Eternal Elysium

"What a weird way to start the day." Chris muttered, looking down on the earth, which seems to have split apart.

I followed his gaze and took a step forward. In the next moment a splinter made of bones came, rushing at my face. I didn't panic and slowed it down, and at the same time raised my blade, striking it down. With a hissing sound the blade moved and clashed with the splinter before it got split into two, broken and shattered.

Chris moved, taking a single step forward; he took a proper stance and plunged his spear vertically down. Just as the spear touched the land, a cracking sound entered our ears. The land cracked, making enough space for our eyes to see two sharp, long ears down below.

Before one could react, the being hidden below leaped outside, reaching for Chris with its sharp canines drooling with thick saliva.

I sighed and raised my hand in an involuntary action. Following the movement of my hands, the creature froze mid-air, unmoving, unresponsive.

Chris witnessing this took a step back, moving his spear along in a straight line, just as it came slicing through the murky winds and reached the creature fixed on its spot. The monster twitched, its jaw widening before getting smashed on the wall, dark blood, almost black, smearing down as the monster got cleaved in half.

"We make a pretty good team, Asher!" Chris said, excitedly retracting his spear back and placing it over his shoulders with a grin.

I didn't answer him and kept my mouth shut.

Seeing this Chris frowned and turned his gaze in the direction I was looking at.

The entrance below was dark and canny. It felt like the jaw of a titan slumbering through eons of time. But the weirdest part was the untouched marble surface of the floor. As if it were man-made.

No, it certainly was man-made.

After all, an ancient place like this existing could only mean one thing. That this place was one of the ruins left by the old world.

"Hmm, I certainly don't have a good feeling about this place." I whispered, breaking my silence.

"Me too."

Chris nodded slowly, his face already contorted into a scowl.

Captain Maira and I had decided to enter the Churners nest from different entrances. A big group was not needed for this so this has led to me and Chris working together and venturing inside by ourselves. But that didn't mean we were alone; another group, two groups at that, had also entered from different sides.

"Someone once told me that monsters gather at places with high concentrations of origin; in this case, we can certainly assume that guess is true."

"Then this place is really a ruin, an ancient dungeon." Chris replied, taking his first step forward.

However, many questions still remained unanswered. The last ruin I had entered didn't have monsters inside from the very beginning; instead, they had gathered there at their own pace, taking months.

But that logic doesn't work here. This land didn't only contain dreadful beasts and monsters of all kinds but also held humans, who constantly kept watch over the dead lands. They possibly couldn't have missed monsters flocking somewhere, now could they?

"Keep your guard up; we are certainly going to meet a bunch of monsters." I reminded in a solemn voice.

The floor, even if seemingly made of marble, has lost its luster after being eroded from the continuous flow of time.

Rocks had sprouted out, covering the surface with their hard shells; the corridors and doors attached to them had been closed with mountains forming behind them.

Just as I had started to follow Chris from behind, we both stopped feeling the land shudder, and our eyes widened as we ducked, going on our knees almost at the same time. My hand moved, grabbing a door beside me; it was almost part of the wall by now. It didn't have a handle, making me confused. I clicked my tongue and just pushed my hand for support.

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"Shit! Not again!" Chris cursed, his whole body shaking along with the tremors the land offered.

Again the whole cave, the broken corridors, rumbled with an intense wave of shocks.

My body lurched like a ragdoll, my teeth grinding as I fought to stay upright, my jaw clanking tightly as I kept it closed.

The earthquake continued for several more minutes. I had almost forgotten about it, as it had no regular interval; rather, it appeared once a month with no reason or pattern. This has made many people's lives miserable, and I was one of them.

'Ugh, how many things broke because of this damn earthquake?'

I grimaced slightly but again shut those thoughts.

"Hopefully the ceiling doesn't fall on us." I muttered, keeping my voice low.

"Don't jinx us!"

Chris snapped, making my brows shoot up in confusion.

"What does that even mean?"

Chris frowned as the tremors through the land subsided; he got up on one knee, still keeping his guard up as I had asked him to and then turned his head to glance back at me, his fist clenched tightly.

"It means don't say stupid things that could happen!" He said, and then sighed.

"Also it brings bad luck…"

"Oh, I see." I nodded, understanding his sentiments. If the ceiling had fallen after I had spoken about it, I would need to curse my luck for it. But thankfully no such thing happened, even after we stood up on our feet.

"Yes, everything feels alright, ah, as much as it could be, of course." I gave a wry smile, scratching my cheeks.

Chris nodded and stood still as he watched me walk towards the wall I had assumed to be a door.

"Strange." I whispered, my eyes squinting slightly.

"What is strange?" Chris asked, flashing the light in my direction.

"This place… the ruin, or dungeon, or whatever you all can call it. Don't you find them weird? This door, well, it's like a wall, but still a door."

"Door…?"

Chris muttered in confusion and walked closer, his free hand touching the whitish-black wall-like door.

"Isn't this simply a wall?" He asked, confusion visible through his face.

"Is it?" I raised my hand and pointed to the end of the corridor from the place we had walked inside. Chris followed my gaze and narrowed his eyes, then made a hiss-like sound. He nodded, seeing the broken, curved place digging inside the mountain rocks. It was as if a door, a metallic one at that, had been bent by pressure and pushed back, bending it backward in an awkward manner.

"Ah, it's… It's actually a door. Or something similar in nature at least."

I nodded and smiled.

"So this should also be a door. And since it's not destroyed, it should lead somewhere." I said confidently. It was just a feeling that the door was a good choice. Otherwise, when I look at the corridor, it is deep dark and eerie.

All I got was—chills.

Literal chills.

'Yes, let's… avoid that place for now.'

The feeling was similar to how I could sense my surroundings sometimes or at least was partially aware of people near me.

Even though the sensation was weird, the only reason I could think of why it was happening was my soul. Now that it had healed, it had given me an unnatural instinct. I was sure of that.

I grimaced at the unknown feelings that had sprouted deep in me.

"Everything okay, Asher? You have been standing still for too long." Chris asked, raising a brow.

"Ah, yes? Sorry, I was distracted for a moment." I replied and shook my head, pushing the rumbling feelings down.

Chris nodded doubtfully as he gripped his spear tightly.

"Alright, just be sure to stay focused, okay? I can't afford to fight alone in this place."

"Yeah." I said "back" and walked towards the door I had been watching closely. I raised my hand and touched it. A cold sensation danced on my fingertipsas I felt the black stains on it, which seem to have been from the corrosion of time after all.

I smiled and moved my hand vertically, checking how I could open it. Chris remained silent and watched me with interest as I kept touching the door, looking for a handle to pull it open, or even a keyhole,but nothing seemed to be working.

I frowned and smashed my hand over it, loud enough for an echo to erupt in the corridor.

Thump!

Thump!

"It's not working." I whispered, sighing loudly for Chris to hear. He chuckled seeing no results and walked closer to the door. I stood up with disappointment as he came to inspect and stepped aside, giving him a chance to see it closer.

Chris nodded and then raised his spear. The sharp blade at the end touched the door as he adopted a stance. I watched him in disbelief as he glided his spear through the air and landed it on the door, cutting it open.

Thud!

Chris turned his gaze back at me with a grin on his face.

"Look, it opened!" He said excitedly.

"Ah… That's one way to do it."

I muttered watching this and added quietly under my breath. "I should have thought of this sooner."

Keeping the upcoming sigh inside, I took a step forward and crouched a little to look inside the newly opened path. Inside was dark like everywhere else, but the first thing that came into my view was two furious red sparks, glaring at us with a murderous look on its face.

The more I looked, the closer they came.

The more chilling the surroundings became with each step they took forward.

"See, Chris, that's why I didn't cut the door open. Because of the sound you made, even more creatures noticed us." I said with a soft chuckle and stood straight, correcting my posture.

Chris rolled his eyes and crouched down, entering through the sharply cleaved door.

"Whatever." He muttered, moving his spear in a wide arc, pushing the monster back or so he thought, until our lights stopped working.

As if the curtains had been pulled down, we lost sight.