The three walked along the streets of the ancient city, careful to not fall off of the stone stairways that led to the lower portions of the city. Down there, there was merely what appeared to be an abyss, so dark that no end appears to be in sight. It was as if besides the ground of the bottom floor was the way to the underworld.
Loganel decided to stop his staring at the disturbing darkness and focus on what was at hand. They were travelling down the stairway in hopes of finding the five Sygl Flowers that they were requested to find. On their way, they had already encountered other patrolling groups of Kobolds. Each time, they carefully hid and decided whether or not they should engage in combat. Usually, they would avoid groups with more than four Kobolds, however, it wasn't that often that the patrolling Kobolds would travel in groups less than five.
"How deep does this place go?" Loganel sighed. He was fatigued from all the walking and combat. After about a few hours in the ruins of the ancient city, his legs were starting to become stiff and not as responsive, his arms sore from all the swinging of his sword, and his mind tired from all the Mana he had expended.
"I don't know," Juliana answered, following behind the leading Loganel and slightly trailing behind Azura. "I heard that they still haven't fully explored the whole place."
"Right," Azura said calmly. However, from her voice, one could tell that she was tired as well. "Plenty of this city is still unexplored, and would only be explored until official exploration parties are formed by the Adventurers Guild."
"It must be difficult to do so in this labyrinth," Juliana said, looking around at the complicated alleyways and numerous turns in the city.
"That's why we're only going to be staying in the top two floors," Azura said. "The further down you go, the more complicated the arrangement of the streets and roads are."
"So basically this is a huge maze," Loganel yawned, starting to feel an urge to stop to rest. Some tears formed in his eyes as he yawned, making sleep appear even more alluring. However, he slapped his face gently with his left hand in order to stay awake.
"According to the books and records," Azura continued, "there's some treasure at the depths of the city."
"Are you sure it's still there and not picked off by someone already?" Loganel asked.
"Of course," Azura responded confidently, "if it was already discovered, it will for sure be a big news that's impossible to miss.
The trio chatted in a quiet whisper as they attempted to pass time and keep each other awake as they ventured deeper into the Eketelas Ruins. They were focused on their quest, which was to collect five Sygl Flowers.
Slowly but surely, those light blue flowers began to appear on the second floor underground. However, there were also more Kobolds patrolling as well since the three had began closing in on the floors that the Kobolds called their home.
"We're still to weak, our party is still to unbalanced to take on so many enemies," Azura sighed.
"Yeah," Loganel muttered, carefully peeking over the corner of a building at the group of Kobold that finally vanished from sight as they moved on.
He then let out a sigh, and emerged from the corner of the building and onto the main street. He stared at the wide, empty street before him that was composed of a brick that was green in nature, creating a dreary feeling.
"This is quite unsettling," Juliana sighed as she saw what Loganel saw.
The quiet and empty streets with the numerous buildings on the sides of the road really made it hard to observe what had happened to this once magnificent city. Everything was as if life was going on, but it wasn't. In the interior of buildings, food bowls were set out on the tables with decomposed food that reeked with disgusting stench. It was as if it was originally intended for a dinner meal. Why has everyone disappeared? Why is everything still here? What happened? These were all questions whose answers had remained obscure for the past decades and even century. No one has been able to find a reason why this once bustling city had just fallen from reality.
Loganel continued walking on the empty streets, closing his eyes as if he was trying to hear something. He then focused his mind, and began imagining what everything could've been like in this huge underground city. It was as if he could hear the creaking of the wheels of wagons, the footsteps of the pedestrians, and the marching of the disciplined city guards. It was as if the city was like that. He smiled as the city unraveled before him, but when he opened his eyes, it was all gone.
It as if it was a midsummer dream that was never supposed to be lasting. As if it was a magician's revenge story on a lone island, initiated by a tempest, and ended with a feast. This, was an illusion all along, this feeling of dread he felt. It was the dead city's gloomy attitude. It was his disbelief that such a strong and powerful city had now become the homes of lowly Kobolds.
"We have four Sygl Flowers now. We need one more."
Azura's words brought Loganel back into reality and away from his kingdom of imagination. The image of the bustling city scene faded into nothing, and his mind was then reclaimed by the task at hand.
After searching the entire second floor for the last Sygl flower for a whole hour, they came up empty handed. Tired from this searching, they decided to take refuge in an abandoned house beside the stairways that led down to the third floor.
"What do we do?" Loganel asked sitting on the floor and leaning back on the wall of the second floor of the two story house they used as a temporary resting spot.
"Let's keep looking," Juliana suggested, "there must be more here."
"I hope," Loganel sighed, "or else we'll just have wasted a whole day of our lives."
Azura shook her head and pushed off of the wall gently and began walking over to the stairs leading down and out of the house. "Let's go now."
Once outside and on the second floor of the underground city, they continued looking around. However, it was still to no avail. They just can't find the last Sygl Flower that they need.
"Should we head down to the third floor and see if we can find anything?" Loganel asked, looking at the stairway that led to the third floor below them.
"I wouldn't suggest it," Azura shook her head. "The layout of the floor is extremely complicated down there and there's also something more dangerous down there."
"Like what?" Juliana asked, clutching to her wooden staff tightly.
"Something that is called the 'Cleaver'," Azura explained, "a Kobold that's extremely strong and powerful that it has taken the lives of many others before us."
"Does that 'Cleaver' usually appear on the third floor?" Loganel asked.
Azura shook her head. "It rarely does. Usually, it appears on the lower floors, but there's still a chance for it to appear."
Loganel nodded his head as he analyzed the current situation. He doesn't want to head down to the third floor due to how big of a risk it is. Going down there would basically be a death sentence since they could only barely get by on the second floor by avoiding the larger patrol groups. If they were to head down, there would surely be more Kobolds, and that would mean disaster.
"I say we go to the first floor and see if we can find any there," Loganel suggested. "It's more safe that way."
"I agree," Azura nodded her head.
As they made their way through the maze-like streets of the ancient city, Loganel was alert. He carefully scanned every single corner for possible enemies and he also looked out for possible Sygl Flowers. Finally, after a while, they could see the stairway that lead up to the second floor just down the wide, and empty street.
However, just as they started towards the stairway, a loud howl suddenly echoed in the streets and the underground city.
"What's going on?" Juliana asked.
"I don't know," Loganel said, drawing his blade from its sheath. Right beside him, Azura did the same. "The howling doesn't seem to be near us."
"A patrol group must have found someone," Azura pointed out.
"What do we do?" Loganel asked. He was starting to panic and losing his usual composure. His breathing started to become deeper as his heart started pumping blood at a faster rate.
Suddenly, from the corner of an alleyway, a tall Kobold emerged and spotted them. It then pointed at them with its rusty sword and barked something, causing those of its patrol group to emerge from the alleyway and hurry to attack the intruder.
"Run!" Loganel shouted as he took off running in full sprint. "Don't scatter!"
Loganel breathed heavily as he forced his legs to move. For some reason, they felt heavier than usual. However, adrenaline made it so that he forgot the fatigue that had plagued him and continue his escape. His chest pained from a lack of oxygen, and the pumping of his heart echoed in his ears loudly.
Despite all this, he was able to remain level-headed. He know that if they were to run in a straight line, the Kobolds will easily catch up with them. That is why he decided to stick to the small, confusing alleyways.
He blindly followed his instincts as he ran, not caring at all for where they were to end up but rather caring to avoid all pursuers. It was quite common for groups of Kobold to appear from one side of a crossroad, leading Loganel to immediately decide to go the other way.
With his heart pounding, he dodged all swipes of a rusty sword by a Kobold that appeared from one side of an intersection, and knocked it down by tackling it with his shoulder. Seeing that there's no other Kobold behind the first one that he had knocked down, he decided to go this way, leading Azura and Juliana.
He had subconsciously taken on the role of the tank. However, it was something that has to be done no matter how scary it is. He was afraid of the view from the leading position in this escape, his mind was clouded as to where to go, and the constant threat of an enemy emerging from the turn frightened him. In addition, the constant howling by the Kobolds frightened him. No matter how long he has ran, the howling became louder and louder as if he was running to the large pack of Kobolds. However, he forced himself to go on. He forced himself to become the tip of the penetrating spear and cleared the way for a safe passage.
"Over there!" he shouted to the two that trailed him, pointing to a stairway that led down. This was the only clear way that they could go since all the other alleys were now teeming with packs of Kobolds.
He ran down the stairs, not knowing what this impulsive decision would bring him. However, he knew that this was the only choice. They had no other options available and this one is the only one that gave them a chance at life.
After they had descended to the third floor, they didn't stop running. It wasn't until they had ran to the point of exhaustion when the loud pumping noise of their heart finally ceased to echo in their ear that they could finally hear that there were no longer any footsteps chasing after them.
"Did we get away?" Juliana asked, leaning over and using her staff to support herself as she panted.
"I think we did." Loganel ignored the trembling of his legs and stayed alert. He kept his eyes open and scanned their surroundings for any sign of enemies, holding his breath as he did so. It was only until he was sure that there were no enemies around did he breathe once again.
After finally being out of the desperate situation and free from the comfort of adrenaline, Loganel finally realized how much his lungs burned and how weak his muscles were. He was exhausted and could barely stand anymore, which led to him collapsing and sitting down on the ground in the secluded alleyway that they were in at the moment.
He looked over at Juliana, who appeared relieved that they were still alive, but still a bit worried about the situation. Then, he looked over at Azura, who appeared terrified. Her blue eyes were wide open and her pupils diluted out of fear.
"What's wrong?" Loganel asked her.
She slowly turned her head and looked at him, still appearing to be horrified. "Where are we?"
Her question suddenly brought a sense of dread to Loganel upon his realization of the situation that they were in.
In the labyrinth ruins of the ancient city, it was quiet except for the occasional howling of the Kobolds. There was no wind that blew here in the underground, and no sunlight. On the lower floors of the Ekeletas Ruins, the light emitted from the crystals that hung from the sky wasn't visible. The lower floors were quiet and dark and gloomy.