The bull demons of the forests and mountains.
Known throughout the East for bringing destruction and feasting on human flesh from their fallen victims.
Arkshan grabbed one of its massive horns and slammed it into a nearby wall. Crashing through into the room behind. The demon got up and swung its giant hammer. Hitting through more walls as Arkshan dodged.
Jun was surprised that the ceiling hadn't collapsed in over there yet.
The half-dragon lunged his swords at the head of the Goyin. Its skeleton head reflected the blade.
Another loud bellow was heard and Arkshan went flying towards Jun. A roar of agony escaping him as he landed at Jun's feet. The half-dragon's swords clattering near the throne.
Jun's breath hitched as he saw another Goyin emerge from the halls.
The two demons ducked their massive bodies underneath the broken archway and towards them. Their hoofs pounding onto the bridge. Causing it and the nearby area to shake.
Pitch black sockets staring down Jun and Arkshan.
Jun looked over at Arkshan and started to panic. Blood covered the side of his face. His dirty blonde hair filled with its specks. Bruising started to form along his jaw.
He looked up and saw the Goyins coming closer. Slowly staring to raise their weapons. Blood drenched their dark brown hair.
Jun frantically started pushing at the slab of stone on top of him. He used all his strength and energy as the hooves pounded closer.
The slab was barely moving off of him.
With a loud yell of pain Jun managed to get the slab off of him. He pointed his hand towards the demons.
"Slice."
Loud bellows filled the grand hall as the Goyins were stunned. Jun quickly grabbed his bow and stabbed it into the chest of one. Black smoke and sludge splattered onto his face.
It fell backwards with a loud boom.
He dodged the swing of the others hammer. Jun managed to get behind the demon and jump onto its back. Plunging the silver end deep into it.
The bellows of pain echoed throughout the gran dhall. Slowly fading until only the sound of magma bubbling could be heard once again.
Arkshan coughed and Jun immediately ran towards him. He coughed up some blood and tried to prop himself onto his arm, but flopped back onto the bridge.
Jun crouched down and noticed that his jaw and collarbone was broken.
"Arkshan..."
He went to touch his arm, though he was soon hit on the back of the head by his tail.
Jun didn't know what to do and definitely wasn't trained in any type of medical practices. He decided to sit down and gingerly put his head on his lap.
Arkshan immediately protested with his tail and steam flowing out of his nose.
Though he couldn't really move as it seemed he was in agonizing pain.
"I'm going to stay."
"N...no..." The half-dragon breathed, barely audible. Jun sighed and started to slowly play with his blood stained hair. It was extremely soft.
He looked down and noticed that the bruising was already starting to fade from his body. Alongside his cuts healing.
He is like a dragon.
A soft smile managed to come to his lips.
At least he could have a small break from the Eastern demons. Though it still made no sense why they were here. He would've expected to see a Western demon at this point.
He felt as Arkshan's tense body finally relaxed. Closing his eyes and breathing softly, tail curling around his legs. Jun decided to closed his eyes as well and take a nap while he was at it.
———
A loud crack caused Jun to open his eyes.
He looked down to see Arkshan popping his jaw into place. Then his shoulder with another loud pop.
Jun was slightly disgusted at it.
He saw Arkshan's hair intertwined with his hands then began to start braiding it.
Jun had learned how to braid hair from Mina. He stifled some tears as he continued.
"I used to have braids." Arkshan reminisced softly out of the blue.
"When?" Jun was honestly bewildered by this new information.
"Your age."
"Nineteen?" Arkshan grunted.
"Why?"
Braids weren't something very common back in the East, at least on men. Though some nobles did like wearing their hair with braids.
Arkshan sat up and groaned, popping his joints in the process.
"Syó culture." He then stood up and stretched his back.
Oh right, he's from Syóyeong.
Jun never learned about the kingdom in his childhood. It sounded like it wasn't fully Western which was strange.
Arkshan retrieved his swords then looked over at Jun.
"This never happened."
Jun just nodded his head and got up.
They continued searching the rooms that were in the halls off of the grand hall.
Encountering more decayed, half eaten bodies. Alongside more Goyin.
The rooms looked to all be bedrooms which were most likely reserved for nobility of some type. They couldn't continue any further as some halls were already caved in.
Eventually they made it to a gallery hall just off of the grand hall. Torn and ripped pictures lined the walls and some smashed onto the floor.
Giving off a creepy aura as faces of people were torn and distorted.
Jun never cared for paintings as he always felt watched by them.
A gigantic map was carved into the wall with two archways on either side of it. They couldn't read anything marked on it as it was all in Dwarven once again.
Jun's stomach dropped as his eyes scanned the map. It looked like their exorcising was going to take longer than he anticipated.
A whole lot longer.
The map showed the entirety of a small kingdom.
All carved deep within the mountains.
"I want to go home already..." Jun groaned in Huazan.
He was starving as the only thing he had was the pastry when they had left St. Tóflin. His stomach grumbled in desperation.
Jun went to lean on the wall but Arkshan forced him to enter one of the archways. A wave of heat blew past him as the ambient temperature grew.
He looked up and saw lava flowing down from the hands of a giant stone statue. Slowly falling into a river that went underneath the stone floor they were on. Large pillars went up to the tall, rocky ceiling.
They seemed to be leaving the castle into an outside of sorts. As the area looked carved out into a cave instead of rooms and halls.
A narrow pathway near the river of magma went past the statue and further into the hidden depths of the mountains.
"Are you sure we need to kill all the demons..."
The sound of magma popping was Jun's only answer. He slowly turned to look at the half-dragon and saw him glaring down.
"Like hell I will." A groan escaped Jun.
I shouldn't have asked.
Jun had already known the answer since embarking on this Western odyssey.
He followed behind the half-dragon down the narrow path. The pillars looked more damaged once they went past the statue. Some had fallen into the other side, barely saved from falling down.
Bodies laid up against the sides.
Soon they were engulfed by darkness once again. Jun held onto Arkshan's arm as he was guided through the pathway.
It felt like the walls were closing in as he started to brush up against the sides more and more. Causing a wave of anxiety to come over him, fearing that the walls were going to crush him at any moment.
Arkshan then abruptly stopped in the darkness.
"Why'd you stop?" Jun whispered, he wanted to get out of this space as soon as possible.
It felt like being slowly crushed alive but the walls never moved.
"Door." Arkshan shook Jun off of him and punched something in front of them.
The cavern walls shook as rocks fell down from the ceiling.
"Are you trying to start a cave in?!" Jun was now panicking in the darkness. Looking around only to see pitch blackness and the faint light from the magma waterfall in the distance.
The half-dragon didn't answer and started patting the wall instead.
"Separate."
Jun waved his hand near the door Arkshan was talking about and saw a tall stone wall. It was covered in Dwarven writing with large holes throughout it.
To his surprise there was writing in the middle in Common. He got closer to read the carved out words.
To seek with righteous sentiment, destiny will arise.
"Understand?" Jun jumped as the half-dragon's voice came from behind.
"Looks like a type of puzzle...or saying. I don't know." Arkshan sighed loudly.
"Damn pygmies and their puzzles..."
Jun ignored him and continued looking at the door. Trying to see if there were any clues on the door to what the statement could mean.
Though there was nothing else written in Common, just small intricate drawings that lined the door's stone.
He lazily looked at the drawings from top to bottom, right to left.
The supposed story went from fighting some dragon in the mountain, then traveling to the mountain, forging something, more fighting, then buildings that were all crowded together.
It made no sense to him.
Jun groaned and went to turn around and leave this place. Maybe they weren't supposed to go this way as obviously the demons hadn't gone through it.
Arkshan grabbed his shoulder tightly and threw him at the door.
"What was that for?!" It hurt a lot from the stone hitting his back.
"You're not leaving." The half-dragon explained tersely.
"We obviously can't get through!"
"I am." Jun exhaled in exasperation. He was starving and sick of Arkshan's stubbornness.
And he was just as stubborn.
"They should've used your head for the architecture, still be standing." Arkshan snickered at Jun's mocking comment.
"And you 'hate' me." Jun just wanted to slap the smirk off of his handsome face.
"Of course!" Jun pushed past the half-dragon and began his mad dash to go back outside.
As he had told them before.
He was no hero.
Jun allowed the plasma in his hands to light his path through the narrow way towards the magma waterfall.
He gagged from the sight of bodies upon bodies laid up against the sides. Opting to just keep his eyes looking forward.
He panted as he tried his best to not fall into the lava. His foot stumbled on a ledge and panicked for a moment before catching his balance.
The lit up halls looked even more maze like as he tried to maneuver through them. He could never get used to the macabre decorations of this "mine".
Jun then came at a dead end as the hall was caved in. He felt his already fast heartbeat start to consume his eardrums as he turned around.
He was now alone in the desolate halls. A small wave of relief came over him as he turned a corner.
The familiar scene of broken and collapsed walls came into view. Jun picked up his speed and turned to the grand hall.
The Goyins' bodies were now gone which was strange.
Though he didn't care as he made the final stretch to leave this place.
Jun stopped in his tracks as he looked at the large doors in front of him. They were closed. The hall they had entered at first was closed off.
He was trapped in this place.
A soft, menacing laugh echoed from the nearby halls. Sending chills up Jun's spine.
He forced himself to look to the side.
Jun stumbled backwards as he saw Arkshan's glowing eyes staring at him.
"So predictable..."
The half-dragon's words rung throughout the grand hall.
Jun couldn't retort back. It felt like something was restricting him from speaking.
He turned around and started running across the stone bridges once again. A low hiss came from behind before Jun was swiftly plucked off of the ground. His legs dangling in the air.
Jun watched in horror as he saw the bridge change into an ocean of bubbling lava. He started to flail wildly as he went to try and pry Arkshan's hand from his neck.
"I won't hesitate to kill you." Jun internally laughed at Arkshan's words, highly doubting he actually would.
He went to try and struggle out a retort, but felt the grip release. Jun panicked and tried to grab onto something. Anything as he started to make his descent into the lava below.
His hand managed to grab onto something. Jun hit into the edge of the bridge and looked up. He had managed to grab onto Arkshan's clawed hand.
The half-dragon smirked, his pupils barely visible slits, as he stared down at Jun.
Arkshan crouched down as he continued to maintain eye contact. His tail moving like a cat's when it was curious.
"You were saying?" Jun managed to breath and he grabbed onto the ledge with his other hand.
"Pathetic."
The half-dragon let go of his hand and stood back up.
Jun desperately held onto the ledge as he put all in strength into pull himself up. He just barely managed and flopped onto the stone of the bridge. Arkshan looked down at him from above.
Why do you even try?
"Have you managed to figure out that puzzle?" Jun forced himself to ask.
"There's a key."
"I think all doors have keys." Jun rubbed his temples before standing up, not bothering to ask how Arkshan managed to figure that out.
Looks like they have to figure out what the door means after all. He looked around the grand hall to see if there were any clues about a key in the place. It was pretty huge so there had to be something.
His eyes soon landed on the ornate stone pedestal that they had passed up when they first entered the hall.
Jun slowly made his way towards the pedestal and observed it. The various gemstones shimmered at him, light bouncing all around. Unknown Dwarven runes were carved all along its stone.
Jun squatted down and continued to inspect it.
This has to mean something. Why else would it be in the middle of here?
He went to touch one of the gemstones. The light that it reflected glowed in his palm.
"Huh?" Jun took his hand away and stared at the gemstones, then put his hand over another one. The light was also reflected back into his palm.
Arkshan grunted behind him. "Hmm?"
Jun didn't hear him and tried to follow where the lights were reflected. His eyes widened as he realized they shown on runes that were engraved into the ceiling.
"Seems like it's trying to spell out a word." Jun observed as he looked around the hall. Arkshan looked up at the ceiling as well.
"Probably a location." He leaned against the pedestal as he crossed his arms. A loud click was heard.
"You're that heavy?" Jun always wondered how Arkshan could have such immense strength, even though he was a half-dragon, to where he could fight dragons in hand to hand combat.
"It's pressurized." Arkshan hissed, steam fuming from his mouth.
They both turned around and looked at the pedestal.
"What do you think goes on—" Jun stopped talking as he realized Arkshan was going into the halls once again.
He sighed and leaned on the stone pedestal. Relief came through him as the pedestal didn't move under his weight.
He waited for a bit and eventually Arkshan came back carrying something large. Jun felt his stomach do a somersault as he realized what Arkshan was carrying.
Dead Dwarven bodies.
He backed away from the pedestal and watched in horror as Arkshan flopped the decaying bodies on top of the pedestal. A disturbing squish was heard as Arkshan pushed down on pile. Decay and old blood filling the air.
"Are you sure it's heavy enough?" Jun asked perturbed, as he shielded his nose from the fowl stench.
"They're dense."
The stone pedestal jerked down with a loud click.
Silence permeated the air.
An irritated groan came from Arkshan.
All that had happened was that the grand hall had gotten the new addition of the Display of Decay.
Jun looked around to try and see if something small had been changed.
All of the sudden the bridge started to shake. He watched as the place started to shake. The lava splashed violently on the supports of the stone bridges.
Jun saw stone coming up from the sides with lava dripping off of it. It seemed that it was more flooring, to make the grand hall not just bridges over a pit of magma.
Eventually the shaking stopped and the room looked like a normal throne room.
"What was that for?" Jun wondered out loud, looking around the place. The half-dragon shrugged as he went to go back into the maze of halls.
Nothing else looked to have changed while they made their way back to the strange stone door.
Arkshan roared in anger as he punched the door. Jun jumped into the corner as a large piece of stone fell down, smashing nearby dead bodies.
The half-dragon began to yell in a foreign language as he looked at the door in pure fury.
A bright light suddenly shown into Jun's eyes. He shielded his eyes and slowly made his way towards its source.
The light was being reflected off of a small stone, resting in the hands of an armored man. Jun gingerly went to grab the stone. He cringed at the ice cold hands of the dead.
Jun felt the place shake again as Arkshan punched the door again.
He really wants a cave in.
He discreetly made his way back to the door and tried to figure out the stone's purpose. It was a soft deep blue color which fascinated Jun as he had never seen a stone like it.
Despite the large holes, that looked like they were used to hold gems or stones, Jun felt that that wasn't important to the door. He moved a body that was leaning on the door.
Behind it was a carved picture of an axe's hilt. A small hole engraved in the drawing.
Jun carefully placed the odd stone into the hole.
It glowed a bright blue as it rested in its place. Arkshan stopped exclaiming foreign words and watched as the door lit up in the carvings. The door created a line down the middle and moved into the sides of the cavern.
Revealing what it was guarding behind it.
Blue, yellow, and red lights shown out in the distance while huge stalactites hung from the roof of the new cavern. The lights looked to be emanating from impossibly large crystals that stuck out from the walls and ceiling. Mist crept towards them from the area.
It all felt like something out of a story to Jun.
Arkshan hissed and looked down at Jun then at the stone he had found. Jun stood up and gave a soft, nervous laugh as he fiddled with his bowstring.
The half-dragon rolled his eyes and entered the revealed cavern, Jun following close behind.
It was quite dim in the area, though the plethora of gigantic crystals created a soft ambient light. Jun looked around and noticed that the cavern was absolutely massive. Looking like an entire biome underground.
They were currently situated on a ledge, a steep drop off went far down deeper into the ground. Mist lightly covered the bottom down below with small stone roofs emerging above it.
Various railways were built intricately on the walls. Many were damaged along with mine carts tipped onto their sides.
Jun soon caught a whiff of a musty scent. Like a lake or river's water.
He looked around and eventually saw a colossal lake situated to their right. Jun guessed that was why there was so much mist. A small peninsula off of the cavern wall had large purple crystals on it that looked to be amethyst.
As much as this entire cave adventure had been claustrophobic to Jun, he appreciated this new area.
Though what they were going to encounter was going to be a different story.
Arkshan kicked a rock down the edge of the ledge as he looked down. A few seconds went by before a sound echoed from the bottom.
"Roughly four hundred feet." The half-dragon determined. All Jun knew was that it was a long way down.
"There's a pathway." Jun pointed out, the path looked to go to the very bottom in a gradient.
"I know." Arkshan said through gritted teeth, sounding like he was about to kick Jun off the edge.
Which was pretty par for the course with the Harbinger.
Caws resounded throughout the cavern alongside the flapping of powerful wings. Hisses and other demonic sounds came soon after.
Jun saw as two humanoid crows towering over, pointing two pole arms at their necks.