The seven humans stood silently, watching the ancient statue walk away. It was heading east, moving parallel to the impregnable wall of the draconian mountains.
Soon, the ground stopped trembling, and the figure of the mechanically marching colossus disappeared into the grey fog. A few moments later, Nephis sighed and turned around to face the mountains.
It was time to find a place to spend the night.
This high into the foothills of the mountains, they didn't have to look long for a suitable shelter. In fact, they could have simply camped in the open.
The dark sea couldn't get to them anymore.
As the night descended and enveloped the world in the familiar veil of absolute darkness, Sunny volunteered to be the first one to stand watch.
In the morning, the members of the cohort prepared to start the search. But before they could get to it, Nephis suddenly stopped them and peered at the towering peaks that loomed above in a veil of mist.
There was a dark expression on her face.
After a while, Changing Star suddenly kneeled and picked up a large rock. Straining her muscles, she crushed it in her fist and then looked at the shards with an inquisitive look.
Finally, she threw the shattered pieces away and sighed.
A few seconds later, Nephis spoke in a heavy tone:
"I know where we are."
Effie scoffed.
"We all know where we are, princess. The southern edge of the Forgotten Shore, about two thousand kilometers away from the Dark City. No?"
Lucien was inclined to agree. What else was there to know about their location?
Nephis shook her head and stood up.
"I mean I know where we are in the Dream Realm."
Everyone froze. Well, everyone except Lucien, who did not know much about the Dream Realm to begin with.
'That's what they call this planet, right?'
She pointed at the draconian peaks and said, her voice even:
"We are north of the Hollow Mountains. I am sure of it."
'Hollow… mountains?'
That name…was completely unfamiliar to Lucien. The other members of the cohort seemed to have heard about it. It was only he who was in the dark.
Nephis lingered for a few moments and then explained:
"Human sphere of influence in the Dream Realm is not very large, but it has been slowly expanding for the last thirty years. There are three great Citadels, the most prosperous of which, Bastion, is ruled by the noble scions of the Valor clan. And numerous lesser ones."
Then, she grimaced.
"For a time, the allies and vassals of Clan Valor used to conquer one lesser Citadel after another, expanding human territory far into the north. But then their expansion in that direction stalled. Because they encountered the Hollow Mountains."
Sunny frowned.
"Are these… Hollow Mountains very dangerous?"
Changing Star gritted her teeth.
"As dangerous as it gets. Actually, beyond that. The mountain chain stretches for thousands of kilometers, forming a whole region of its own. It is marked as a death zone. Even Saints don't come back from there alive."
"What in the spell is a death zone?" Lucien muttered under his breath.
'Wait, did she say even Saints don't survive there?'
"Well that's just peachy." He grumbled, "No wonder the first bright lord died here."
Nephis nodded, "Hopefully, he didn't get too far."
Sunny looked at her and nodded.
"In that case, let's not waste any time. The sooner we return into the Labyrinth, the better."
Armed with the understanding of just how dangerous the beautiful mountains towering above them were, the cohort set out deeper into the foothills. Because they didn't know much about the area and what type of creatures populated it, they decided to stay together.
While it would have been much easier to send Kai to take a look around from above, no one wanted to take this risk. As a result, the six humans moved in a tight group, much like they had on the narrow streets of the Dark City and in the Labyrinth.
…However, the landscape around them was vastly different. There were no growths of crimson coral covering the ground, just grass and outcroppings of grey rock.
Yet, something was off. Lucien frowned as he expanded his storm sense outwards. Why are there no nightmare creatures nearby?
It was as if the entire area was completely dead. They were surrounded by complete silence, which was broken only when a member of the cohort made a sound.
Full of unease, they continued to move forward.
The plan was very simple. Because of Cassie's vision, they knew that the First Lord and his companions had traveled to the mountains the same way that they did, or at least followed the same route. That meant that both cohorts entered the foothills at approximately the same spot.
The other thing Cassie had told them was that they were searching for a vast pit in the stone. It was hard to miss something like that, so all they had to do was to move deeper into the foothills and look around.
The ground beneath their feet gently sloped upward. As time passed, it grew more and more rocky, and the incline became rather steep. Soon, they were surrounded by tall boulders and had to walk on bare stone.
With every step, he was getting farther and farther away from the labyrinth, and by extension, the Dark City. At one point, he looked behind, almost hoping to see the bright castle in the distance. All he saw was a sea of red coral below them that stretched out to the horizon.
The sun was still high in the sky when they found the pit Cassie had described. It was situated in a valley just at the point where the foothills turned into proper mountains, and turned out to be something different from what everyone had imagined.
Cut into the flesh of the mountains, a vast quarry lay below them. Despite its incredible scale, it was clearly made by humans. A road clinging to the slope of the circular pit led to the bottom of it, wide enough for ten carriages to ride side by side.
At the far end of the quarry, the grey slope of the mountain was cut and hollowed, creating something that resembled either colossal steps or seats of an amphitheater built for giants. Here and there, massive blocks of stone stood, as though ready to be transported back to the ancient city.
But what truly caught Lucien's attention was the corpse in the center of the quarry. The abomination was enormous, easily twice the size of a house. It looked like a strange insect, somewhat resembling a weird mix of a rhinoceros beetle and a praying mantis, with a smooth carapace, massive horn, and deadly blades attached to the joints of its limbs. The whole creature seemed to be made out of stone and was the same color as the floor of the quarry.
Ready for the worst, the cohort summoned their weapons and slowly moved down the wide road that led to the bottom of the quarry. From reaching the foothills of the Hollow Mountains till now, they had not met a single Nightmare Creature... but that was not a reason to lower their guard.
While the rest of the cohort kept glancing at the corpse in apprehension, as if expecting it to come alive and attack them, Lucien stared at it with barely disguised excitement. Those arm blades specifically. If he could harvest them, he could create a makeshift glaive, or even a scythe. And the stone flesh, that had not rotted, could be used to reinforce his home.
Suddenly, Effie spoke, breaking Lucien out of his train of thought.
"See those deep fractures on the floor of the quarry? I think that this thing had burrowed from below. So watch your step."
'What am I doing?' Lucien berated himself. He was so excited about the corpse that he had forgotten the first rule of hunting: Never let your mind go astray.
After a tense and exhausting half an hour of descending into the deep pit, the cohort finally got close to the remains of the giant stone insect. Cautiously stopping a few dozen meters away from it, they hesitated, not sure how to proceed.
Except Lucien, who kept walking and knelt down beside it. The flesh of the creature was, indeed, made of stone. Whatever killed it did not seem to care about that fact.. The carapace of the giant granite abomination was shattered in many places and melted in others.
Apart from a few enormous wounds, there were numerous smaller ones, many of them looking as though they could have come from a sword, an axe, or a spear. Or all three of them.
Moving over to its arms, Lucien carefully lifted up the blade. Even after death, it was wicked sharp, and even a single touch would cut through his flesh.
On the other side, Sunny climbed atop the stone carcass and then inside it. Lucien paid that no mind; however, he was more concerned about how he was going to separate the blade and carry it all the way to the Dark City.
"Hey Effie," He called out, receiving a grunt as a response, "Can your bag fit these blades?"
Effie frowned and stared at them before shaking her head, "No, they're too big. They would also cut my bag open."
'Goddammit!'
Even after years of hunting, he still had not gotten a storage-type memory. The spell never seemed to give him one. And they were too valuable for Stev to be selling any.
He could not realistically carry it himself, not through the coral labyrinth where he'd have to fight for his life every day. It seemed that he would have to give up on the prospect of a stone scythe.
A few moments later, Sunny climbed out of the dead demon and shook off stone dust from his armor and hair. Then, he glanced at his companions and frowned.
"What?"
Kai stared at him with a complicated expression and then asked:
"Sunny? Ah, do you want to tell us something?"
Sunny gave him a nod and grinned.
"I do, actually. This thing was indeed killed by a human."
The charming archer raised an eyebrow and asked in a dubious tone:
"Really? How do you know?"
Sunny jumped down and shrugged.
"The Soul Shards are missing."
Reluctantly, Lucien stood up and walked away from the corpse.
"So we can confirm that the first lord's cohort passed through here."
Sunny nodded, his discovery was solid enough proof of that. But it wasn't the only proof.
Nephis, who had wandered away from the remains of the demon at some point, suddenly called them over.
The members of the cohort glanced at each other, then slowly approached her, trying to understand what it was that she had found.
Changing Star was standing near one of the piles of rocks that were littering the ground around the body of the dead creature, looking at it with a solemn expression. Most of them came from its shattered carapace, while some were created because the floor of the quarry was broken apart and churned during the ferocious battle.
Lucien raised an eyebrow and stared at the pile. It was lower, roughly oval in shape, its contour too perfect to be the result of a pure coincidence.
It seemed as though each rock was painstakingly placed here by a human hand, perhaps in hopes to make the pile as orderly and sturdy as possible.
A shiver went down Lucien's spine as he realized what it was he was looking at.
A grave. It was a grave.
Standing around the cairn, the members of the cohort looked at it with somber expressions — except for Cassie, who turned away and faced the mountainside, as though trying to hide her emotions.
Now that they knew what they were looking at, their mood suddenly became forlorn and solemn. People on the Forgotten Shore were well acquainted with death and tragedy, but finding this lonely grave so far away from any place where another human could find it, lost under the alien grey sky of the Dream Realm, was still a poignant revelation.
Lucien stared wordlessly at the grave. There were words carved into one of the stones placed on top of the cairn. He was not very familiar with the script used, so it took him a while to read it.
Cut into the stone by unknown means, a single sentence was left behind on the otherwise unmarked grave.
"Her nightmare is over."
Lucien closed his eyes and looked away. Fragmented images flashed past his eyes. Silhouettes of faceless men and women lingered for a moment before they were gone.
'Get a grip, you fool!' He yelled in his mind, why was he getting so emotional over this? It's not like he knew these people, right?
The first lord's cohort was dead; that was a fact he had known for the better part of his life. This…was expected. Then why? Why did his heart still ache for these people?
He took a deep breath and turned away. Was it because they were human? Is this what the other hunters meant when they talked about companionship between humans?
The other members of the cohort were slowly coming back from their sudden reverie. Kai sighed and looked at Changing Star, his face full of sadness.
"I guess… I guess this is what we've been looking for. The First Lord and his expedition definitely passed this way. But what now?"
Nephis threw a last glance at the grave and turned to face the charming archer.
"There should be an entrance to an old mine somewhere nearby. From what Cassie had seen, this is where they went."
Then, she frowned and walked up to Cassie. She carefully placed her hand on the blind girl's shoulder. Instantly, Cassie flinched and turned around, her face pale.
"...Cassie? Did you see something?"
There was an expression of terror written on the blind girl's face. For a few moments, she just breathed heavily, as though trying to control herself. Finally, she spoke, her voice quiet but steady:
"The mist... we must get underground before the mist comes. If not, all of us will die!"
Nephis didn't waste any time questioning Cassie further. Turning around, she shouted:
"Sunny, Lucien, Night! Find the entrance to the mine, quick!"
Lucien didn't bother waiting for her to finish her sentence. Bathed in purple light, he zoomed towards the giant amphitheatre on the opposite side of the quarry. He found the entrance to the mine almost instantly.
A tall archway was cut right into the side of the mountain, with false columns carved into the rock around it. The mouth of the tunnel was dark and ominous.
Before Sunny's shadow and Kai could even get there, Lucien returned to the cohort and said:
"Follow me!"
Deactivating his aspect, he ran toward the mine. The others ran behind him, exerting as much speed as they could manage — except for Caster, of course.
Halfway to the wall of the quarry, Kai landed near them and gestured to a barely visible opening between the stone steps.
"There! Hurry!"
They entered the hidden path and ran as fast as they could, soon approaching the wide tunnel.
A few moments later, the mist swirled around the entrance of the tunnel and devoured the rest of the world.