Chapter 51: Reunion

  I woke up abruptly in complete darkness.

  [Item Consumed: Lumindew x1]

  [Night Vision activated. Duration: 30 minutes. Visual range enhanced in low-light areas]

  Last one left.

  An unfamiliar chamber materialized in front of me – not the one where I had spoken to Diona. This one was much smaller, barely three-by-three meters. A decaying curtain covered the only doorway.

  I looked around, disoriented, realizing I was laying on a stone platform. It wasn’t the floor – it was elevated, almost like a makeshift bed.

  I sat up quickly, my mind racing as the memory of the tremor and Diona’s hands on me flooded back. She had put me to sleep. And she said that…she’s saving me? From what?

  “Diona?” I called out, but no response came.

  I ran through both my inventories quickly, checking all my items to make sure nothing was missing. Relieved to find everything intact, I stepped forward and pushed the curtain aside.

  The room before me was empty, aside the large stone table in the center, filled with metallic cups and plates, covered by a thick layer of dust and rust. The walls on all sides had doorways similar to the one I’d just exited, each covered by a curtain in varying states of decay.

  I checked some of the other rooms just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Each one was identical to the chamber I’d woken up in – small, barren, with the same stone platform for a bed.

  Could this have been the priestesses’ dormitories or something? Now that I knew for sure this wasn’t an actual tomb, it seemed likely.

  As I focused on the cups scattered across the stone table, I noticed they were faintly outlined by a purple aura.

  As I approached and focused on them, the Déjà vu System reacted almost immediately.

  [Temporal Trace: Vestige of Time #? - Available]

  So, each one of these items held a memory fragment? Of who exactly?

  Eager to learn more, I touched a few of them, allowing myself to dive into the memory fragments they held.

  What I saw, however, didn’t reveal much.

  Each cup belonged to a priestess, and so each one held a memory of theirs. Moments of the their childhoods - both happy and sad, their moments of pride and achievement. All in all, they seemed like regular people. For all the world had demonized the Axul – maybe deservedly so, all things considered – these glimpses painted a different picture.

  They were just people. Ordinary girls with the same worries, joys, and aspirations as any teenager and young adult their age.

  Knowing the fate of their people, and the fact that Lysandra might’ve been orchestrating all of this on her own – made the fragments all the more haunting.

  Each cup I touched lost its purple aura and touching them again didn’t trigger the Vestige again.

  That made sense, since now they appeared in my second inventory.

  I stepped outside the chamber and into the corridor, still looking for Diona. She was my best bet for the current run. I might lose my memories of it all in the next run, but some of it will still stick through Echo Sense and Déjà vu.

  The corridor was empty. Distance Gauge wasn’t picking up anything.

  I sighed as I moved forward slowly.

  I couldn’t shake the thought that Diona might still be nearby. Previously, I hadn’t been able to sense her presence either – not even when she was being attacked by the Void Centipede – not when it was too late. I only heard her scream...

  She could still be here, hiding somewhere in this forsaken place.

  But where was I, exactly?

  Before, I could tell I had been in the 20’s floors. But now? Where had Diona taken me? Did she bring me upward – or even deeper?

  I sighed, pressing on, eventually reaching a staircase leading upward. Might as well go back up.

  God, couldn’t they at least label their floors?!

  Ascending the stairs, I entered a massive, empty chamber that seemed to span the entire floor. On the far side, another staircase ascended further.

  I also immediately noticed the change in temperature - it was freezing here.

  I began making my way toward it when Distance Gauge picked something up – something to my left, far beyond the range of my Lumindew’s night vision.

  Curious, I changed my course, cautiously heading toward the source of the signal. But when I reached it, all I found was a solid wall.

  Confused, I glanced around, wondering why Distance Gauge had reacted.

  That’s when it happened.

  A giant claw broke through the wall with a deafening crash, slashing toward me with crazy speed.

  In the last possible moment, I activated Dash Step, leaping backward as the claw missed me by a hair.

  Heart pounding, I stared ahead. The wall was completely intact – and the claw, or whatever it belonged to, was gone.

  What the hell was that?

  No way I imagined it!

  I took a few step forward, and the it snapped at me again – the claw, lunging out of nowhere!

  Reacting instinctively, I raised Silverfang to block.

  The impact was immense, far stronger than I’d anticipated.

  The force sent me hurtling sideways, slamming into the chamber wall hard.

  I gasped as my HP bar plummeted – half of it gone in an instant.

  What. The. Fuck?!

  Pain shot through my body as I tried to regain my footing, my mind racing.

  What the hell even was that?! A wraith?!

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  Even the Déjà vu System hadn’t recognized the attacker.

  Raising Silverfang defensively, I braced for another attack, expecting a follow-up. But the chamber was silent once more. The broken wall intact as well.

  If another attack came, it would be enough to kill me and end this run early. So, taking a deep breath, I consumed two healing potions to restore my lost HP.

  As the warm sensation spread through my body, my HP climbed back to around 90%. Relieved, I decided to stay the hell away from that wall. I wasn’t sure what this thing was, but I couldn’t fight something I couldn’t see – something that could knock out half of my HP with one swing even when I blocked.

  Before leaving, I crept as close to the wall as I dared, without dragging a reaction from whatever it was. Then, I dropped a Temporal Trace mark for my future selves before heading up the staircase where the cold followed me.

  Another floor, another corridor branching into tens of chambers. What a surprise.

  I activated Distance Gauge, sensing a presence in the first chamber to my left.

  Gripping Silverfang tightly, I approached slowly.

  Could it be Diona?

  Close, but no.

  I recognized the two people inside from the entrance this morning. Except now they were outlined by faint purple auras.

  He was a pretty famous adventurer while she was responsible for the logistics of the quest.

  “Luke, watch out!” called a young woman with short, auburn hair. She was sitting on the ground, seemingly injured, but nothing too fatal as far as I could tell. She was wearing a blue robe, befitting her class. A level 82 Enchantress.

  Standing protectively near her was a Warcaster – just like Yana, level 85, with messy blonde hair, and a grey-colored, medium-weight armor. He turned immediately, his sword aimed directly in my direction.

  When his gaze landed on me, his posture relaxed slightly, and he sighed in relief. “Oh, it’s a human. Thank the Creator. You can breathe, Fiona.” He said, glancing back at the woman.

  But then his face twitched, his expression shifting as he kept looking at me. “Wait a minute…level 50, Spellsword…you’re Aidan, aren’t you?”

  I froze, puzzled. I knew who they were, but how did they know who I was?

  Did my reputation as the weakest adventurer on this quest precede me?

  “You know me?” I asked warily.

  They exchanged glances, then the man burst out laughing.

  “I can’t believe she was right…” the woman muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “That’s true love for you, I guess…”

  “What?” I asked, now completely bewildered.

  “Yeah, sorry.” The man said, shaking his head as he approached me with an outstretched hand. “I’m Luke Hargreaves, and that’s Fiona. We’re with the Burning Suns.”

  “That doesn’t explain how you know who I am.” I replied cautiously, still extending my hand to meet his.

  The moment our hands touched, I felt like my mind was under attack.

  [Temporal Trace: Vestige of Time #12 - Available]

  Another memory fragment flooded my vision.

  In it, Luke was speaking with none other than Kelltins. But there was nothing sinister about their conversation. Luke had been asking Kelltins for advice – nervously seeking tips on how to invite Fiona out on a date without coming across as too pushy.

  Despite what I knew about Kelltins – Noctyra – now, he had acted like a great friend in that moment, offering genuine advice and encouragement.

  “Hey, you okay there, buddy?” Luke’s voice pulled me back to reality. “You’ve been kinda…shaking my hand for three seconds too long.”

  I instinctively retracted my hand, startled.

  First Diona, then the cups, now this.

  Was I actually going to experience a Vestige of Time every time I touch something? So, that’s what the Déjà vu System had meant by “most” of what I touched. It hadn’t been an exaggeration at all.

  How do I turn this shit off?!

  [Temporal Trace: Vestiges of Time - OFF]

  Well, that was oddly convenient...

  All these Vestiges kept stacking inside my second inventory leaving me wondering if it had an item limit. They were weightless, there’s that, but other than that, what did I actually know about the second inventory’s limits?

  “Anyway…” I shook my head, trying to refocus. “How do you know me?”

  Luke exchanged a confused glance with Fiona before turning back to me. “As I just said – when you apparently blacked out – we came here with Yana. She’s been desperately looking for you.”

  Yana.

  “Damn, she’ll go nuts when she’ll see – “

  “Where is she?” I asked quickly, cutting him off, my heart racing.

  “Whoa, whoa, relax. She’s okay. There shouldn’t be any monsters on the floor. We already cleared it.” Luke said, raising his hands to calm me. “She’s somewhere on this floor with some of our other guys, looking for healing potions or herbs we might've missed. It's for our injured Enchantress over there.” He motioned with his head toward Fiona who rolled her eyes at his comment before turning a heavy gaze toward me.

  “How the hell did you survive here all on your own?” she asked, her tone sharp. Even Luke seemed uncomfortable, yet he looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

  “Where did you even disappear to? Both you and the Rogue from your team.” Fiona pressed on as I remained silent.

  I contemplated how best to lie my way out of this. At the same time, I wanted to gather as much information as possible from them – how they made it here, what had happened upstairs – and most importantly, I wanted to see Yana.

  “Dude?” Luke said, eying me skeptically.

  I sighed. Honestly, as long as I don’t reveal anything that could drastically affect this run, it didn’t really matter how I lied. I just needed to make it sound plausible. Or at the very least, not pure nonsense.

  “On our way back to the main antechamber, we stopped for a little talk and got attacked by Undead Wolves.” I said. “We ran for our lives. Had to improvise, but one thing led to another, and I reached this floor.”

  “That makes sense.” Luke nodded, sending a glance in Fiona’s direction. “We were attacked by the wolves just as we were discussing sending a party to look for them.”

  They were attacked by the Undead Wolves upstairs too? Lucky me, I guess.

  Fiona didn’t look convinced with my story.

  “Where’s your Rogue friend, then?” she asked, her tone even harsher.

  “Some large monster attacked us, and we got separated at some point.” I replied, forcing a disappointed expression on my face. “God, I hope he’s okay…”

  “Damn.” Luke’s face soured. “We’ll look for him too once everyone else gets back. Don’t worry.”

  But Fiona wasn’t buying it. “I’m not buying this story. He’s level 50, Luke! Fifty! Look how ragged we got just reaching this floor, and I’m not even talking about all the people we lost! But look at him! He’s practically unscathed!”

  I was unsure how to respond to the very logical accusations. Thankfully, Luke stepped in to back me up.

  “So, what, Fee? You think he’s working with the monsters or something? Why would he even lie about this?” he gestured toward me. “I won’t deny he looks suspiciously healthy considering we’re twelve floors deep, but he’s probably just the luckiest dude alive. That’s all there is to it!”

  Fiona pouted, turning away with her arms crossed.

  Luke turned to me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. Upstairs was…harsh.” He glanced back at Fiona, smiling weakly. “Also, Yana is like her best friend so I guess she’s jealous seeing you here or something.”

  “I’m not jealous.” Fiona muttered, her tone defensive, making Luke visibly uncomfortable at his failed joke.

  Glad to be off the hook, I nodded. “No worries.” Then, I summoned a health potion from my inventory and offered it to Luke. “I actually have a potion to spare.”

  Luke’s face lit up as he grabbed it almost immediately. “Thanks, man!”

  He rushed over to Fiona, and after a brief, muffled exchange, she drank it. Slowly, she rose to her feet, stretching as she sighed deeply.

  “I’m sorry, Aidan.” She said, her tone softer now. “I didn’t mean to sound rude. I was just…on edge.”

  “As I said, no worries.” I replied, turning to the questions that bothered me. “What happened to you, though? How did you end up here?”

  “Well, not to scare you, but…we’re kind of stuck here. The tomb sealed us in.” Luke said, a look of disbelief on his face.

  This part was nothing new. But realizing I should act surprised hearing this news – unless I wanted another interrogation from Miss Enchantress – I gasped as realistically as I could. “What? What do you mean we’re stuck?”

  Fiona nodded. “Once we realized you and your team’s Rogue were missing, Yana wanted to charge off on her own to look for you. Thankfully, Lady Mikaela stopped her and suggested we send a search party instead.”

  “Shortly after that,” Luke added, “the tomb’s doors closed on us, and we were swarmed by a horde of Undead Wolves.”

  “You forgot about Gaelith speaking to us and promising to kill us all.” Fiona pointed out.

  “Oh, that’s right.” Luke nodded, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Somehow that was the least scary part of it all.”

  Gaelith spoke to them? Well, he is the vessel of Erebus…

  “Then,” Fiona continued seamlessly, “realizing the mess we were in, the leaders shifted focus to the doors. Stephan Lorren said we needed a Keystone, so two high-leveled parties were sent deeper into the tomb while Luke and I were ordered to stay behind and watch over the low-leveled adventurers.”

  “And that’s when we were attacked again.” Luke said.

  “By Grave Moles this time.” Fiona finished, shaking her head. “They broke our formation, and Yana fled to search for you. We couldn’t let her go alone, and we couldn’t stay, so we followed her, saving as many adventurers as we could until we reached this floor.”

  Watching them talk, seamlessly finishing each other’s thoughts, was oddly heartwarming. It reminded me of a time when Yana and I used to be like that – thinking on the same wavelength. As kids, people had called us inseparable.

  “Oh, here they are.” Luke said, pointing behind me. “Hey, Yana, look who we found!”

  I turned around and saw her, accompanied by two other adventurers I recognized from my team at the start of the quest: Jax and Henry.

  Yana’s eyes widened in surprise as her gaze landed on me, and silent tears began streaming down her cheeks. I suddenly realized I was tearing up too.

  I hadn’t seen her since morning, yet somehow, it felt so much longer than that.

  “Yana, I – “ I started, but she cut me off, her voice breaking as she cried.

  “Aidan, you’re alive.” She sobbed, rushing toward me and wrapping her arms tightly around me.

  I hugged her back, but the dark aura surrounding her unsettled me, tainting the heartfelt moment.