I waited until I was sure the cave was free of sounds and potential visitors, then began to walk up to the opening. The entrance to the cave was a gaping maw, with small cracks running across its surface that made it seem as if a stronger wind might make it fall at any point.
This was the place I had seen in Thorna's memory.
I walked up to the cave, carrying the barrel over my shoulder, and immediately caught a terrible, nauseating smell. I breathed out deeply, free from the extra weight.
'Finally!' I said and pulled out the sack full of herbs as well.
After all that heaviness was gone I felt like I could just levitate — as if I was flying in the sky. Once I realized the sun was setting, I got to work.
As I reached for the entrance, picked up the mask I'd taken from Thorna the day I killed him, loosened and pulled back my barrel-tied rope with one hand and placed the mask on my face before readying my dagger in my other.
I told myself — 'This has to work' — and I disappeared.
I glanced over and saw no shadow on the dirt floor. I was invisible — completely. Holding the rope tightly, I clung to hope. I glanced back toward the cave. I breathed in deeply then exhaled the statement to myself,
"Let's begin."
And I stepped inside.
A long hall led out from the entrance of the cave and then down to where the Thornas lay together. Their victims, their loot — it was right there. Or, that was how it looked in the memory I observed.
As I started to go down the corridor, it was getting darker. However, with the help of my Sephir "Forest Terror", I was able to see in the dark like it was day and move along the cave without any issues.
Anyhow, there was one little issue … my anxiety.
My heart seemed to be going crazy, the further I went, the more it went out of control. My heart beat so loudly in my ears, it was disrupting my concentration.
'I need to calm down.' I breathed out slowly, telling myself
'Or else I will not be able to hide.'
I got a terrible, nauseating smell in my nostrils as I breathed.
'What the hell… did something die in here?' I thought, continuing forward.
The stink got more potent as I approached their bedding area. But I didn't stop.
'This stench will take a full day in the river to wash off,' I said to myself as I walked into the main chamber where the creatures were sleeping.
As I entered that part of the cave, I was relieved to see the Thornas sleeping chamber. It was large with high ceilings. It was only then that I realised something so important I had entirely bypassed it in Thorna's memory. One detail, which annihilated my entire plan.
The plan was to bind the sleeping Thornas together, barricade the breakable cave entrance, and ignite the clutch of branches and leaves I had brought. I would leave the rest to what poison was in the smoke, choking out those monsters in their sleep. I wouldn't have to dirty my hands at all. The CO2 would kill them for me.
But then… now that I had seen how big the chamber was, that plan wasn't going to work anymore.
Of course that was what Thorna's memory had displayed only the similar creatures to Thorna himself lying there, and the remains of their victims they took back. Right in the middle was where I had last seen five Thornas.
'The plan — it will not go as intended. What do I do now…' My mind hesitated.
Then I noticed something.
Only the four Thornas were sitting in the middle.
I started sweating cold. A moment later I bit my lip.
'Where's the fifth one? Right… did it already leave?' And panic, when I looked around the cave. That is when I noticed there — a glint of metal within the hoard of gold and valuables that lay forgotten in a corner.
Please just be a dead body on top of some rifles, I thought and edged closer.
Why did I hope he was dead?
For if he still lived… I needed to protect him. That was going to be a lot of monsters with us in this room. It was an utter weight unto itself that I could not bear just then.
I tiptoed to the corner and kneeled down quietly next to the soldier lying there. I caught up to him and could hear him breathing under his helmet.
I made a motion to raise my helmet.
But abruptly I heard the sound of footsteps, footsteps that were coming my way into the cave.
Someone was approaching. I ducked even further over to the side so that I'd be hidden in case its opening and I'm just around the corner of it.
It didn't take long. The person entered the chamber.
He was tall, a hood covering his face, and he wore a dark navy cloak. But what really struck me was the fact that he had no weapons at all. No protection. Nothing. Yet he walked through the cave without fear, as though it were his home.
He looked up and spotted the Thorna, and called out in that direction:
"One of them is missing. That tells us that the one who lugged it out must have gone after it."
Those words reminded me of the sack of herbs and the oil barrel I had set outside without any protection. I never even attempted to cover the scars.
Once again, the man turned his head and looked around, then saw that a soldier had lost consciousness beside me. When he looked at him, he just sauntered over.
'What are you going to do with the soldier?' I thought, watching closely.
The man knelt next to the soldier, laid a hand on top of his cuirass and spoke in a weirdly gentle tone:
"I have to say, I am impressed! I never thought you'd survive. You battled the Lord of Darkness, made a laughing stock of a multitude of monsters… And here you are, without one single scratch. What a sight."
He sounded strange. There was something unsettling in his tone. A peculiar pleasure that made me shiver.
'Seriously, what is wrong with people like you??? In all possible multiverses, are there versions of you?'
He continued:
"You had unbreakable confidence… That was what ended up killing you. You would not have died a rubbish death if only you had listened to me."
While the man spoke, I saw a symbol on the back of his hand — a mark like some sort of quasi-sentient four-pointed star with stiletto edges.
Then... I felt it.
Something big was moving toward the cave.
It was big and heavy, every step rattled the floor.
I stopped dead in my tracks, to prevent even a single sound from escaping.
And the creature soon made its way into the room.
It was the biggest Thorna I had ever seen — even bigger than those that were stored in the memory within the core of Thorna.
Upon entry it collided with the side wall of the cave, knocking down a portion of it.
He turned, saw the creature… and got up. He turned and started to walk in that direction.
The huge Thorna closed in — and hove to.
Then it bowed. Bowed… like a loyal servant.
Looking at the creature, he said to it —
"Where were you? Did you make the mess outside?"
The creature said nothing. It merely glanced at him — and shook its head.
The man examined the beast, its mouth and claws. No blood.
"Unless you actually did murder someone…" he grumbled, then halted himself. He turned his head — scanning the cave.
He'd figured it out.
He knew I was here.
The man scanned the area and concluded:
"I know you're here."