Stone Arch

A while later, Mathew and the woman continued to stroll through the passage. As they ventured deeper the air grew heavier and the light from the lantern of avarice danced along the stone walls.

The cobblestone halls were as dead silent as ever, only broken by the sound of their footsteps. At his side, the woman walked beside him, her brow furrowed in thought as her eyes darted from wall to wall, watching for the slightest sign of movement. She glanced at Matthew, who strode forward, almost indifferent to the eerie tension in the air.

The tension in the air grew and grew, until finally, the woman finally broke the quiet, her voice low and cautious. 

"What am I doing here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What else would I be talking about?"

She turned to him, scowled, then said.

"You know, if it weren't for the death of that idiot, I wouldn't even be in this mess."

"You're welcome to go join him then."

The woman's scowl deepened, her brows practically knitting together as she said.

"Why do you want to get to that wall so badly anyway?"

"Would you rather stay behind in this monster-infested maze alone then?"

She paused for a while, then scoffed and asked.

"You've got some nerve you know. Assuming I'd really need your help to survive. I've made it just fine coming this far alone, haven't I?"

The young cynic sighed.

"Suit yourself then."

Picking up his pace, he briskly walked past her. As she watched the light of the lantern grow dimmer as he went further, her arrogant demeanor stiffened ever so slightly as her fingers grazed the edge of her sleeve. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and for a fraction of a moment. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm, called out, and said.

"Do you have to be so difficult?"

Without turning to answer, Mathew responded.

"Just show me the way."

The woman glared at him. If her stare was enhanced, with the intensity she was glaring, she would have burnt a hole in his skull. Sadly, she couldn't do anything to him. She was already too far into the darkness to leave the safety of his lantern's light behind. Accepting her fate, she sighed and then said.

"Fine."

Moments later, they resumed their journey. The tension hung in the air as he strolled slightly behind the woman. Mostly because she had claimed to have seen the depictions of the old tongue somewhere in the dark pathways, but also because he didn't know how safe it was to roam through them. Before they began their journey into it, he had questioned her of how she had gotten there in the first place.

According to her, she was chased by a beast so large that its body scraped along the walls and roof of the pathways. In her haste, she noticed a pathway just like the one they found themselves in front of and ran through. The beast that pursued her though, refused to step into the darkness. According to her description, it was like the beast trembled in fear the moment it laid eyes on the darkness.

If he was right, she had either come across the same Gila scavenger he had unleashed. In which case he felt a tad guilty. Or she had encountered another one altogether. The mere idea that there was more than one of those beasts roaming the halls of the pathway was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

Meaning with his safety in mind, this was the best and only option he had in case one of those beasts suddenly came up on one of those beasts that wasn't afraid of the darkness. But with each step, his body grew weaker and weaker. It had now been at least a few days since he late had something to eat. He tried to focus on the path ahead, but his mind wandered to the gnawing hunger in his stomach.

The young cynic kept his distance from the woman, carefully hiding his expression. As they continued down the winding passage, Mathew's thoughts drifted to the depictions they sought. What secrets lay hidden within those words? He didn't understand them, so he wondered, would he be able to find answers if he just stared at them? Or would they only uncover more questions?

The uncertainty gnawed at him, much like his hunger.

***

Nearly an hour flew by and Mathew could feel his energy waning. He had pushed himself to the limit, and couldn't go on much longer, but made sure to keep pace with the woman.

'I need to find those damn runes. And fast!'

Turning to the woman, he asked.

"Hey, when are we going to get there?"

Turning to him in frustration, the woman said.

"Just be patient, will you? we're almost..."

Suddenly, a faint, growl echoed from a distance. The woman raised a hand, signaling them to stop. Staring at her trembling body, Mathew leaned in and whispered into the woman's ear.

"Do you think it's close?"

The woman twitched at the sound of his voice, her jaw tightening as Mathew's breath brushed past her ear. Shifting her weight ever so slightly away from him, she shaped to shove him away, but she held herself still, knowing that even the smallest noise could possibly put them in an inescapable situation.

Her lips pressed into a thin line before she turned to scan the dark path ahead. Then a few brief seconds later, with a testy tone said.

"This way."

Luckily, they did not encounter whatever it was that made that sound, and after a few hours of carefully maneuvering, they finally reached their destination.

Before them loomed a colossal stone arch embedded into the wall sturdy wall. The sheer size of it was overwhelming. Like with the room before, the young cynic felt the sense of something watching him grow even stronger.

"I thought you said this was an arch?"

The woman stepped forward cautiously.

"This is an arch. Just, a very large one."

But that wasn't of much consequence to him right now. What mattered to Mathew was that like the woman said, above the door, Mathew found symbols that looked identical to the one on his lantern as well as an image depicting it.

Mathew's eyes traced the carvings.

"Looks... welcoming," he whispered sarcastically, though his tone lacked its usual bite.

But what could all this mean? Was his lantern some kind of ancient artifact related to this place?

Raising the lantern of avarice, he inspected the symbols inscribed on it and compared them to those carved into the arch. As similar as they were, they were not identical. For every stroke on one inscribed on the lantern, there were two more carved onto the stone. Did that mean they said different things? Or were they two different parts of a message?