The operation had four main groups. One consisted of Legion who were the ones given the task of dealing with the Sinew Horror. Gaia had given them the necklace since they would be dealing with the miasma. The second consisted of mages and fire mana users who would be burning the plants on the island. This group also had the holy attribute healer so he could be nearby to heal any miasma during the operation. They would move in with Legion and start burning the plants from the moment they reach the ground. This way they could clear an area when Legion entered, and they wouldn’t have to worry about the Sinew Horror targeting them. The third consisted of Stephanie and Griff with a couple bronze rank hunters. Flora split up so Jess and Francois were going with them along with a bronze rank defender similar to Douglas. The fourth group consisted of Fergus, Gaia, Titania, John and another bronze rank defender for safety.
Gaia and Griff’s groups would be moving in together about fifteen minutes after Legion to ensure they had the Sinew Horrors attention. They would immediately move towards the orbs while being guided by a scout once they entered and charge the orbs as quickly as possible. Both groups were responsible for four orbs and had a flare like magic tool to indicate they’d completed charging the orbs. Once the flares were activated it indicated that it was time to deal with the Sinew Horror and the other teams would retreat before the other bronze ranks went to assist Legion.
There were also contingencies for if things went wrong, which Gaia assumed they would. They never seemed to work perfectly because something always changed. With as many different parts this plan had it was expected that something would go wrong. These thoughts passed through her head as the group participating entered the first floor of the ruins. They swiftly reached the passage down which they had discovered consisted of a large longboat type ship at the back of the room the statue had been in. The back third of the room consisted of calm water until it reached the back wall where it flowed downwards.
The first two groups hopped on the boat and it started moving as oars were pushed out and rowed without anyone touching them. The ship soon disappeared as it reached the edge of the slope and picked up speed. After about five minutes of waiting another longboat appeared rowing itself up the slope and stopping where the other had been before it moved. There was another five minutes of nervous silence before someone finally spoke.
“Looks like it’s about time. You guys be safe. I know this is going to be hard with what we’ve already dealt with on this floor, but we won’t need to be there long.” Gaia stated as she pulled Stephanie and Griff into a hug.
“You guys too. I know we don’t have much to worry about with these guys with us. I’m more worried about you, since you won’t be able to use your mana field.” Griff replied.
“I’ve got this one to keep me going the right way and my bonds to help guide and protect us too.” She said motioning to Fergus.
“I’ll keep this one safe.” Stephanie said poking Griff.
This devolved into petty squabbles which helped everyone relax a bit. After another couple minutes Titania spoke up.
“It’s time you guys. Everyone ready?” She asked.
There were a variety of yeps and yeahs as the groups boarded the longboat. The travel started after a moment with roars magically rowing the ship to the slope. Once it reached the edge it tipped forwards and gravity did the rest. The ship picked up speed as it barreled down the slope until a minute later it broke passed the cliff. The oars popped back out and it rowed itself through the air. It was at this point Gaia retracted her mana field just to be safe and not accidentally interfere with Legion and the fight. From what she felt the boat flew quickly and was quite smooth. She didn’t notice anything until they were on the water’s surface again.
“You guys be safe.” She said as she got up to hop off the boat.
“Same to you guys.” Stephanie replied as she hopped off the ship.
They had Gaia and Fergus holding hands to ensure she knew what direction to go. There was also a rope tied around their arms to ensure she could move the correct way if they somehow got separated a bit. As they moved Gaia heard fire burning in the distance and the clangs of something hitting metal. She also heard the distant sound of something sizzling which worried her.
Her group quickly moved into the water after about a minute of walking along the shore. The travel in water was difficult since she couldn’t swim even if she wanted to. They moved as quickly as possible towards the first orb while Titania and John focused on dealing with any monsters that attacked. The other bronze rank was focused on protecting Fergus and Gaia in case of an ambush. They were moving relatively quickly and reached the first orb after a couple minutes. Gaia started pushing some miasma into it and sensed the orb slowly fill up with mana. The orb was full around ten minutes later and they moved to the next one.
They were accosted by a few monsters as they went and were trying to stay underwater for as long as possible. The scouts had discovered that anything on the surface or breaching the water attracted the monsters much more than if they stayed on the floor. This was going to be a problem for Fauna as they were only stone rank and couldn’t hold their breath for more than thirty minutes. This meant after the next orb they would need to surface for air. This was more of a problem since Gaia couldn’t swim up and they had decided on keeping her bonds in their tattoos to minimize their group. The main reason was that the bigger the group the more monsters would notice them and attack.
They reached the second orb after fifteen of travel due to monster attacks. This was when Gaia really needed to breathe. She could feel the rope tied to Fergus tighten as he swam up and took a breath. She was about to pass out due to the exertion of the travel and mana use without being able to breathe, so she wasn’t sure if she imagined what came next or not. Just as she was going to call Malachite out due to necessity, she felt Fergus grab her and kiss her. More he shared his breath with her, but didn’t have time to think about what came to her mind, so she filled the orb and continued to the next one.
After another hour and four more shared breaths, as she couldn’t hold her breath as long since there was less oxygen when sharing a breath like this, they had finished charging their four orbs. Titania swam up and fired off their signal flare. This attracted some more monsters and the group dealt with them as they moved towards land. When they reached it, and were no longer submerged, Gaia and Fergus were taking deep breaths. After a minute for recovery Gaia brought Malachite out and they hopped on his shell to return to the longboat they came in on. As they reached about the halfway point to the boat, they saw and heard the signal flare for Griff’s group.
They reached the boat about an hour later, as the orbs didn’t encompass the entire island instead covering just the front half. When they reached the boat, Titania and John split off to help Legion while the scout and defender stayed to protect Gaia and Fergus. Around two hours later, Griff and Stephanie arrived with the former carrying the later. When they arrived, Jess and Francois split off to assist Legion as well while Fauna and the defenders hopped on the longboat.
Gaia could hear the fighting going on in the distance between Legion, Flora and the Sinew Horror. While they had been running back to the boat she hadn’t heard as much fighting which she guessed meant they were moving around to conserve energy. The fewer attacks they had to take during the charging of the orbs, meant they weren’t injured for the actual fight. As they were flying up the sound of the fighting grew more distant, but the worry for their friends and family who were fighting continued to grow.
Even after they reached the first floor they couldn’t stop their worries from rising. They were all a big bundle of nerves since they weren’t sure if their friends would be alright. Their minds raced through all the worse case scenarios which only made their anxiety worsen. It wasn’t until two hours later and their friends returning unscathed that they breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn’t gotten injured outside of a few scrapes and any miasma that had infected them was healed immediately. When Legion and Flora returned, the participants waited for them to speak.
“The Sinew Horror has been killed! Now, it’s time for the easier part. To find the way down!” Douglas exclaimed as Stephanie tackled him in a hug.
Fergus did the same for Titania as the entire group cheered at the success. Each one of the participants that went to the second floor was checked by the healers just to be safe. Luckily, no one had been exposed to any miasma for long so there weren’t any lasting effects, unlike Griff and Gaia had. After the checkup everyone started back towards the camp. They were all in high spirits after the success and after returning everyone celebrated. When Legion went to tell what happened, everyone around got quiet and listened to the tale. Flora jumped in every now and again to add their own viewpoint to the tale. Everyone was enthralled by the story and enjoyed the celebration.
Things didn’t calm down until the next day as people partied the entire night. Fauna, Flora, and Legion had the day off due to participating, whether it was originally scheduled off or not. They all woke up a bit later than usual, but still early enough to get breakfast. The main difference was that Gaia and Fergus were the only ones not hungover. Griff had been pulled into drinking with Francois and Stephanie had been pulled into it by Douglas, after he was already drunk. Gaia had had to carry Stephanie back to their room while Fergus did the same for Griff. For the two that were sober, it had been quite an entertaining night. Griff and Francois had started singing some song, extremely loudly and out of tune. Stephanie had passed out almost immediately which was quite a sight.
This morning was just as entertaining. Griff was usually put together and proper, but fumbled his way to the mess hall this morning. Stephanie was half asleep and leaning on Gaia while grumbling about not drinking with her dad again. Gaia chuckled at this as they waited in line for breakfast. They sat to eat with Legion and Flora who were also slumped at their seats dealing with the after effects of the previous night.
“I told you, you need to not drink so much. You always have a terrible hangover when you do.” Fergus teased Titania.
“Shut up.” Titania replied.
“Sorry, but did you drink so much you can’t even come up with a come back? It’s not fun when it’s like that.” Fergus replied.
“Fine.” She replied. There was momentary pause before she continued. “That’s rich coming from someone who finally had their first kiss. And all it took was a life or death situation.” She replied a bit harshly but trying to tease him.
There was silence for a moment before she spoke again.
“Aww, what? Was it so magical that you can’t speak?” She teased a moment later.
There was silence for a while as Gaia could feel her cheeks warm with what was undoubtably a very visible blush. She guessed Fergus probably was too from the others reactions.
“What? We missed it?” Griff and Stephanie exclaimed teasingly as well.
There were a couple other awws and oohs from the others before Titania spoke again.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Sorry. That was a bit mean, but y’all have been together for a while. It was about time.”
“Okay. So how did it happen?” Stephanie whispered to Gaia.
The teasing and excited questions, like Stephanie asked, continued for a while before everyone realized it was more of a necessity. Gaia still considered it as one, which was obvious from how her blush just deepened whenever someone asked her about it. It wasn’t until after breakfast that everyone was satisfied by their answers and dropped the topic.
The rest of the day was spent doing their own things. They all did their usual individual things. Gaia spent more time in her little garden. Griff read through some more of his books. Stephanie was in her portable forge working on her rifle and tinkering. Fergus was whittling and talking to his sister who kept trying to apologize much to his amusement. From the time breakfast ended Fergus and Gaia couldn’t meet each others eyes without blushing until it was dinner time. The others all got a kick out of the heartwarming and innocent couple. They all reconvened to enjoy dinner and talk about their plans going forward.
“We’re planning to continue exploring the ruins, right?” Griff asked after everyone finished eating.
“Yeah. If everyone else is up for it.” Gaia replied.
“Yep.” Stephanie and Fergus added their responses.
“Alright. Then I think we should all try and find out some more about Xerios and the demons that are tied to it. The more we know the better prepared we will likely be. Do you guys agree?” Griff asked.
“Yeah.” Everyone replied.
“Then I think we should try and talk to the Guild Master. She seemed to know more about the myth. Shall we try and catch her now or try in the morning?” He asked.
“We can try now. I think she’ll probably be busy tomorrow getting ready to scout the third floor.” Fergus said.
The party got up and moved towards the Guild Master’s building. They arrived about twenty minutes later, as they weren’t in a hurry, to find the Guild Master sitting at a desk with three chairs waiting.
“Ah. You’re here, good. I figured you’d be coming to talk to me either tonight or tomorrow. Feel free to take a seat. Sorry, Gaia I kinda figured you’d be on Malachite. I can grab another chair if you want. I’m guessing this is about the myth? What do you want to know, I’ll help as best I can.” She stated.
“No need.” Gaia replied as she climbed on Malachite’s shell and he grew just large enough for her throne to form for her.
“We wanted to know as much as you could tell us about Xerios and, if possible, as much about the demons tied to it as you can.” Griff replied.
“I’ll tell you as much as I know. It’ll take a while though. We can do this in the morning if you want. I can make sure to have time set aside for it.” She stated.
“Whenever would be better for you. We should have tomorrow free as well.” Stephanie said.
“Alright. Let’s go through it now then. So, what I know is..” the Guild Master started.
The Guild Master went into as much detail as she could and prefaced it with the fact that everything she stated was derived from the myth. This meant that it could be true or could be exaggerated for all she knew, but she was relaying what she knew. First for the myth, all of the demon’s races vowed to serve the eternal lord for eternity after their kings or rulers submitted to him, leading them to follow him and create the capital, Xerios. This capital consisted of nine layers, each of which was created by one of the races that followed the Eternal Lord. The deepest layer was for the Eternal Lord himself, but he had a palace that extended the entirety of the layers, from what was said in the myth, at least.
The first two layers or floors were already dealt with, so she left them out of her explanation, for the most part, and started going into detail on the third floor. The main things for the first two floors were the names of the floors. The first was known as Grimheim, the city of the Grim Giants. The second was called the Abyssal Loch, home of the Sinew Horror.
The third was known as the Lush Forest, home of the Verdant Colossus. The Verdant Colossus was a massive plant monster that never had the same shape. It was believed to be made up of hundreds of different plants that were connected. They couldn’t be burned and whenever parts were cut, they regrew nearly instantly. This creature was believed to be one of the most dangerous due to its rapid regrowth. It was finally dealt with by an army of thousands who systematically cut it down over the course of a year. Each day they would slash at it and have their soldiers rotate to continuously attack it. They had tried poisons as well which had some effect but couldn’t output enough to counteract the regeneration. The layer was believed to be a massive forest with hundreds of plants that were constantly growing to the point of overgrowth and taking up every inch of the floor.
The fourth layer was called Nufnerbeld, the Sea of the dead and home of the Spectre. The Spectre was a type of undead monster similar to a wraith. It was known for attacking a person’s spirit directly. It was unable to be damaged by any kind of physical attack and most magical attacks as well. Whenever it killed a creature, it would raise its spirit as a wraith under its command to attack for it. It was believed to have no limit to the number of wraiths it could command. It was finally killed by a group of mages that sacrificed their lives to strike it with spiritual attacks that caused it to dissipate. The layer was made of stone and was a wasteland with no light or plants.
The fifth layer was known as Jorthonir, home of the Oni. The Oni was a creature that was odd when compared to the others. It wasn’t as strong as the Gargantuan Destroyer and had a major weakness. It could easily be damaged by blades, but it was extremely skillful in dealing with attacks. It used two weapons a wooden club and an iron rod that it alternated between one using to attack and one to defend. It was believed to be the weakest of the group until it was seen dodging and blocking with a swiftness uncommon of its stature. It was extremely fast, but when truly struck with a blade easily dealt with. The layer was a town more akin to a castle’s dungeon than a city, with chains and cells filling the majority.
The sixth layer was known as the Wilds, home of the Wendigo. The Wendigo was creature similar to the Sinew Horror in that it was nearly immortal. Its specialty, however, was in hunting. It could hunt creatures over any distance and was known for its gluttony. It specifically targeted humanoid creatures for food and could possess people to make them murder others. The main ways for one who was being hunted by it to determine its distance was by its distinctive howl and its foul stench. The closer it was, the further its howl would sound, while if you could smell the stench of death and rotting meat you were done for. It was finally killed after someone discovered its den and burned it to the ground destroying whatever kept the creature alive. The layer consisted of a vast wilderness with thousands of creatures that rapidly spread to counteract the Wendigo’s gluttony.
The Seventh layer was the Toxic Swamp, home of the Basilisk. The Basilisk was a creature that was nearly impossible to get close to. It constantly let out an extremely potent poison that killed and eroded whatever was around it. Everywhere it went turned into a toxic waste that caused large areas to become uninhabitable and killed everything within a couple hundred feet of it. It was extremely weak physically though. This allowed someone who had a poison immunity ability to kill it without issue, but everything they had was turned to a poisonous goop in doing so. The best way to deal with it based on this, was to try and purify its poison to get close and kill it.
The eighth layer was called Malhavia, the fortress of the Draug. The draugr were paradoxical creatures. They were both living and undead, which was believed to be impossible until they were discovered. They survived without the need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. They were also known to have no lifespan making them ageless creatures, but were able to reproduce like regular humanoids. This caused them to tirelessly work on techniques and obtaining knowledge. They were an honorable species that held honor above all else and did not do anything to tarnish it. They were well known for dueling anyone who challenged them and were ruthless in the battlefield. There were no best ways to deal with a Draugr as they were masters of every weapon and whichever combat style they chose, while still being well trained in most other types of combat.
The ninth layer was called the Sanctum, the Eternal Lord’s personal area. Little was known about the Eternal Lord outside of the fact he was the king of the demons and had attempted to ascend, but failed. He was rarely seen and never personally attacked, instead sending his demons out in his stead. He had complete control over the demons and could do as he wished without repercussions within his domain. It was believed that the reason he began a war was to conquer the world to gain more power. As for his ascension, little is known about what happened, but his failure was somehow confirmed. His failed attempt to ascend was believed to be connected to his failure to conquer the world.
This information was told to them over the course of few hours as the party asked questions and tried to get clarification on the things they didn’t understand. A lot of the information was vague and didn’t have any in depth description for the layers and instead focused on the demons, which was helpful, but wasn’t as useful since there was no guarantee they would have to deal with the demons like on the second floor. If they did the information would be extremely important, but for all they knew the third floor could just have numerous plant monsters that acted individually. Even then, they would have to uncover the puzzle or mechanism to continue downwards which could have nothing to do with the demons that lived on that layer.
The way to open the path down was different on the two floors they’d already completed, which was likely an indication they’d be different for each floor. With the new information and the possibilities for its usefulness being questionable due to the differences they’d already discovered, Fauna went back to the inn. The explanation and following question and answer session lasted for quite a while and it was now quite late. As they approached the inn they saw the overnight watch eating their lunch, meaning it was likely after midnight. They quickly moved to their respective rooms and went to sleep.
The next few days were relatively uneventful with only a few large monster attacks. The most interesting one was by a creature that no one could physically see and the only reason they realized it was attacking was due to Gaia. The creature was odd. It didn’t seem to have a set form and it undulated like a blob, but seemed to solidify into a quadrupedal animal regularly. It wasn’t until Gaia told the others about it and Fergus fired an arrow where she noticed it that she finally got a sense of its actual form. This was also when it’s invisibility ended and the others could actually see it.
The monster was a large ferret. It could veil itself in mana to make it invisible to the naked eye, but when sensed using mana, it stood out. Its mana veil also wasn’t perfect as Gaia could sense its true form randomly as it moved. After it had its veil dropped it was swiftly dealt with by Fergus and Stephanie pelting it with bullets and arrows. The incident did cause the defenders to post a mage to each wall to periodically sense mana for such beings going forward.
It wasn’t until their first regular day off for the week that they saw Legion again and they discovered that the Sinew Horror dropped an item, just like the statue from the first floor. Legion hadn’t done anything with it since they couldn’t identify it and it was quite sinister. When Gaia asked them about it they hesitated for a moment before showing it to her to analyze. The item was a thin strip made from bone and muscle with an unnatural chill to it. She quickly pushed some mana into it, but was rebuffed and instead pushed some miasma into it, which worked.
Horror’s Guard – Bonding Item. A choker created from the spine bones and muscle of a Sinew Horror. Creates the Sinewweaver’s Breastplate when infused with Miasma. The Sinewweaver’s Breastplate creates Miasmic bursts whenever struck with an attack dealing Miasmic damage to the attacker. When the infused miasma is used up by bursts, it reverts to the Horror’s Guard until infused again.
Gaia just giggled at the text on the screen for a moment before telling everyone what it did. Legion was a bit disappointed since it was an item they wouldn’t be able to use and likely not one anyone, but Gaia or Griff could use. They decided to give it to Fauna, they tried to give it to them for free, but Fauna insisted they paid them at least a little bit for it. They finally came to an agreement of twenty stone cores for it, after both sides argued over the price. Fauna wanted to pay more, but Legion refused to take anymore. The way Legion saw it, the better equipped Fauna was the less likely it was for them, or more importantly, their daughter, to get hurt or killed.
After leaving Legion with their new item, which was given to Griff as he didn’t have any strong chest armor, the party made their way to the ruins at a leisurely pace. They weren’t planning on sprinting through and trying to search the third floor in any case. They were planning to travel down and find the way down. They’d take a look at the third floor but weren’t planning on tackling it in any meaningful way. They just wanted to see what it would likely contain from a cursory glance without actually entering it yet.
They reached the second floor around noon after picking up their pace a bit on the first floor when monsters continuously attacked them. If just got annoying so they hopped on Malachite’s shell and he moved through the first floor quickly. After reaching the second floor, they found the way down quite quickly. It was in the meadow by a large pillar that stretched from the floor to the ceiling that hadn’t been there when they had first entered the floor. When they approached the path down, they saw a tunnel reaching into the pillar and when they entered it they saw it led to the massive hole from the surface. It also now had stairs going down to the second floor. They took note of this and went to the entrance to the third floor. This would their first glance at what awaited them, so they made their way downwards.
