His name was… —- I remember him vaguely, he was, without a doubt, the most brilliant mind I have ever seen. He came from a mix of livestock and pure blood, but he showed great talent for official affairs, so I took him under my wing.

The group advanced with even more caution than before, ready to run away at the earliest disturbance. Yasa led the way alongside Lutha, her eyes shining with the soft hue of magic, while Kai followed with Onyx from within the forest. He helped Onyx look for more tunnels and scan the area for gobelins, while training his mana control.

None of them wanted to take any chances and wanted to reach Lustra in one piece to gather as much information as possible. If they were to send an army or attack force here unprepared for the actual city, it could lead to too many casualties. He was sure that Yasa thought the same, so she preferred risking their safety rather than putting more people in peril. Sure as hell doesn't sound like the Yasa that Lutha described to me.

However, he was glad that she had chosen to do that, as it gave him more breathing room and safety. Kai wasn't sure if it was possible for him to even get this far without their help. I'm really glad I didn't head for this place when Léandro told me about it; I might be a rotting corpse by now otherwise.

He suddenly woke up from his thoughts and found himself falling, though, as his foot got caught in a vine. Barely avoiding the impact of his face with the ground, he rolled to the side, causing the entanglement to become worse. Ah, what the fuck- However, after blinking a couple of times and opening his eyes, Kai's expression turned white.

Two hollowed eye sockets met his gaze, sending a panicked shiver down his spine as he jumped to his feet. Onyx stopped and approached him, his ears lowering upon seeing the half-eaten skeleton of a man. The skull was missing its lower jaw, and from the little Kai could see of its torso, a couple of ribs too.

He began taking deep breaths and gagged as he held back the dinner from last night from shooting out of his nostrils. Onyx… try to pull it out. Kai asked the Obborik, fueled by morbid curiosity. His partner begrudgingly did as he was asked, digging around the skeleton with its paw and ripping away the vegetation covering the rest of the body. At least, Kai thought there was the rest of the body, but besides the torso and skull, there was nothing else.

What… Are there animals here that eat human bones? He questioned himself, skeptical, but even if they did eat human bones, why leave the torso almost unscathed? He wanted to hurry and report the matter to Yasa as soon as possible, but he didn't even take the first step when Onyx let out a sharp bark.

"Hm?" Kai turned around to see the Obborik dig a hole with its paws, and it didn't take long for another skeleton to get uncovered. Two bodies in such proximity… He found the matter weird and crouched, then pulled out his wand. Slotting some earth crystals into the empty sockets, Kai sent mana into them and then into the earth. He raised about half a meter of dirt in a small area, uprooting weeds and grass.

What the… The resulting sight sent a shiver down his spine, and he immediately dropped to the earth, whistled for Onyx, and hurried over to Yasa's side.

His deathly appearance surprised her, immediately deducing that something was wrong. "Ichor, what did you find?"

"Corpses, skeletons… everywhere… at least ten."

"What?" She asked, but had already started walking in the direction from which he came. "Did you see if they wore armor or uniforms?"

Kai shook his head. "They were all buried, I couldn't see well."

Yasa hurried her footsteps, and the group reached the cemetery Kai had uncovered faster than he had run there. Although his method of finding them was unconventional, the way they were left out in the open added to the morbid sight. What's more, none of the skeletons were intact, with most of them missing their lower bodies and arms. Some missed their lower jaw as well, while some had their entire skull removed.

"No beast would do this." Lutha assessed after looking away from the ghastly sight. "This is too methodical, it has to have been the gobelins."

"Why would they do something like this?" Yasa rubbed her chin, looking away as well, unable to glance upon the desecrated remains. She sighed, as there was nobody who could give her the answers she needed at the moment. "Let's keep going, we must be close to the city."

The others nodded in agreement, and Kai took a moment to re-bury the bodies and cover them with more dirt before leaving. That was the least he could do, and he hoped that Lumiera would give them a better life after they reached her.

…

They didn't find any more corpses or tunnels afterward, and much to their surprise, the way to the city went smoothly. Such a thing weirded them out and made their anxiety and apprehension rise even more. After all, there were so many when they first arrived, and now there was no sign of them.

There's no way they got scared, right? Kai thought and found that unfeasible. The gobelins didn't seem much like intelligent creatures, but more like bipedal animals that copied human habits.

The fire was pretty large, though, so maybe… could they be setting up an ambush? No, no, that's absurd. But- It's a possibility. Kai thought as he walked through the forest, paying even more attention to where he was stepping. He didn't want to find another grave site, or worse.

He was still on the lookout for tunnels, though they seemed to be rarer than he thought. Unsure if he should be glad about it, he kept searching and training his control over mana. Over the day, the thin mana thread he spread with the wind began increasing in durability, though not by much. However, every inch mattered, and Kai was happy to find that the process became easier the more he did it.

However, that didn't mean that he should be slacking and taking it easy. Just as he thought about that, he found that his mana thread had not disappeared, but instead got stopped by something that wasn't entirely organic. Could it be…?

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He dashed out to the main road, where, much to his surprise, the vegetation was less dense. The group could finally see fully ahead of them, and what they did see left them in awe.

Around 500 meters ahead, a large iron gate stood half open, its surroundings completely overrun by vines and vegetation. The ruined walls it protected, once tall and mighty, made out of a shining white stone and marble, were now overrun by lush vines and flowers, and their once intimidating hue remained but a relic of the past as it got replaced by an unslightly brown color.

Carts, carriages, tables, tools, and a variety of other man-made objects littered the ground as they slowly got absorbed by Mother Nature, getting buried in soil and rusted by rain.

The groups' muffled footsteps began to get silenced by the sheer might of the city before them. Kai stared at it in awe, having never seen a city this big with walls so tall his neck hurt looking up at them. That silence only grew louder as they approached, and a shiver ran down their spine as they spotted a few corpses, skeletons, peering from the bushes, or a finger sticking out from the ground.

How did such a city fall without anyone caring about it? Kai asked himself as the large iron gate loomed over him as they passed below it. An eerie quiet greeted them as they stared at the abandoned street. Ruins, wherever they looked, were relics of a city forgotten and destroyed not so long ago.

Kai could almost picture these beautiful streets filled to the brim with merchants, women, and children smiling. People who did their best to live an honest life, or people who had no such intentions. The streets filled with carriages and carts, with soldiers and adventurers… And all that's remained are the broken buildings and stalls, leftover clothes, rotten food, and crevices invaded by vines and grass.

What spooked them the most, however, was the silence. There was only the wind and nothing else. There were no signs of gobelins or other animals, just the dead streets and the memories it left behind.

Something tugged at Kai's heart, though, something familiarly unfamiliar… Something which he had longed for a long time. The broken piece of his soul called for him, egging him to hurry. However, as much as he wanted to do just that, he preferred to stay on the side of caution and walk alongside Yasa.

Now that they have reached Lustra, all they needed to do was scout the area and then make haste with their departure. That didn't apply to Kai, though.

Reaching Lustra also meant that Yasa's promise with Natasha was officially accomplished, and she had no further obligation to look after him. On one hand, he was glad about that, but on the other, he found that Lutha's not being able to teach him anymore was regrettable. However, they all had a duty to accomplish, and he couldn't be that selfish. I will learn at the academy if nothing else…

Kai wasn't quite sure if that was the right path, but he hoped that he would be able to improve his sword technique using Ivan's memories and the sword techniques Léandro talked about. Whether or not they existed was another thing altogether, but he trusted that Léandro wouldn't lie to him about that. He did have to question where he had found such information, though. I should have asked…

However, he couldn't do that anymore, and he was in the city already; all he had to do was look for them.

The group advanced with cautious steps, their hearts racing so loudly it broke the eerie silence rhythmically. With their guards raised and weapons at the ready, they paid close attention to even the smallest gust of wind.

Everywhere they looked, they were greeted by the same degree of ruination, though. Nothing was left intact, everything was destroyed, and dried blood puddles littered the few spots of the ground that were still visible. Handprints and splashes of crimson could be seen on the walls as well, telling them of a horrifying story.

As they approached the city center, a large, looming bell tower shadowed them. The bell it once held had disappeared, but it led Yasa and the rest to one of the most important places in any town or city - Lumiera's Church.

No matter wealth and status, everyone on the continent worshipped Lumiera, and each of them had a large church raised in her honor. Some were more extravagant, some more modest, but all of them had her as the centerpiece.

She was pretty, at least in the murals that depicted her. Kai wondered how the people of this world would react if he had told them he had met their Goddess several times. Of course, no one would believe him, but if anyone did, he would probably be burned at the stake.

However, no matter how pretty she was, glass still shattered, and stone still broke apart. Even in her church, the all-powerful Goddess became nothing more than ruin. The windows that once depicted a story told from generation to generation became shards that got buried in the ground. The statues guarding the church's front fell, broken apart into numerous pieces, and what was left standing became one with the vegetation.

A light sigh escaped Kai's lips as he stared at the destruction, but he knew that he didn't have too much time to waste. As he stared in the direction of the church, something tugged at his heart, body, and very being. Something tugged at his soul. Something wanted him to enter the church.

Is that where it's located? Kai thought, clenching his fists and taking a short step forward. "Let's go in." He said, waiting for the others to follow him.

They paused for a second, but in the end decided to follow him. Walking with caution, the tall church grew closer and closer, its gates welcoming the group with open arms. Kai's apprehension grew as he looked past the large open doors into a dimly lit hallway. He took out a light crystal and threw it inside, looking to see if any shadows depicted any goblin-like creatures.

There were no shadows, however, which made him let out a short sigh of relief. As they stepped inside the hall, Kai grabbed the crystal and used it to look around the area. It was empty, safe for a few cleaning tools and rugged coats on a clothes hanger.

Another door blocked their entry. Kai peered through the grated window and took out his wand. A blinding flash erupted in the large church, the aftermath of which revealed an empty and desolate church. Strangely enough, it was clean and proper, without any sort of vegetation growing wildly about. I guess that's to be expected.

Lumiera still held power over this world, even if she didn't always exercise it. So instead of saving the people, she decided to make sure her church is untouched… that's… interesting.

His heart skipped a beat, though, as the piece of soul tugged at him once again, beckoning him to enter. He tried the knob, but the door rattled without opening. However, considering the place they were at, Kai decided to kick it down and enter forcefully, and hope that Lumiera didn't mind that too much.

He did just that, and the door fell to a single kick with a loud thud. The sound echoed and bounced against the walls a couple of times, alongside their footsteps as they made their way in.

"There's nothing here," Yasa said, her shining eyes blinking as she scanned the area.

Kai nodded but kept walking, the feeling of his soul getting pulled amplifying with each step. He approached the statue of Lumiera, which loomed over the entire main hall, watching every one of her followers. Kai wasn't sure if she was present, but he didn't care either. The piece of his soul called to him, and as it turned out, the calling came from the feet of the statue.

He forgot about the others momentarily as he approached the statues. His eyes shone with a soft light, and, looking up at the statue, a shiver ran down his spine. Then, it appeared.

A small shard, white as bone and bright like the stars. It floated before Lumiera's statue and called out for him, as it had been waiting for a long time. Kai didn't know if others could see it, but in that moment, he didn't care either. His heart raced and fell to his stomach as he reached out for it, anxiety and expectation filling every inch of his body.

Finally, with a trembling hand, his fingers grazed the shard's surface, and it exploded into a mass of brilliant light that enveloped Kai. Then, his world went blank, and everything disappeared.

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