a small, circular object—dark silver with a sapphire in the middle.
[Hollow Sigil –Acquired]
"Bingo."
He pocketed the sigil. "One step closer to ghost daddy's closure."
He moved back through the area, taking note of a few markings on the walls. Old runes. Protective glyphs. Faded beyond function, but still humming faintly with ancient magic.
"Okay, this place sure has got vibes," he admitted. "Creepy, moldy, but kind of charming in a haunted-wartime-tragedy way."
By now, he had looped through three different levels and several dusty halls. Each room whispered of a life left behind—a soldier's barracks with tattered bunk sheets, a kitchen long abandoned with rusted cookware, and a chapel whose altar had been shattered and graffitied.
"I see. I think this a replica of the Emerald Hollow that Malvik created in his last days. I guess he was trying to figure out the rest of the traitors. Maybe he used some sort of dark magic to create this place? But such magic which could replicate such details, many that Malvik himself might not know. It is borderline space-time magic. I wonder if Malvik sought the help of any powerful entity."
He had wandered around the place but it was in the library that he found the next clue.
The place was barely standing. Shelves toppled. Scrolls and tomes lay in ruin. But near the back wall, amidst the broken shelves, was a journal wedged between two stone bricks.
He opened it carefully.
Most of the pages were too stained to read. But a few survived.
"…Vortan spoke again of the 'deal.' Said it would protect the platoon. Said the nobles were involved. I told him it was treason…"
"…If Malvik finds out, it's over. But if he doesn't… maybe we survive. Maybe we win…"
Rai's eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
"This isn't just some simple betrayal. This was coordinated. Vortan had support."
He flipped to the back.
Scrawled in blood-red ink were two names:
Vortan
Serel
A prompt blinked in front of him again:
[Quest Updated]
Progress gained
"Well, at least this part's easy."
Except he still had to find the other sigils.
And maybe not die.
Just as he turned, a faint gust of wind swept through the library.
Rai froze.
And then heard it.
Whispers.
Not just one voice, but many—layered over each other. Angry. Pained. Accusing.
"Traitor...
Liar...
Why didn't you save us..."
"Okay nooope, this library's officially haunted." Rai backed out, waving his dagger toward the air like it might help. "You all died. I get it. But maybe don't whisper at the guy trying to avenge you?"
The whispers died down, but his heart was pounding.
"But I don't get it. Malvik said that the other knights thought that he betrayed them. Are these the ones who died in that attack."
Even if it was just the game's way of building tension, it worked a little too well.
"Haah, as far as I know Emerald Hollow is still standing, and the noble family that owns it is still very powerful. So, I guess Vortan's scheme was not completely successful."
"Should I go to the Emerald Hollow, and do my own research? Haah, but that place is a relatively high level area, I shouldn't even think about going there before I reach the triple digits."
He made his way back to the original chamber. Malvik's tomb still sat there silently.
He placed the sigil on the pedestal next to it.
It pulsed once with faint blue light.
But nothing really happened.
"Huh then, what am I supposed to do with this? Haah, maybe I should come back when I am powerful enough."
He let out a long breath and sat down on the stone steps.
He'd been alone for a while now. Alex and Eron were probably wondering where he went. Hopefully not trying to charge in after him.
"I better finish this quickly," Rai muttered. "Then we all hit level 15, move into Velondar, and maybe—just maybe—I can figure out what the hell is going on with the moon goddess nonsense too."
He leaned back, staring at the cracked ceiling.
"Sir Malvik, buddy… I hope your justice is worth all this ghost bullshit."
His stomach grumbled.
"…Also, I swear if I don't get something out of this, I'm uninstalling."