An Expected Betrayal |TBATE

Chapter 8

GREY

I woke up to everyone except me and Caera already awake. They were all doing basic morning chores. "Good morning everyone, why didn't you wake me up to help?" I asked, confused.

They all looked at me annoyed. "We tried. You sleep like a log. Caera is the same! Seeing how close you two are, she probably got it from you!" exclaimed Enola. "Also if you need help prying her off don't ask me."

I was confused by what she meant until I noticed Caera had hugged me like I was some kind of stuffed animal. I tried to peel her off only to find her grip wasn't budging. I used a lighting spell to wake her up. Since it was so similar to Thunderclap impulse no one questioned me.

"AHH!" Caera shot up in surprise. She looked around, confused about what happened. "Grey! What was that for!?"

"You were clinging onto me." I replied.

"You were as hard to wake up as Grey," said Mayla as she finished packing her stuff.

"Was I really that bad?" Caera asked, distressed.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," I said. "Alright, let's explore the cave and if we can't find anything we go out and explore the fantasy RPG."

"What's an RPG?" asked Seth, confused.

"Nothing, since I used so many 'weird' words I'm going to use more just to confuse you all. And no, I'm not going to answer any questions." I replied,. They all gave me a "are you kidding me?" look before we continued.

We walked in formation down the cave. The terrain got more and more ragged making it hard to navigate. I tied a rope around all of our waists which helped when going up and down. Since the stalactites could fall I was forced to keep a wind barrier up, using mana rotation to keep it maintained.

"Is that a door?" asked Valen. We looked in the direction he was pointing to see a door that looked like it was made from the tree's that we saw on the surface, the green veins still glowing.

"That's not scary at all," noted Caera, to which we all agreed.

"I don't see any other pathways we can go other than back," said Seth. He was right, this was the only thing we could do. We approached the door and Enola tried to open it but failed. "It's locked."

"Here, let me try," said Valen, as he too, failed to open the door.

I then tried it myself to find that it opened quite easily. "You guys failed to open a door, how do you feel about that information," I teased, earning a punch to the arm from Enola. We entered to find a living room that looked like a mix between the futuristic style of the ancient mages and elven architecture.

"Welcome descendant." I heard in my head, and by the looks of everyone else they had heard it too. The voice didn't sound like Sylvie when we talked with our bond, rather it sounded like it was my own thought.

"This is a recorded message, if you are hearing this then one of the Dijin descendants has opened the door to my room. I am the creator of this zone and this is my private quarters. If you wish to leave I have left you with a map to the exit portal. You must still survive the trials , good luck," finished the message.

"That was an ancient mage?" Seth asked, surprised. "Probably, he did say he created this zone," reasoned Mayla.

"I said that a descendant must've opened the door, does that mean that Grey is a descendant of the ancient mages?" asked Enola. Everyone looked at me with surprise.

"Apparently I am, although I had no idea up until now." I admitted.

We then looked around for the map. Unfortunately we couldn't find any books for information. The whole thing was composed of a single bedroom. I noticed there was a small box on a table. I walked over and opened it up to reveal a set of 8 bracelets. I put one on and when I held it like you would a watch when checking the time a small green box that was slightly translucent. Using the old pinch to zoom method the box expanded to reveal a 3D version of the room we were in along with a bit of the cave just outside the door.