Chương 45: Labyrinth
Emile and Blood finally made it to the bottom of the Hollow Mountains, the side facing the Dead Tree that is. As they got closer to the zombified forest, Emile's nose easily recognized the bloody miasma that occupied the land.
And although the duo hadn't entered the Dead Tree's territory, the miasma coated the surrounding air in an overwhelming heaviness. Breaths were heavier, Emile felt stickier, over time the air settled on his skin and he had to peel little flakes of blood off.
Meanwhile, Blood summoned a small, intricately decorated box. It was a black box, no larger than a purse, and had ravens depicted all around the box.
He opened the box and retrieved their missions packet. For minutes Blood sat on the onyx floor and read through the packet while fiddling with his compass.
"How many relics do you have?" Emile suddenly asked.
"What?"
"That box—that's a relic too right?" Emile clarified.
"Yeah—my Beaky Box." Blood said.
"Beaky box? Okay. So you have the box and the knife right? What else?"
"My clothes, the whole black and gold attire I'm rocking right now." Blood straightened his jacket and flushed it outwards, pride quickly spread on his face.
"That's a relic?" Emile was shocked. He didn't know clothes could be relics. "What's special about it? Why is it a relic? Where did you get it?"
"You know you're kinda not supposed to ask people these questions right?" Blood pointed out, "And it lets me manipulate blood without costing essence, only the hardening and liquifying part uses my essence. Oh, and it's technically a Legacy—a relic created by my gift."
Emile memorized what Blood told him. Legacy's are relics created by the gift for the gift and articles of clothing can be relics too.
Blood stood up and put their packet back in his Beaky Box. He held his compass out and spun in a circle until it pointed towards the labyrinth.
"Come on, let's go!" Blood said as he followed the compass's direction.
"Back to relics—" Emile continued, "about when do you think I'll get one?"
"You know Spright, sometimes I think you're dumber than rocks. Did you grow up alone in some random cave? You're asking questions I would expect from a toddler."
"Thank you, I really appreciate it, Blood. You always know just what to say. Now answer the question." Emile doubled down.
"I mean, Spright, you have to actually kill things to get relics. You have to kill things to saturate your soul. Any question you have about your soul core and your gift—the solution is always to kill something."
"I've killed things!" Emile argued.
"You've killed what—a handful of things? Spright, you need to kill hundreds, sometimes even thousands to receive a relic." Blood informed, "Actually, what's your soul's saturation right now?"
Emile concentrated within himself and summoned his soul's attributes.
[Soul Rank: Chosen]
[Soul Saturation: 8/1000]
[Soul Essence: 100/100
[Gift: Breath of Life]
[Description: Accelerate cell growth and division]
[Enhancement: Breath of Life is applied to self]
[Relics: None]
"Eight." Emile spoke dejectedly.
"Eight—" Blood repeated, "Eighty? Eight hundred?"
"No, just eight. Eight out of a thousand." Emile said.
Blood stopped walking forward and turned to Emile, confusion plastered on his face.
"You've only killed eight things?! I know you're a healer and everything but come on man! Aren't you old?!"
"Nope, not old, ***hole." Emile said.
"Well hey, we're here." Blood pointed forward to an entrance on the side of the mountain.
The tunnel was incredibly steep, Emile and Blood leaned back onto the rock and slid down the tunnel. As they crawled deeper into the hole, murals and runes started to appear on the walls around them.
They contained depictions of men throwing spears at the sky. Another showed a group of men chained together being led up an endless staircase as the finish was never drawn.
The runes were also foreign to Emile, they looked like the same runes Emile saw on the Ivory Lighthouse, but he still couldn't understand them.
As the duo descended into the labyrinth the light quickly faded until the two found themselves crawling on their hands and knees in pitch and utter darkness. Luckily, the blackness enhanced the light that existed at the bottom of the tunnel.
Emile and Blood slid towards the warm, inviting light. The two arrived and climbed out of their hole, glad they could finally stand fully.
While stretching their limbs, the two looked around. They currently stood in front of an overwhelming wall that reached the ceiling far above. Between the wall existed a single entrance, a narrow path barely wide enough for three people to walk side by side.
But the first thing Emile noticed about the labyrinth was the smell, or lack thereof perhaps. The world above was corrupted by the rusty miasma, but the labyrinth below felt fresh. A subtle breeze blew against Emile's cheeks and with it came a refreshing, clean scent.
The labyrinth was also incredibly well lit. The walls themselves were covered in lines that glowed green. The lines themselves didn't seem to travel in any specific direction, some went up and down and some went left to right.
The walls reminded Emile of electronics and the green lines were the wires that connected the entire place. To the right of the slim pathway forward stood a single podium. The podium was made of the same dull rock as everything else, but letters were carved into the podium's surface.
Emile approached the podium and read what had been etched in.
"Moving forward does not always require a step." He read aloud.
"Thanks, Spright. If you find any other useless riddles let me know." Blood responded.
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