Chapter 5. First Day. First Assignment.

They left in the early afternoon. The weather was steady: clouds thick but not heavy. They walked a familiar trail in silence, easily. Rein checked direction every ten minutes, using both compass and sun. Ellie kept pace, checked tracks, instinctively memorized trees, soil shape, the sound underfoot. All was well. For now.

The descent to the ravine was steeper than usual. Ellie had found a new path slightly to the east, to lead them directly to the supposed intersection of the lines. Where the third point should… could be.

– Here, – she said when they reached the correct ledge.

The rock wall before them was almost flat, but at knee level a recessed line could be seen. They came closer. Ellie wiped away the dust with her hand. A recess. A triangle. But not like before. The base was thinner. The angles duller. The depth the same.

They stayed at the third recess longer than planned. Rein took notes, checked against the map, examined shadows and the width of the indentation. Ellie barely moved, just stared. Something clicked inside her not fear, not anxiety, but joy. Pure. Muffled, like in childhood when you guessed where the present was hidden. Her fingers itched not from cold, but from the desire to grab a pencil.

Her eyes were shining.

– Do you see it? – she said quietly. – This isn't just a copy. They're different. They were made as parts of a figure. These aren't coincidences. It's deliberate.

Rein nodded.

– Looks like a coordinate grid. Or a lock with multiple plates. If there are three, the fourth is somewhere beneath.

– Yes. But even if we don't find the fourth, the logic is already here. Look: the angle, the placement, the alignment. They mirror the path. We're not just walking the ground. We're walking a structure. A design.

He looked at her. Her eyes were burning.

Mouth slightly open, breathing quickened. Not from exertion. She was in it. Inside the task.

– I want to know, – she said quietly but clearly. – Not because I have to. Not because it's a guild mission. But because I feel there's an answer here. And I almost see it.

– And if… something opens?

– Then we'll be the first to see it. And I don't want to miss that moment.

She turned to the slope, traced the recess with her finger one more time. Then stood up abruptly.

– Down. To the very center. Everything points there.

Rein said nothing. Just stood up after her. And for the first time, smiled. Just a little.

The light was dim even though the sun was high. The air warm, but didn't warm the skin. On the way down they didn't encounter a single animal. Not even birds flew over the ravine. When Ellie and Rein reached the center, both noticed. But didn't speak.

The point where the lines intersected lay almost beneath the wall with the first recess. Ellie checked the map step by step. The ground began to change, becoming viscous, as if too much moisture had been poured here, but not water. Stones sank deep. The air was stale. Not rotten. Just… old. Not refreshed.

On the ninth step she stopped.

– Here.

Rein stepped closer. Ellie crouched, brushing away soil quickly. Dust swirled in a thick cloud, filling the air. Gradually, smooth stone appeared. Too smooth. As if someone had sanded it down. The angles unnaturally symmetrical. The center slightly concave. Barely noticeable. Only if you crouched and caught the glint of light.

Ellie leaned in. Ran her fingers over it. Then her palm. Held her breath.

– There's…

She didn't finish. Her hand sank in. The stone moved.

No, it didn't open. Didn't fall apart. It shifted back, as if responding to touch. No click. No sound. Just a crack opened at the center. Black. Narrow. Like a fracture, but with clean edges. Not natural. Not by a millimeter.

Rein crouched.

– This isn't just stone. It's a panel.

– A panel?

– Look. – He drew a circle with intersections in the middle using chalk.

– You know what this means? – Ellie asked.

– I think it's not a lock.

– Then what?

He looked at her.

– It's an invitation.

The crack with the last marking widened more, and when the stone fully retracted inward, a descent was revealed. Stairs. Evenly carved, with edges. No moss. No dirt. Only dust. Dry. Gray. As if the ceiling had collapsed centuries ago, but no one ever walked these stairs. The steps were cut stone, the kind found in the region.

They descended three flights. A soft scraping underfoot. Not from their steps. From the air. It crawled.

No symbols. No markings. Just structure. Too symmetrical. Too even. No underground space should be like this. But this one was.

They reached the hall.

It wasn't large. About fifty by fifty steps. Walls of black stone. On the crown of the walls carved skulls. In the center a pedestal. Empty. But the strangest thing was the silence. Not deathly. Not magical. Just the kind of silence that knows you're here.

Rein spoke first.

– This isn't catacombs. Not a crypt.

– And not a lab, – added Ellie.

They stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by shadow. Ellie slowly scanned the walls with her eyes. The stones unmoving, but the air trembled. As if someone was breathing within it, soundlessly.

Rein stepped forward. Listened. Then, from beneath the ground, right underfoot, a rustle. A scrape.

– Do you hear that? – he asked.

– That… it's the same sound. From the ravine.

– The one from the groove?

Ellie nodded. Her fingers on her dagger hilt. And at that moment, something twisted from the wall. The first.

It wasn't a body. A shell. Like skin stretched over emptiness. Gray-black, dry. Moved like a spider, but without limbs. Slid like a shadow, but left a trail. A patterned one. Spinal. Straight. The same. They came two at a time. Then three. Five total. No eyes. No faces. Instead of faces, hollows. Triangular.

Rein stepped in front silently. Sword ready.

– Back, Ellie. This isn't your fight.

He thought she was fragile. A bookworm. But Ellie was already moving.

The creature lunged at her. She rolled aside, slashed its side where the pattern converged into a "seam." A dry crack. Hollow inside.

Rein attacked frontally. Slashing neck and chest. The thing recoiled, and from its chest black webbing burst, like smoke but denser. He managed to jump back.

Ellie moved fast. Precise. The second creature came from the side. She didn't block, she confused its steps, distracted it, struck the "artery" at the neck. No blood. Just a gasp of air, and the shell collapsed.

Rein turned, saw. No shock. Just a short glance: "So you can fight." And back into battle.

They fought together. He was the shield. She the blade. He held. She sliced. Their moves felt rehearsed. As if it wasn't their first battle. As if their bodies already remembered where she'd be when he stepped left.

One remained. The last. It didn't attack. It stood. Its chest breathed. Narrow. Rhythmic.

– It's waiting, – said Ellie.

– For what?

– I don't know. But not us.

Rein stepped forward. The creature let out a rasp, like sucking air through sand, and crumbled. On its own.

They were left in silence.

The hall was empty again. Only patches of ash, remains of shells, a faint smell not of rot but of time.

Rein exhaled.

– Not undead.

– No. Worse. It's… a recording.

– Of what?

– As if someone made them not to fight. But to… remember. Collect. Store.

She crouched by one's remains. Looked at the triangular hollow in place of a face. Touched it.

– It's all connected. The groove. The scraping. The shape. No doubt now, I'm sure they're Cognitophages. These things are part of something bigger. They're nerves. Or tendrils. From someone inside. Someone who feels.

– Then ahead lies a harder task. Cognitophages don't act alone. They're always minions. This time… gatekeepers.

Ellie didn't argue. They looked at the walls. And then they saw it.

Under the pedestal, almost in shadow, a symbol was carved. An oval, intersected by three lines. And in the center, a triangle. Just like in the wall. Like in the groove.

As they stood by the pedestal, light burst from inside them.

Not bright. Not blinding. Just a breath of energy, a tremor through the chest. Rein clenched his jaw slightly. Ellie straightened, as if she stood half a step taller.

It was normal. In this world, when you win, when you survive, the world answers. Not a god. Not a system. Just… something old.

The light pulsed from the chest, faded. Left a mark not on the body. Inside. Breathing got easier. Sight deeper. Sometimes the hand cut more precisely. But no one knew how it worked. No one controlled it. It just… was.

– Hmm. A blessing. Right on schedule. – Ellie smiled lightly.

They stood among the remains of battle. Dust settling. In the air, the whisper of vanished memory still trembled. Ellie slowly circled the hall, studying the walls, the pedestal, the indentations in the stone. Nothing new. She stopped.

A footprint. Where they hadn't walked. Where neither had been.

A boot print, faint in dust but visible. Old. With a patterned heel. One step. Another. Leading… to the wall. Then vanished.

– Rein, did you walk here?

– No. I kept to the other side.

Ellie crouched. Ran her finger across the print. Dust fell away. The print was fresh.

Fresher than their own. She said nothing. Just stood.

And silently walked back to the pedestal.

It wasn't him. And not me. So… someone else.

When they emerged again, the sun was already lowering. The wind had shifted. The path up wasn't hard, but it stretched. Neither spoke. Until the guild's threshold.

Back at the guild, they didn't linger. Entered silently. The usual hum. Someone laughing. Someone arguing. Ellie walked to the duty scribe, laid down a folded map marked with three new points and one fourth at the intersection. No loud words. No grand gestures.

– New object. Confirmed entrance. Underground structure with necropolis features. Uncharted. Resistance encountered, unusual activity recorded.

The scribe lifted his eyes from the paperwork. First disbelief. Then attention. He logged the data, checked signatures. Then spoke.

– Dungeon. Necropolis. East Womb sector. Previously marked inactive. Discovery confirmed. Now open for registration.

It rang out across the hall. Clearly. Echo bouncing from the walls.

And it began.

– I'm taking it! – First voice. Already on the move.

– That route's mine! – Second.

– Hurry, mark it! I'll go alone if I have to! – Third, hands reaching for the form.

A line formed in minutes. Scribes, usually lazy, suddenly brisk, laying out route forms, ink pots, backup maps. A few officers were checking clearance lists, and Ellie and Rein stepped aside. Watching.

– We started this, – Rein said quietly.

– Yes.

Half an hour later, the guild was buzzing. Senior members exchanging glances. Archive staff pulling out maps, diagrams, notes. Juniors arguing over who could gather a group faster. A debate began:

– "The triangles are traps!"

– "No, markers for portals!"

– "What if it's not magic at all, but ancient mechanics?"

Ellie sat by the wall. Calm. Rein nearby. They didn't interfere.

Somewhere inside, Ellie's fingers itched. Not from worry. From the desire to go: back there. Down again. Closer again. But not just the two of them anymore.

The next morning, from the first hour, groups lined up at the counters: some to apply for necropolis access, some yelling they "had priority," some trying to bargain for early registration.

Ellie passed them by like they weren't there.

She went to the quiet window for unclaimed sectors. The scribe, that same dry woman with the round face and tired eyes, recognized her. Nodded silently.

– Something unclaimed, preferably not toward the Womb, – Ellie said.

– There's an eastern ridge, crossing two old streams. No marks, no claims. Just some odd ground tremors.

– Good. Mark it.

– Solo?

– As always.

While the paperwork was being filled, she felt a gaze. Turned. Rein stood by the far wall. Mug in hand. Looking not at her, but still seeing.

She walked over.

– You're back?

– Yeah. Watched yesterday as others tried to retrace our path. Funny.

– Anyone make it?

– One. Broke a finger.

– That count?

– For him, yeah.

They were silent. Then Ellie held out a scroll.

– For the escort. By the rules.

He took it. Didn't open it. Just nodded.

– Going again?

– Yes. New sector. East.

– Alone?

– And you?

He smirked a little.

– I think I'll sit a day or two. Watch who else tries to die gloriously.

– Boring.

– Don't tell anyone.

She was already turning when he said:

– Thanks, Ellie.

She stopped.

– For what?

– For showing you're not a worm. And that we work… pretty well.

– Almost like we practiced.

– Almost.

– Well… maybe we'll practice again.

He didn't answer. Just nodded. And looked back into his mug. She left.