Villainous types were often depicted in books as having dark underground layers. Places perfect for concocting vile plans and holding clandestine meetings. Such a thing hardly existed in reality, but the enormous cavern Dean now found himself in brought to mind such places.
In reality, the most vile individuals, those being the upper nobility, crime lords and the like, preferred high and gaudy places to enact their sins. Those who hid underground could be called dangerous or even evil, but the fact that they hid in the first place betrayed a weakness, be it a lack of wealth or influence. No, the real villains were those who looked down on the common folk from a place easily seen.
As such, Dean found himself quite surprised to find Oscar Durin, the most powerful man in the known world, skulking away in a damp, rocky cavern. Seeing Methaeus and Mitch there too made the entire scene even more ridiculous.
A lingering silence filled the room after Oscar spoke his greeting. Dean raised his hands and gave the man his most calming smile, the one he reserved for bribing guards and getting out of trouble.
"You might be shocked to hear this, but I didn't come here looking for… whatever this is. I was just looking for the secret bar. You know how it is, we all need a good stiff drink in this cold weather," he said with an air of aloofness.
Methaeus looked at him with suspicion.
"Bar? There is no bar at the monastery," he said before turning to Mitch. "It's not like you to be followed so easily."
Mitch shook his head.
"I wasn't. The young man here probably found this place while looking for survivors. That he came here just after me is a coincidence," Mitch explained calmly.
Despite drawing the abbot's ire, Mitch's expression did not change. Well, he wasn't wrong, so it was no surprise he sounded confident.
Methaeus didn't seem convinced and glared silently at the guardsman.
"Don't look at me like that, abbot. If this place has been discovered, then you only have yourself to blame." Mitch said.
"Can you two please not talk as if I'm not in the room? What is this place?" Dean asked.
"We call it The Great Tear," Methaeus explained as if anticipating the question. "It was discovered not so long ago, and His Excellency has been studying it ever since."
Dean was surprised by how easily the answer was given to him. This seemed much akin to the kind of secret that could get a man killed if he carelessly found out. Methaeus seemed to notice his guarded concern and let out a small chuckle.
"It is meant to me a closely guarded secret, of course, however-" he said, trailing off for a moment to glance at Oscar. "I do believe that it no longer matters when the hour is this late."
What the hell did he mean by that? Dean felt his mind race, searching for possible explanations as to why the emperor was in such an insane-looking place and with only two men at his side. No, that didn't matter. At any other time, he would have been overcome with curiosity over this massive hole in reality, but with everything he had ever valued in danger, he couldn't let himself be delayed.
"It's great that you all have this secret club with such fancy decor down here, but things have gotten pretty bad up top. You've noticed, right? Well, we could use your help, and I reckon the emperor would be safer in the library building, so what's say we leave this big load of nothing for another day, eh?" Dean said in a hurry.
Methaeus drew his lips into a straight line at Dean's words.
"I'm afraid we won't be leaving," he said simply.
Dean let out a small, involuntary laugh.
"I don't think you understand. There are monsters running around up there. People are dying for Goddess' sake. The monastery's been overrun!"
He expected at least some sort of reaction from the pair, but that was too much to hope for by the looks of it. At least Methaeus had the decency to look a little ashamed.
"You know about it, don't you?" Dean asked quietly.
Mitch nodded while crossing his arms.
"What happens up there doesn't concern us," he said simply.
"The tear is where all the lyth stones we've gathered come from. As the very source of our empire's power, it is important that we study their origin," Methaeus added.
Dean looked around at the multi-coloured crystals that were attached to the cavern walls with indifference.
"There'll be no use studying them if we're all eaten alive before we can take advantage of it!" Dean shouted, slamming his fist against the rock wall of the cabin.
He simply couldn't fathom why they would concern themselves with all this now. Any moment now, one of those ghouls could come crashing through the door, and that would be it for them. He noticed Methaeus and Mitch exchanging glances. Surely there was something they weren't telling him. The lyth stones were interesting and incredibly valuable, yes. But their presence and significance paled in comparison to the massive rip in reality itself.
"There's no way you can stand there and tell me that the secrets this place hides are more important than the lives of your people!" Dean shouted.
To him, it felt like running away. Turning your eyes from the present in order to prepare for an ephemeral future. It was nothing less than folly. He opened his mouth once again to give them a piece of his mind, but was interrupted by a deep, booming voice.
"You'd be surprised by how little those lives are worth in the grand scheme of things."
Dean looked over to see Oscar approaching them. Finished with whatever he was doing, he looked at Dean with cold, hard eyes. Dean felt his mouth go dry, and the anger he had felt over their inaction slipped away.
"If you are here to ask for help, or worse yet, to rescue us, then leave. You're not needed here," Oscar commanded, his voice low and deep to the point where Dean could almost feel it on his skin. He shook his head to dispel the feeling of fear and awe that threatened to overwhelm him.
"What good is staying down here if your people continue to die for it? If things keep going as they are, then you'll be ruling over a fortress occupied by nothing but corpses! We need to find everyone. We need to find Addi, Matin and Cait! I-"
Dean's rush of words halted suddenly. The reason was simple: Oscar had raised his hand. That gesture alone was enough to make Dean swallow deeply.
"Your priestess is dead, boy. But worry not, all of us will be joining her soon."
What the hell was Oscar even saying? He spoke of his own death and the deaths of others as if it didn't matter. To Dean's ears, it sounded like little more than a step in some grander plan. The man must have gone insane. He needed to say something. Anything that would appeal to the man's humanity. If any of it still existed.
"What about your son? Nicolas died up there while you were down here tinkering away at these rocks. What about him?" Dean asked shakily, through gritted teeth.
"Nicolas," Oscar said, pondering the word as if it were the first time he was hearing it. He was silent for a moment, his eyes closed. When he opened them again after a moment, it was as if a fire had been lit behind them.
"The boy could not be saved. His doom was assured from the start! If I could deem any one of you truly beyond saving, then it would be him!" Oscar shouted angrily as he turned away to look towards the tear.
His voice grew quiet for a moment.
"That thrice-cursed son of mine, the solution has to lie somewhere… beyond all this, and if not then… I can still bring glory back to the empire in his name," he muttered to himself.
Oscar was now gazing longingly at the tear, paying no mind to Dean and the others. His curiosity getting the better of him, Dean set aside his frustration and asked a question.
"What is this 'tear' thing you keep going on about and why are there so much lyth around it?"
Oscar gave no indication that he had even heard Dean. Feeling a sudden surge of anger, Dean placed a hand on his lythment.
"Tell me what's so important about it that you would turn your back on the world!"
Still no reaction. Even Methaeus and Mitch barely moved. Strange, considering there was an armed man within range of the emperor himself. While Mitch seemed almost as impassive as Oscar, Methaeus looked at Dean contemplatively. After a moment, he turned towards Oscar.
"With your leave, Your Excellency?" he asked.
Oscar was still staring intently at the tear. He tilted his head downward in what might have been a nod, but Dean was not sure. Methaeus seemed to take it as permission and turned back to Dean.
"This tear is the source of the lyth stones. This is where we harvest them before putting them to use. Powering everything from our lights to those weapons you carry. You can imagine how important this place is for the empire."
So that's what it came down to. Human greed, pure and simple. Within this cavern laythe power to change the world. Not ten years ago, during Oscar's rebellion against the church, armies fought with blade and arrow alone. Now, the very elements bended to their will. It wasn't surprising that those in power would covet something like this above all else. Even so, it couldn't be worth more than their very lives, could it?
"A lot of good it would do for dead men," Dean commented, folding his arms.
Methaeus shook his head.
"It's not just the stones. The tear itself contains its own power and secrets. It leaks some sort of energy into the world, causing a variety of foul creatures to be attracted to it. Something on this large a scale must be the work of the Goddess herself, and so we must uncover its secrets."
Dean gritted his teeth and glared at the old man.
"So what you're saying is that this thing is the cause?" he asked, his breath almost entirely escaping him. "The reason the monastery was attacked in the first place was because of this?"
Methaeus closed his eyes.
"His Excellency has not deemed it necessary to tell us everything. But I trust him," Methaeus said simply.
Dean could not believe his ears. If this caused everything, then that meant Oscar knew this would happen from the start. None of this made any sense. Oscar turned to Dean.
"Tell me, young Kasanagh. Are you aware of what's truly happening here? Or are you as ignorant as the rest of them?"
The sudden question caught Dean off guard. He felt his mind lurch as unfamiliar memories crashed into his mind. Memories of a washed out, twisted monastery and of a hooded woman, holding a book in her hand.
The memories flashed for a moment before drifting away into obscurity. It felt as though the memories were refusing to be a part of him.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
Oscar closed his eyes and sighed.
"For a moment, it seemed as if there was something of interest within you, but I was mistaken," he said gravely. "Stay here and you might discover a way to escape all this once and for all, or leave to play at being a hero again and die. It matters not to me."
The cavern grew unnaturally silent as the three men looked at Dean. He took an involuntary step back as he shook his head.
"This is just…ridiculous. What are you talking about?"
Just how would this place let him escape? If he stepped into the void, would it take him off this damned mountain? No, he couldn't risk it. For all he knew, he would just end up falling forever in an infinite void.
He thought of Cait and of everyone else who continued to struggle on the surface. Matin's whereabouts were still unknown to him. He couldn't leave them. Not like this. The answer was obvious from the start. He didn't need to concern himself with whatever these men were up to. It was not the part he was meant to play.
That's right. These stories are my punishment. I wouldn't escape even if given the choice.
A strange thought was planted in his mind. Its source, briefly touching upon his psyche before vanishing once again into nothingness.
"No, I'll return to the surface. You guys can rot away down here," Dean whispered.
The ever so slight smile vanished from Oscar's face.
"Dull and predictable," he muttered. "Now leave and do not return!" He roared before turning his back on Dean for the final time.
Mitch and Methaeus looked at each other a moment before Methaeus nodded. Mitch stepped forward, gesturing towards the door.
"The emperor has given you an order, lad. You'd best follow it."
Dean didn't need to be told twice. With as much dignity as he could muster, he turned around and walked away, followed closely by Mitch.
"Don't think too harshly of His Excellency," Methaeus called out. "It may seem like he's avoiding responsibility, but that couldn't be further from the truth."
Dean didn't respond to the man's words and left the cavern. Mitch closed the door behind them. Not wanting to waste any more time on people who didn't want to be saved, Dean immediately took off.
"Woah there, wait a second," Mitch said.
Dean halted and turned his head to look back at the man.
"Weren't you out with Matin and the others?" Dean asked quietly, speaking a question that had been burning inside him since he'd entered the cavern.
Mitch had left with Matin on an expedition to the guest house. If anyone knew anything about Matin's whereabouts, it would be him.
"Your friend yet lives as does his mother. If that is what you're wondering about," Mitch said lazily.
Dean turned all the way around to face him.
"And Rose?" he asked, not liking at all how her name had been left out.
Mitch's mouth tilted up slightly in what might have been a smile, but his eyes remained as hollow as always.
"She is likely dead, killed by the one you call friend."
Before he knew what he was doing, Dean lunged toward the man. Mitch simply stood there, showing no reaction to Dean's aggression at all. Dean came to stop inches from the man's face.
"I'm not in the mood for bad jokes, Mitch. Tell me what really happened. Where the hell are they?" He said, his voice rising into a shout towards the end.
A dry chuckle came from Mitch's throat, though his mouth didn't move an inch.
"Always demanding without ever offering payment. That's why I never liked you righteous types. Always so narrow-minded and stubborn."
Dean countered with a smile, one that bared all his teeth.
"And I don't like you detached types who walk around thinking you're better than everyone else, now speak. Why do you think Matin killed Rosetta?"
Mitch shrugged.
"Very well, consider this free information as a sign of good faith. Before I left that group to come here, your friend and the girl were separated from Marianne and me." Mitch said in a flat voice, as if giving a daily report about the weather. "When we saw your friend again, he was covered in someone else's blood, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. He passed out from exhaustion but kept muttering apologies in his sleep."
Dean shook his head with a laugh.
"You're just making assumptions. Even if what you saw is true, that blood could have belonged to anyone… or to anything," he said, remembering the ghouls that chased him in the cathedral.
Mitch did smile then. Dean thought to himself that it would be a very good thing if he never had to see Mitch smile again.
"You may believe what you will. Perhaps I am lying or telling half-truths. Whatever it is, I look forward to seeing what lies you choose to believe."
It was simple conjecture, that was all. Matin was psychologically incapable of hurting anyone. The man never even shouted or got angry at others, let alone physically hurt them. The chance of him hurting Rosetta, let alone killing her, was laughable.
"I like to think I can find the truth and ignore the lies, thank you very much." Dean said.
Mitch looked him dead in the eye.
"Be careful, even the most obvious truths have tiny lies mixed in. The only truth you'll ever know is what you see with your own eyes, and even then, can you really trust your own mind?"
With one last cold stare, Mitch turned his back on Dean and re-entered the cavern. Dean was left standing there, his mind still reeling from all the information he had just absorbed. That, coupled with the dire situation of losing Cait and Joan, made his head pound with pain. Taking a few steps back, his back touched the stone wall of the catacombs before he slowly slid down into a sitting position, his hands covering his face.
"I don't want to deal with this anymore," he whispered.
His own words surprised him. They were a complete contradiction to what he had just said to Oscar. Maybe he should have accepted the emperor's offer. Put all the responsibility on someone else and simply follow. How easy that sounded to him now. Goddess above, why even do that? He could go to the guest house himself, find a bottle of whiskey in the kitchen and wash all his worries away. The thought was so tempting that he felt his fists clench together tightly as his heart rate increased.
He took his hands away from his face and looked down both ways of the corridor. As he did, he thought of Addi. As Oscar said, she was most likely dead by now. Whatever flame of hope he had for her had dimmed to a mere ember. He remembered how he had once promised to take her away from the monastery and her role as the Priestess. When had that been again? He couldn't quite remember. Nevertheless, it was pointless to think about it now. She had died, trapped within these walls alone. Nicolas and Maria, they too had died while he had been locked up. If Mitch were to be believed, then Rosetta was also no longer with them. Too late and useless, that's all he was.
Dean screamed out his frustrations. Oscar and the others could probably hear him, but he didn't care. He needed to release his emotions, or he was likely to explode. Even after everything that had happened, he still couldn't give up. He wanted to, there was no doubt about that. Even so, something within him stirred. Was it a desire for revenge? A simple case of curiosity? Or was he simply eager to find a way to soothe his own ego?
Whatever the case, after a good minute of screaming and cursing, Dean got to his feet and stumbled towards the exit of the catacombs.
He could still make this right. If no one else could or wanted to, then he'd do it. There was no problem that couldn't be solved if he tried hard enough. He would make sure that everyone who survived could live happily. That was simply what he had to do.
Memories from his childhood guided him towards an exit that led to an old storage shed at the side of the cathedral.
Once he ascended the stairs and stepped outside, he was greeted by the now all too familiar cold of the snowy mountain.
"As if we didn't have enough to deal with. Damned snow." He muttered as he wrapped his arms around himself.
He turned away and walked along the outer walls of the cathedral. Now that he was out and free of pursuit, he could take a moment to think about what to do next. It was still bright out, though it was quickly getting darker thanks to the thick snow clouds that refused to disperse.
He was worried about Layota and the orphans, but knew they were as safe as they could be and that his presence wouldn't help them much. Cait and Joan were another story altogether. He needed to find them along with Matin and Marianne. How vexing it was that he had gone out to find people only to end up losing those he already had with him.
Matin and Marianne. He recalled Mitch's warning. If the tear was responsible for bringing the monsters here, then what part did Marianne and Matin play in all this?
"I'll worry about that later." He said to himself.
For now, he would search the cathedral and dormitories for survivors as thoroughly as possible, and when night came, he would return to the library to check in on Layota and the orphans. His path set, Dean stepped forward into the snow.