Eastern Dungeon (Part 8)

Thud! Thud!

Prince Leo and the others all turned their head at the sound of Ashley and Bredret's landing. Vorbuk had left the prince's shadow and stepped towards the two of them to make sure they were both alright. His red eyes observing them closely as he could smell a heavy scent of smoke coming from them. It was obvious that Bredret had used a heavy amount of fire to protect themselves up there.

They had landed beside each other. Both looked annoyed for their own reasons with each other. As soon as Ashley's eyes connected with Vorbuk's that frustration was washed away. Instantly his face lit up brightly enough that one could mistaken as having seen flowers bloom from his expression. The wolf's stomach dropped uncomfortably at the vampire's display.

"Master~!" Ashley went to hug the wolf but was rejected at once with a sharp growl.

"Where are we now?" Prince Leo cut in as he helped the wolf by holding Ashley's head away from Vorbuk with his own hand.

"Zoe, has to help light the way for a while. It's too dark down here." Daryl said as he looked around trying to comprehend the next direction they should head in.

"Why don't I just-" Bredret started to raise his hand up.

"If you dare light the cave on fire down here I will dump your entire liquor stashed on you into the dirt." Daryl's brow twitched as he scolded the dragon.

Bredret did not speak any further on the matter of light. Small balls of floating light lit their way as they began to walk behind Daryl. He ignored the sounds of the others snickering at him and endured the embarrassment in silence.

"Oh, right," Bredret suddenly remembered. "The crystal tiger got inside the dungeon already. If we don't pick up speed it will probably catch up soon."

"What?" Prince Leo and the others exclaimed in surprise. The only one who was not in shock was Ashley because he had been there to witness it himself moments ago.

"We will need to deal with it eventually so we should stay on alert for now and keep moving. Don't get caught off guard." Daryl said knowing that the beast would never simply let them go. A beast born from living among the depths of the dungeon. Strong enough to leave the dungeon on its own it had surely taken the mountain as its hunting grounds. They had long caught its attention and it would hunt them down until it was dealt with or took them down itself.

"D-Daryl?" Zoe said as she looked around quietly with her lights as they walked. Something had taken her attention away from the conversation amongst themselves.

"Hm?" Daryl moved in her direction the moment her heard her call out his name.

Everyone's eyes followed the direction that Zoe was looking. Straining her mana further she pushed out the light of her magic to brighten a bit more exposing what had caught their attention. The dungeon level they had fallen too was filled with plant life that had grown amongst the dark. That was not the thing that they found focus on, however, it was the giant ruins.

Ancient ruins filled the place. Tall white columns lined in gold and covered in green moss lined the pathway in front of them. The further they walked the ground slowly turned to a path of stairs that had grown grass over the top of them.

Following the steps they headed downward to see what was waiting for them at the end. Coming to a halt to find a large stone monolith. Carved into the monolith were ancient words that one could not understand without proper study of the ancient language. It was a beautiful monolith that gave off a powerful presence to those who stood before it as if marking a great tragedy among history.

"What is this?" Vorbuk asked out loud as he morphed into his human form and touched the monolith with his bare hand flat to its surface. The more he ran his palm against the cold stone the more he wanted to know what was written on it.

"Here lies the birthplace of the world's first god. Nobody knows who the original god is but this is monolith was to mark the birth of the original god. That explains why the mana in this mountain is so heavy as well. When a god is born it is said that they experience a massive mana increase that can explode outwardly destroying the nature around them." Bredret explained. Dragons were well versed in all languages known to the common beings. They were a species that loyally served the gods commands and thus they were naturally talented with languages.

"The first god? You don't have any idea who it is that became a god first?" Vorbuk asked him in return.

"Nobody knows. History is not clear on which one of the gods were born first." Daryl was the one who answered him this time as he stepped up beside Vorbuk. "Those who have tried to find out the truth have only ever come to ponder the conclusion that it may have been Chynir himself."

"Chynir?" Vorbuk muttered under his breath.

That... Doesn't feel right though.. Something doesn't seem right with the idea that it would be Chynir that came first. I need to look deeper into this... Vorbuk thought to himself as he grit his teeth with a low growl coming from his throat in human form.

"We should keep moving before we are caught here." Daryl spoke up and started walking again as everyone followed him from behind.

Vorbuk's red eyes continued to gaze at the monolith for a long moment before shifting back into his wolf form and chasing after the others. It was a simple thing to catch up with them as they walked. However his mind was heavy in wonder over who would be the god above Chynir and the other gods. The very first one to have come into creation could not be unaware of what Chynir was doing to the continent. Was the god a passive one? Were they simply aware and did not care?

The Goddess Flora had spoken in the past about how gods were passive and did not involve themselves in mortal affairs. If they lived among the humans they chose to blend in and remain out of mortal affairs. They did not want to affect the mortal world by getting too deeply involved. Where was the original god? If they existed would the very first one who came into creation not be able to give them some form of information on how to deal with Chynir?

Would it be possible to meet with this so called first god? Vorbuk pondered that thought for a long while in silence as he trudged behind the others. His ears pinned down against his head as he let out a faint sigh wondering how he would even begin to search for a god that he did not know even so much as a name for.

"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Prince Leo asked Daryl as they walked while pointing ahead.