The Hidden Vault

Chapter 13: The Hidden Vault

September 4th, Easica calendar Year 10291.

It was around 7 'o'clock in the evening.

At that moment, Abium had already reached the hidden vault ruin and now stood a few meters away from a dark rocky cave. The cave's surroundings were full of thorns and poisonous plants and appeared gloomier.

He soon moved closer towards the cave's mouth with an exhausted expression on his face and glanced at the surroundings cautiously. After confirming no dangers nearby, he breathed out a sigh of relief and removed his right hand from the sword hilt.

He then took out the water pouch and took a sip of water.

'I'm almost running out of water.' A frown appeared on his face.

While coming here, he crossed through two large mountains, large grassland of the Baxbron Woods, dense woods, and a dangerous area where most wild animals reside. But not a single sign of water ponds or river appeared in his sight.

'I heard that there is a large river flowing through the Baxbron Woods and entering Margrave Eliot's territory, though. Maybe I have to move in northern direction to locate that river.' He nodded thoughtfully and looked up at the western sky.

At that moment, only a shade of orange light appeared at the edge of the sky, giving a beautiful scenario to his eyes.

'It took me almost a day to reach here!' While he was in muse, the darkness started to surround him, making it hard to see what was before him.

But without showing any fear, he touched the cave's entrance and entered inside.

The cave was engulfed in chilling blackness. The absence of light meant the lack of its warming touch. But that didn't stop Abium from moving forward because he was familiar with this cave.

After taking two steps into the abyssal darkness, he moved his hand towards his leather bag and took out a magic stone lamp from it. Then, he touched the switch area and lit it.

With the sudden lighting effect, Abium could now see everything. The cave was a long, dark cave with large and sharp thorns on the roof. It was also littered with plants that had poisonous properties. But what amazed him the most were the strange drawings on the ceiling and walls of this cave.

Abium stepped inside the cave cautiously and tapped those chilling rocks from time to time.

Finally, after a minute of walking and tapping, he arrived near a strange rectangular rock, touched a smooth surface with his finger, and smiled.

'It's here!' He muttered to himself and pressed that smooth rock. But nothing happened.

'What's wrong?' He furrowed his brows and became puzzled.

'In the past, I came here anxiously and touched the same area. The only difference is that I was injured back then and came here to hide away from the wolves.' He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and soon widened his eyes.

'Blood! It must be something to do with my blood.' In truth, he had long suspected that his bloodline had something to do with the door.

'Elven Bloodline. Navare once told me that I might have a trace of elven bloodline, but I was quite skeptical of his words. But he told me that I've some resemblance with the elves like sharp eyesight, reflexes, and excellent hearing. It seems he was right all along.' In truth, Navare was his only Elven friend from the Elven Kingdom, and both had traveled to the Wadel Kingdom once to save his half-brother.

While thinking of such a good friend, he chuckled inwardly.

After that, he unsheathed his sword and made a small cut using the sharp edge. He then let a few drops of blood onto the smooth wall and waited.

A heartbeat later, a white light flickered inside the rocky cave, and then a mysterious white-colored circle appeared under his feet.

Abium found himself in a mysterious room after a sudden flash of light in the past.

But this time, Abium saw the mysterious circle clearly and became astounded.

'Magic!' That was the only answer that appeared in his mind!

Then, he heard a slight clanging sound, and soon the smooth rock shone in radiant white light.

A rumbling noise echoed, followed by a suction force!

Abium found himself standing in a small 2x2 meter room the next instant.

In front of him was another rocky door, but it didn't have any mysterious circle or words engraved on it. He paused in surprise for a moment, walked towards the rocky door, raised both of his hands, and pushed it.

The rocky door slowly opened a second later and revealed a path towards empty darkness.

No, it was a stone staircase that led downstairs.

A smile crept on Abium's face as he saw the empty darkness, raised the magic lamp, and stepped into the darkness.

The light brightened the gloomy dark path and revealed a metallic door at the end of the stairs.

Holding the magic lamp in his right hand, he stepped down slowly and soon reached the end.

It appeared to be an entrance to a room.

As Abium arrived in front of the door, he unlocked the rusty rock and opened it with a screeching noise.

Without any delay, he walked inside. But the next instant, the rocky door in the upstairs suddenly made a rumbling noise and automatically sealed itself.

Alas, not a single sign of anxiousness or fear appeared on his face.

Instead, he calmly shook his head and progressed further while inspecting the darkroom.

It was a shabby room with three sq meters and had a broken metal table placed at the center. The table was rusty and completely covered in dust.

Abium also saw an eerie black metal door on the other side and narrowed his eyes.

'This time, I will definitely explore what's on the other side.'

Shaking his head, Abium turned his head and looked at the wooden box placed on the broken metal table.

It was a small, black, and shiny box. When Abium opened the box, there was a ring placed in it.

'Spatial ring.' He smiled widely.

It was a blue-colored gem embedded silver ring!

He immediately picked the spatial ring and put it on his ring finger. Then, he sent a minute amount of spirit power into it and imprinted with it.

'This ring's owner must be dead ages ago; otherwise, there is no way I would be able to open it.' Abium sighed deeply.

Spatial rings were very mysterious and rare artifacts, and they rarely appeared even in the auction houses. Moreover, these rings were the most secure lockers for every mage.

In truth, forcibly transferring one's spirit power to open a spatial ring was almost an impossible job even for powerful mages. As long as someone puts their spiritual imprint in the spatial ring, the ring would connect with their soul itself.

If someone tries to destroy the original owner's spirit imprint to get the things from the space ring, it will cause an elemental fluctuation. That fluctuation would further lead the ring to shatter, and the materials inside that ring would also disappear into the void forever. The only way to get ownership of the ring was to kill the owner.

That's what a roaming mage told Abium in the past.

As he was thinking, he felt a connection with the spatial ring and soon saw a space of around 25 cubic meters appear in his mind.

A pleasing smile appeared on his face.

After that, he stored his leather bags in his spatial ring, turned his head towards the black door, and stood there hesitantly.

When Abium entered this room in the past, he was scared of that black door and didn't dare to get near it.

He stayed inside this mysterious room for a day and escaped from here through the same rocky door.

Eventually, he met Oliver, an elite soldier who saved his life in the past and became a real warrior.

When Oliver asked about the ring during the training, Abium revealed all the details and even told him about the dark door. He was a naive boy back then.

After hearing Abium's words, Oliver quickly warned him not to reveal this ring's existence to anyone. Besides, Oliver explained to him it was the spatial ring, and mages mostly use these types of rings.

He also told him that this spatial ring was a treasure even for a noble and warned him sternly that revealing its existence to others would invite more trouble.

At first, Abium thought Oliver was attempting to scare him. But later, he learned more about magic and artifacts from an apprentice mage and finally understood why Oliver had repeatedly warned him.

'Anyway, past is past. What I need to do now is to pave a way for my future using my past knowledge.'

His first purpose of obtaining that ring was over.

Now it's time for him to investigate what was hidden on the other side of the black door. Nodding, he walked closer towards the eerie black metal door and cautiously moved his hand towards the lock.

When his finger touched the lock, it fell on the ground with a clanging noise.

After a slight pause, Abium slightly pushed the door panel, and it opened with a screeching sound. He saw stairs appear in front of his eyes and revealed a passage downstairs.

'An underground passage?' He frowned deeply.

Although he was eager to explore what was inside this basement, he quickly stopped himself and thought of resting inside the mysterious room before exploring.

He then closed the black door, moved towards the center of this mysterious room, and lay on the rocky floor near the table.

After that, he looked up at the weird inscriptions painted on the ceiling in a daze and soon fell into a deep sleep.