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  “We’re doing a random jump,” Hreidmar told us. “I don’t know the coordinates te any of the Warp Gates in Miðgarðr since I’ve never traveled te them.”

  “That’s fine,” Kari said. “I’m sure we can find our way so long as we can return to our realm.”

  Hreidmar nodded. “In that case, ye four can go through first. We’ll be right behind ye. Make sure ye go first, Eryk. As one o’ the higher beings o’ the nine realms, yer the only one who can let these three travel through the Warp Gate. Also… thank ye for allowing my people te travel te yer realm.”

  “You can thank us once everyone has managed to cross over to our realm,” I said.

  Kari, Erica, Tungsten, and I looked at each other and nodded. Our thoughts were aligned. We turned to the Warp Gate as one and walked through the gate with me at the front.

  Walking through the Warp Gate felt a lot like getting sucked into a tornado. Our bodies were pulled forward the moment we entered the gate. Everything seemed to stretch. Colors blurred together as if everything was moving at incredibly high speeds. While these sights and the sensation of being stretched seemed to last for a lifetime, it was really just a moment. Barely a second had passed before we appeared on another platform, one that looked more worn than the one we’d been standing on. I glanced around and realized we were back. Not only that, but…

  “Hey,” I began, “Isn’t this where the three of us went on that mission to rescue a group of villagers who’d been kidnapped by the Sekbeists?”

  Erica and Kari, who were also observing our surroundings, nodded.

  “It is,” Erica announced. “It has been a long time since we were here, but there’s no way I could forget this place. It could be said that my personal war against the Sekbeists started here.”

  “So this is the infamous ruin where you first uncovered the existence of those Sekbeists.” Tungsten turned his head left and right as though searching the area thoroughly. “I had always wondered about the place you kept speaking of back then.”

  “This place has bad memories for me,” Erica admitted with a shiver.

  Before anyone else could begin speaking, a loud crackling sound issued from the gate as Dweorgs began appearing before us in groups of twos and threes. This platform wasn’t big enough to hold us all. We directed everyone toward the other side of the boiling water surrounding the small island, allowing more and more to appear. It didn’t take long before the six commanders finally walked through the gate.

  “I guess now we just need to wait for Hreidmar,” I said.

  Dolug shook his head. “There’s no need. King Hreidmar… isn’t coming.”

  “W-what?”

  I could feel the way my eyes widened at those words, which I took for callous disregard at first. It wasn’t until I looked into the eyes of the six commanders that I understood what they meant. Once I realized what was about to happen, I turned to the Warp Gate and made to run back through, but the Warp Gate suddenly dissipated before I could take one step.

  “What just happened?” asked Erica.

  “The gate closed,” Kari murmured with wide eyes.

  “That… damn fool.” Gritting my teeth, I turned my glare on the six commanders. “Why?! Why did Hreidmar stay behind like that?! Why didn’t he come with us?!”

  No one said anything at first, but then Safrud stepped forward. He gave me an even but disheartened look like he could understand how I felt even better than I did. Hreidmar was his king. I guess that meant he did understand better than me.

  “The battle-axe that King Hreidmar uses is called Clavemril. It is both a weapon of war and the key needed te activate the Warp Gate that allows travel between realms. The Sekbeists have been activating the gate through forceful methods like sacrificing the lives of humans for their Spiritual Power, but if they had Clavemril, they could open a gate whenever they wanted te wherever they wanted, including the other seven realms. Te prevent that, King Hreidmar remained behind. He’s probably gonna destroy Clavemril so no one else can use it.” Safrud’s fists shook with emotion as he clenched them. “Of course, the Warp Gate closes the moment Clavemril is removed so…”

  Words stuck to my throat, unable to come out as I thought about what I’d been told. Hreidmar had known this whole time that he wouldn’t be able to come with us, that he would be left behind, and yet he’d still gone ahead and sent his people through the Warp Gate despite knowing this would happen.

  “Few are the people who can knowingly sacrifice themselves for others,” Tungsten said in a solemn voice.

  Erica nodded. “He was a brave man and a good king.”

  “Don’t write off our king just yet,” Jadouc exclaimed with a wide, forced grin. “He’s a resourceful one, that he is. I bet we’ll see him again when we least expect it.”

  We could all tell Jadouc was going for unrealistic optimism, but we nodded along and agreed anyway. I think most of us really wanted to believe that Hreidmar would survive. I hadn’t known him for long, but he struck me as a good man.

  “What should we do now?” asked Kari, switching topics to something less depressing. “We’ve returned to our own realm, but honestly, I almost don’t know what we should be doing now that we’re finally back.”

  It had been so long—too long since we’d been in our own realm. I guessed that explained why Kari couldn’t think of what we should be doing. Fortunately, Erica and Tungsten had an answer.

  “We need to return to Midgard,” Erica said with a gesture toward herself and Tungsten. “Our sects are probably worried sick about us. What’s more, we need to convene with the Council of Seven and let them know about what we’ve discovered. The knowledge of these Warp Gates, the other eight realms that exist apart from our own, and the Dweorgs. This isn’t something that can wait.”

  “We also have to find a place for these people,” Tungsten added. “They have been displaced. It is our duty to set them up with a home.”

  Kari and I knew that finding a home for the Dweorgs would fall onto Erica and Tungsten, who belonged to two of the largest sects in the Northern Plains. The level of authority they had was far above our own. We belonged to the Explorers Guild, which was a mid-level sect with very little authority in the day-to-day affairs of the Northern Plains, though our name had been on the rise for all the wrong reasons.

  “I think Kari and I should return to the Explorers Guild and let them know we’re back,” I said. “I’m sure they’re worried about us.”

  “They probably are,” Kari agreed. “Who knows how much time has passed since we disappeared.”

  With all of our plans in place, our group journeyed outside, where we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

  Little did any of us know that we would meet Hreidmar again, but it wouldn’t be for several years more, and it wouldn’t be a happy reunion.

  “The rumbling has stopped,” Catalyna said.

  “Seems that way,” Kari agreed.

  It had been about fifteen minutes since the rumbling had begun, which had been so bad that it felt as if this very realm was being shaken apart. A number of avian Demon Beasts had flown by their campsite overhead. None of the Demon Beasts seemed to notice them, though. It was more than likely they were fleeing from whatever had caused that shaking.

  “What do you suppose that was about?” asked Catalyna.

  Kari shrugged. “I don’t have the faintest idea, though if you consider what happened to us, it’s possible that the cause of this was a very large Demon Beast.”

  “I have heard a rumor that there was an A-Rank Demon Beast that made an area west of here its territory,” Ander added helpfully. “However, I don’t think it was ever verified. It was just a rumor.”

  Kari shivered at the idea of an A-Rank Demon Beast living near this mountain. The very thought caused her blood to freeze.

  A-Rank Demon Beasts were creatures of incredible power that not even an entire battalion of Nevarian Spiritualists could defeat. That her mother and fathers had defeated one spok
e of their prowess. Only Spiritualists who had attained a vast amount of power could stand up to an A-Rank Demon Beast and live to tell about it.

  “Whatever the case may be, now that the shaking has stopped, perhaps we can explore these ruins,” Finn suggested with a polite smile.

  “Yes, I suppose you are correct,” Catalyna said. “Let’s head inside now.”

  Upon passing through the archway, Kari and the others were cast in darkness, though not for long. Kari rotated her right hand in a circle, generating a small sphere of light that cast away several meters’ worth of darkness. It revealed a somewhat dingy interior that was a dozen times larger than a normal hallway. Like everything else, this place appeared to have been made for giants.

  “Nifty ability.” Catalyna hummed in approval. “Fire affinity Spiritualists have something similar, but this light ball looks like it was almost made for illuminating dark places.”

  Kari shrugged her shoulders as the sphere floated a few centimeters above her palm, which she moved in concentric circles to keep power flowing into it. “The light element is light-based, so we have a wide variety of useful Spiritual Light Techniques aside from ones that are only used for attack and defense.”

  “I’ll bet. Anyway, let’s explore a bit.”

  With Kari taking the lead, the group walked through the first room, which appeared to be a large entrance hall. As she swept her light around to illuminate the area, she spotted the walls. They were large and appeared to have been carved from the stone in the mountain. Each wall looked like a mural, which depicted the same figures as those giant statues. Many of the depictions had these figures fighting against strange monsters that she’d never seen before. They looked almost like the bastard children of a human and a Demon Beast.

  Something else she noticed about these ruins was how large they were. It looked like this entrance hall was designed to fit giants inside of it. She couldn’t even begin to guess how big it was. They discovered a column that had survived the ages; it had such a large circumference that even ten people probably couldn’t cover it, and it was so high up that she couldn’t see where it ended.

  “This is incredible,” Kari muttered.

  “Ruins like this are pretty rare,” Catalyna added with a whistle of appreciation. “Most ruins are nothing more than the destroyed cities that were around before the Catastrophe. I’ve also found several tombs. Ruins like this one are few and far between.”

  Kari nodded but didn’t respond with shock. “There are a few records of people finding ruins like this one, but I heard no one has discovered any new ruins for at least several decades. That you found one so close to Nevaria is astonishing in and of itself.” She continued to stare at the murals. “Seeing this makes me really curious to explore more and find out what sort of history these ruins have and their significance to the people and cultures that came before us.”

  “Please keep your enthusiasm down for right now at least,” Catalyna said. “Our current goal is to find a room where we can keep warm and spend the night.”

  “I know that.” Kari pouted at the woman.

  At the other end of the entrance hall was an archway leading into a long hallway, and though it didn’t look like these ruins had any traps, there was no harm in being cautious. Kari kept her eyes open for signs of danger, but the hallway soon came to an end and nothing happened. They reached a massive staircase, which they descended by jumping from stair to stair, then emerged into another hallway. But this one branched off in numerous directions.

  “Which way should we go?” asked Finn.

  “I’ve explored some of the already excavated ruins that bear a resemblance to this one and most of them only have one path,” Catalyna said. “The others will usually lead to a dead-end, though we could always just head back the way we came in the event of that happening.”

  “Unless the ground is unstable and causes a collapse,” Ander corrected. “These ruins are always well-built, but they are still thousands of years old. I’ve heard of cave-ins happening before. We should proceed with caution.”

  “I guess that means we should just pick a path and go down it,” Kari said, turning to the path on her right and beginning to walk. She forced the others to catch up with her, sweeping her hand left, then right to illuminate the walls, which were covered in the same depictions as before. “Whoever made these ruins really had an eye for detail.”

  “It really does make this place seem like a temple of worship,” Catalyna said. She paused as they turned a corner, which led into a hallway that had a series of doorways, though again, these doorways were about ten times bigger than anything Kari had seen before, and the doors were missing. “You know, I’m surprised by how calm you are.”

  “You are? Why?” asked Kari.

  “Because Eryk and Fay went off on their own to draw the Demon Beasts’ attention away from us.” Glancing at Kari out of the corner of her eye, Catalyna continued. “Are you not worried for their well-being?”

  “Of course I’m worried,” Kari exclaimed with an annoyed frown. “Eryk is the person I love the most in this world and Fay is someone whom I believe will become my sister in the future. It is only natural that I am worried for their safety.” Wearing a soft smile that suddenly appeared without warning, Kari placed a hand against her leather breastplate. “But even though I am worried, I also have faith that they will be able to make it out of this situation alive and return to me. That’s why I’m not letting this get to me.”

  As she spoke of Eryk and her faith in him, a sudden feeling of ill-intent washed over Kari, making her shiver. She paused just as they were about to step into the hallway. Looking around, she couldn’t find the source of this feeling. This made her glance at Finn, wondering if that sensation might have been him, but he appeared to be talking to Ander, who looked rather put out as though talking to Finn upset him.

  “Must be nice to have someone you can place so much faith in,” Catalyna sighed.

  “It is,” Kari agreed.

  Their conversation finished for the moment, Kari and the others moved to each doorway and checked them out. They didn’t contain anything. The rooms beyond each doorway were upwards of several thousand square meters in size and filled with absolutely nothing. They were just empty square-shaped rooms made of stone, large enough to fit several coliseums inside.

  “I think we can use these rooms to sleep in,” Kari said.

  “I think you are right.” Catalyna agreed. “Come on. Let’s go topside again and get everyone inside.”

  They went back outside to discover that Marko and his group had returned with food. It seemed they’d discovered a stream that ran through this mountain and had caught plenty of fish.

  With some help from Lin, they hacked several branches off the trees, found some dried leaves to use as kindling, and settled down in the first room within the hallway they had discovered. There they lit a fire and cooked the fish. While the fish was bland because they didn’t have any seasoning—the seasoning had been in their bags, which none of them bothered to grab when they fled their campsite—it at least filled their bellies.

  “I think we should all get some sleep for now,” Catalyna said. “Don’t worry about a night shift. I doubt the Demon Beasts will come here.”

  No one had it in them to complain. Everyone looked like they were close to passing out from exhaustion. A few of the more tired Spiritualists lay down where they’d been eating and fell asleep on the spot. Only a few of the stronger ones like Marko, Ander, Catalyna, and Finn didn’t outright pass out.

  “Big Sister?” Lin inquired when Kari remained seated by the fire. “Are we not going to sleep?”

  “Oh. Yes, I’m sorry.” Kari smiled at Lin, who was sitting right next to her. “Yes, let’s go to sleep.”

  They didn’t have anything to sleep in, but Kari and Lin quickly snuggled together. Having Lin’s cold tail coil around her was a bit chilling because of her low body temperature, but the fire was doing a good job of warming th
em both up, and they stuck close to it so they wouldn’t freeze later on. Kari also hoped this room would be able to retain warmth. It was so big, and she wasn’t sure how well stone walls worked in regards to acting as insulation.

  Closing her eyes, Kari tried to ignore the eyes boring into the back of her skull as she attempted to get some sleep.

  I woke up with a startled gasp. My eyes snapped open as a disorienting number of questions popped into my head. Where was I? How did I get here? What time was it? Why were there a pair of boobs in my face? That last question, at least, was answered when I looked past the two large hills to see long red hair filling my vision. Fay’s head was leaning over as she slept. Of course, this strange position with her chest hanging in my face made me wonder about our respective positions, but then I realized my head was resting on her lap, which meant she’d fallen asleep sitting up.

  That had to be uncomfortable.

  Taking a deep breath, I slowly eased myself off Fay’s lap and into a sitting position. I would have liked to stick around, but I needed to figure a few things out. First, I checked myself over. My limbs were all intact and I could feel again. But the dull ache spreading through my body let me know I’d overdone it a little.

  Also, my legs were broken.

  I closed my eyes and, after confirming that my reserves of Spiritual Power were fully recovered, began circulating the water element through my body, particularly my legs. An itchy feeling came over me for a moment. Then a sigh of relief escaped my lips as the bones in my legs were mended. I even went out of the way to heal all my cuts and bruises as well—just to be on the safe side.