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墨書 Inktalez
Suddenly, it felt like a pot had exploded. The bond between Second and Third had always been deep, and there was a secret known only to them.
Second ran faster, clutching his iron rod, until they reached a fork in the road where all three of them halted. "Light the lamp first," Third said, and Second felt along the wall to ignite the light. It revealed two dark passages.
"Let's split up," Second suggested. Third examined the clues by the light but found that they ended here, leaving two pitch-black openings before them. Now they had to make a choice.
Second urged, "What are you hesitating for?" "You and Seven take one side; I'll go down this path alone," Third replied. Seven stared at the two openings and said, "Second, Third, you two go together; I'll go alone since I know a bit about the map." Second muttered, "Stop dragging your feet and hurry up."
Suddenly, Third stood up and dashed toward one of the openings, quickly disappearing into the darkness. A faint voice echoed back, "I'm going this way."
Before Second and Seven could react, Third was already gone. Second looked anxious, finally resigned to give up. He strode into another passage and shouted, "Seven, hurry up and keep up!" The two entered the other opening, with Second tossing a flame to Seven. His lingering frustration hadn't subsided yet. As Seven caught the flame and lit an oil lamp along the way, the dark corridor was illuminated by a dim light. The wall carvings reappeared, their patterns resembling an endless mountain range—long and uninterrupted. How many craftsmen would it take to carve so many designs? Seven mused that such carving skills might not even exist today.
His hand brushed over the surface; it felt hollow yet somewhat full. Second pulled out his iron rod from his back and gripped it tightly as the air flowing slowly in the darkness made the weak flame of the oil lamp flicker.
As Seven walked while observing the wall carvings, he wondered why they all seemed so uniform. A thought crossed his mind: he had read books about carving techniques before; carving was supposed to be diverse. There were countless ways to sculpt a hundred different things—rarely would anyone replicate a piece exactly. A master sculptor would never repeat a single work in their lifetime; to them, each piece was alive and irreplaceable.
With his iron rod in hand, Seven didn’t stop moving. He felt an inexplicable distance growing between him and Second and quickened his pace to catch up. "Second, don't be angry; Third must have his reasons for doing this," he said. Second grunted in response but didn’t reply. The firelight continued to stretch ahead as the style of the wall paintings began to change. A wave of excitement surged within Seven as he called out to Second.
Second rushed over immediately; this time Seven lit another lamp, brightening their surroundings slightly. The flickering shadows danced on the wall as a complete carving emerged before them—it was a dragon. Both were momentarily stunned; the dragon held significant meaning for this kingdom and for individuals as well—it was an object of worship.
Following the dragon's carved scales upward, they felt its spiky texture under their fingers as they walked for what seemed like several meters before finally seeing its head. The dragon's head was massive, nearly occupying the entire wall. This time Seven lit all nearby oil lamps, illuminating every corner thoroughly. The enormous dragon head measured almost two meters across, its face filled with majesty; however, strangely enough, it had no eyes—the eye sockets were deeply sunken and hollow. Seven blew on his torch to brighten it further and examined its eyes closely but only saw two round holes—nothing more.
Both Second and Seven added a mental weight of caution; no one dared to disrespect such a creature as a dragon. Yet now their understanding was about to be challenged.
After carefully observing the dragon's head, they shifted their focus to its body where traces of damage could be seen on its scales—Seven concluded silently. Second noticed something amiss too and calmly said, "Let's go; we shouldn't linger here."
Though Seven felt unsatisfied, he had no choice but to follow Second’s urging forward.
In comparison to Seven, this place was truly a "treasure trove." The design of the terrain, the structure of the buildings, the murals inside, and the ancient artifacts all piqued Seven's interest.
After passing through the intricately carved archway, the walls resumed their patterned carvings. Although exquisite and complex, the uniformity could lead to aesthetic fatigue. The two of them shifted their focus away from the walls and began to hurry along, realizing that time waits for no one; missing something now could mean missing it for a lifetime.
Right now, First might be in crisis, and they needed to get there as quickly as possible.
Seven followed closely behind Second, the sound of their hurried footsteps echoing through the dark corridor, breaking the previous silence. The iron rods scraped against the ground with a squeaking noise. The path ahead was not a straight shot; they soon found themselves facing a closed stone door.
"Generally speaking, these kinds of stone doors have mechanisms," Seven remarked. "Hurry up and look for it," Second urged. Lighting an oil lamp, Seven noted how well-equipped the lighting was in this place.
A smooth stone door stood before them, light reflecting off its surface and creating subtle refracted patterns. Seven began inspecting the door, tapping around it. After a while, he confirmed that it was indeed a solid stone wall.
"Second, search around the wall to see if there's a switch for this door," Seven instructed. They both began feeling along the wall, checking every brick from top to bottom, but after extending their search without success, time slipped away in anxious uncertainty. Second grew increasingly anxious, and Seven started to feel uneasy as well; perhaps this wasn't a door at all but rather a dead end.
After another frantic search yielded no results, they finally slumped down in a corner. Second angrily grabbed his own head, feeling somewhat dejected. Taking a deep breath, Seven observed that traps were everywhere here; it seemed there was no way out. "It looks like we won't last much longer," Second suddenly said calmly.
Shaking his head, Seven reached into his pocket and pulled out a small iron flask containing some liquor—something he had been reluctant to drink before. This was good wine, taken from the battlefield known as "Burning Knife." As he opened the cap, the aroma wafted through the air. Unable to resist, Second glanced over at him. After taking a small sip himself, Seven offered the flask to Second. "Here, have a drink."
Receiving the flask, Second took a swig. The liquor slid down his throat smoothly at first but then hit him with a strong aftertaste that made him cough several times. "Second, don't drink too fast," Seven cautioned. Wiping his mouth with his hand, Second replied, "What do we do next? We can hold on for a while longer, but our brother can't."
For a moment, Seven didn't respond; he leaned against the wall with his hand on his forehead and felt tired himself. The faint scent of burning oil filled the air.
He repeatedly tapped his forehead with his hand—what other options did they have? He kept reminding himself internally.
Finally resigned, Second said, "If it comes down to it, we should just go back." "Going back now would probably be too late," Seven replied. "But we can't waste time here."
Unsure how to respond, Seven finally said, "There has to be a switch." With a sigh of frustration, Second urged him on: "Then hurry up and find it." Slowly getting back on his feet, Seven pounded on the stone door again but found no clues or hints. This seemed unreasonable. Pushing against the door with all his strength yielded no response either. He stepped back several paces.
The flickering light continued to dance around them while shadows obscured areas that remained unlit. Standing at a distance from the stone door and surveying their surroundings again, something on the ground caught Seven's attention—a faint outline that seemed out of place.
Seven lifted his head, and what came into view was a protruding section. Upon closer inspection, it was a raised palm. Seven seemed to understand something, a bit surprised. He reached out to touch it but couldn't quite reach. Second walked over, and together they managed to get Seven close enough to touch the palm. With a slight push, the palm sank in. Seven focused intently, prepared for any possible outcomes. After a while, both felt the ground beginning to tremble. Seven quickly instructed Second to lower him down and shifted his gaze toward the stone door. The tremors continued, but the anticipated stone door did not open. Instead, the ground beneath them began to sink. They reacted quickly and jumped out just as it collapsed. "Good thing we reacted fast," Seven said. Second muttered curses under his breath.
The two had been startled moments ago; the ground was still shaking from the collapse, though not as violently as before. Once the tremors subsided, they approached to inspect the area. A section of the ground had sunk in, about the height of a person, revealing a passageway leading in the direction of the stone door. Finally, they both jumped down simultaneously. The light from their oil lamp gradually faded as they descended, and after standing still for a moment to assess their surroundings, Second said, "Let's go in."
Second took the lead and stepped inside first, with Seven following closely behind. Darkness enveloped them naturally; Seven instinctively reached for a light source but was disappointed to find no oil lamps on the walls. It seemed this place had been long abandoned, he sighed. The path was not as long or dangerous as he had imagined; they quickly traversed it and sensed they had arrived at an open space. Seven struck a match; the flickering flame cast a dim reddish glow within a few meters around them as they moved forward. He raised the match higher, slightly increasing their visibility but dimming the light further. Their eyes scanned the area, but there was little they could capture.
However, they did catch sight of something that left them both in awe: a massive white statue that was impossible to overlook. They looked up at it; under the limited light, they could only make out its general shape. But once again, they were stunned—there was no need to see clearly to know who it was. "How is it her again?" Second stammered. "She really is haunting us!" Seven reached out to touch the statue and felt an icy chill; moving his hand elsewhere yielded the same sensation. He began to explore more extensively and was astonished internally—he had searched for this kind of material for years and only found a piece as small as his palm. Who would have thought you would be so extravagant?
This was a rare type of stone that collectors dream of possessing; however, such stones are hard to come by. According to folklore, sleeping on a bed made from this stone could slow down aging—clearly indicating its extraordinary nature.
Reluctantly releasing his grip on it, Seven realized that while this material could drive someone mad with desire, transformed into such an exquisite statue, its value seemed magnified beyond measure. He assessed his earlier pain from prying at it and stuffed his hand into his pocket with a sigh.
Second was also staring at the statue intently; seeing this girl meant trouble—she truly was a Seductive Beauty. Even in death, she had such an impact; one could only imagine how she wreaked havoc while alive.
Their attention began to shift away from the statue as they realized they were still unaware of their surroundings here. The unknown always piqued interest more than familiar things did. They passed by the statue and continued walking until they reached the end of this space, only to discover there was just one entrance—no other exits or entrances—revealing a square stone chamber estimated by Seven to be around three or four hundred square meters.
It seemed that aside from this statue, there was nothing else in this chamber. After wandering aimlessly for a while and preparing to retrace their steps, Seven, holding up his matchstick in front, suddenly thought of something and turned abruptly without warning, colliding directly with Second, who was approaching from the opposite direction. The matchstick fell from his grip and hit the ground; suddenly flames erupted as fire spread across about ten square meters of floor space but remained low—only about ten centimeters high—as both jumped back in shock at this unexpected turn of events. They stared wide-eyed at the scene before them; thankfully, it wasn't too intense or else the consequences would have been dire.
Once things settled down, Seven crouched near where the fire had started and noticed some sticky substance on the ground—a bit muddy too. He sniffed it cautiously; there was also a faint pungent smell.
Just as Seven began analyzing seriously, the brightness in the stone chamber increased significantly when Second glanced up momentarily. His face drained of color as he turned pale and suddenly lunged at Seven.
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