Lost

Kies looked up at the dark sky. He was laying on his back and all around him, he saw nothing but black. It was too dark for him to see his surroundings but he knew that he had fallen pretty deep. He knew this because he couldn't hear the high-pitched sound from the Bone Whistler anymore. How'd he survive the fall? He didn't know.

Kies moved his arm around him to see if there was anything nearby him. After feeling nothing but a few chunks of rock and dirt, Kies slowly got up from the ground and walked to his left until he found a wall. After that, Kies started moving to the left, making sure to make feel the way with his leg first before taking a step to avoid tripping on something.

As he felt his way down the dark pathway, he heard the sound of the wind howling throughout the walls. He wasn't sure if this entire place was created by the Bone Whistler's magic or if the cracks had opened up into an underground cave or ravine.

But none of that was important. What was important was that Kies needed to find a way out of the place. He wasn't sure how the others were doing but hopefully, they were safe and not stuck in a hole as well. After a few minutes of walking, Kies saw a dim light far away in the distance. Luckily, he hadn't walked in the wrong direction and met a dead end.

Seeing that the exit was right in front of him, Kies let go of the wall he was holding onto and started slowly walking towards it. Strangely enough, there was nothing in his path. The entire place seemed completely flat with no rubble or random stone bulging out of the ground.

At the very end of the room, Kies found a tall smooth wall with a few dim glowing gold lines. What was this doing in a place like this? Did he stumble upon a tomb or something? Whatever the case was, Kies looked around the wall, trying to find a door or some other entrance that may get him out. After a few minutes of searching, he came up with nothing. It was just a strange empty wall with glowing lines on it. It reminded him of the walls back at the archive.

Kies stretched his head and ran his hands along the wall. Maybe there was a secret switch somewhere. Immediately upon placing his hand on the wall, there was a rumble and the entire place shook. Kies backed off from the wall and watched as it slowly slid open, revealing a large room with what looked like an altar in the center.

Kies cautiously took a step forward, half expecting there to be a booby trap and half expecting a voice to suddenly call out to him. But contrary to what he thought, nothing happened. Kies took another step and then stopped. Still nothing. It didn't look like there was a trap or anyone here. Kies walked into the room and looked at his surroundings.

The walls all had the same golden carving as the door he had entered from. Other than the ominous altar in the middle of the room, there was nothing else in the entire place. But just to be safe, Kies still made sure to be careful while walking around the room. He really didn't know what this place was, and if possible, he didn't want to accidentally break or do anything wrong that could get him trapped in here forever.

After looking around at the walls of the room and not finding an exit, Kies went over to the altar. There was a small stairway leading down to it. Kies examined the altar, only looking at it with his eyes and not touching it. The altar didn't look particularly special. It was made out of stone and plainly decorated. It didn't match with the grand-looking room that it was in. There were a few candles around the altar, all of which had been melted all the way down to its stub. Directly underneath the altar sat a single skull.

Kies bent over and took a closer look at the skull. It was very old, having cracks and dust accumulating all over it. A tiny bit of force will likely shatter it. The skull looked like it came from a humanoid creature. He didn't know what it was doing in a place like this nor its importance and decided that it was in his best interest to not touch it. Kies couldn't explain it, but he had this feeling that if he did, he would get cursed by it.

Lost with no idea of what to do now, Kies looked at his wrist and tapped the bracelet to call for Arc. He should've probably done this earlier, but Arc always seemed very busy all the time, and Kies didn't want to disturb its work if possible.

"You called?" came Arc's voice from the bracelet.

"Do you know what this place is and how to get out?" Kies asked.

"Please give me a moment." A beam of light shot out of the bracelet and scanned the entire room. After Arc finished scanning the room the light retracted back into the bracelet. "This is a very interesting place you have stumbled upon. It appears that this place is likely an old shrine or grave for a powerful Soulless. " Arc said to Kies.

"Do you know who?"

"No, I cannot tell who this place belonged to," Arc replied. "But what I can tell is that you should not touch anything in this room. This entire place is cursed," Arc warned Kies.

"Huh, I wasn't planning to in the first place," Kies told Arc. "But anyway, how do I get out of this place and back onto the surface?" Kies didn't understand there was a place like this so far down underground but he didn't want anything to do with it. He needed to get back up and continue fighting the Bone Whistler, assuming that the battle hasn't ended yet. He was confident that everyone else survived, but he wasn't sure if they would be able to continue fighting. The Bone Whistler's last attack had done a great number on them. The battle was possibly already lost as well if what that lady had shown them was real.

"There is no way out of here, but I do sense another room beyond that wall in front of you," Arc told Kies.

Not exactly what Kies wanted to hear, but maybe the exit was in that room. "How do I open it?" Kies asked as he walked up to the wall and analyzed it. The wall didn't look any different so there was no way for him to tell that there was a door here. Maybe the way to open this door was by placing his hand on it just like before.

But before Kies could do so, Arc stopped him and informed him that that wasn't the correct way to open it. "I believe that the way to open this door is by using that altar over there," Arc told Kies. Kies walked back to the altar and looked at it again. There was nothing to press or touch. "You have to pour your magic into it."

"I see." Kies hovered his hand directly above the altar. He felt his magic get sucked in automatically without having to do anything else. The feeling was similar to getting pricked by a needle. After pouring enough magic into the altar, Kies watched as the walls shifted to the side to reveal a hidden passage.

As the door passage opened up, Kies felt a chill go down his spine. It might've been his imagination but he heard a high-pitched childish laugh somewhere down the passage.

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