The entirety of the surface trembled before the might of the portal's destruction.
Trees shook rapidly, and rocks shifted back and forth, falling and rolling down like the people and animals caught in the vortex.
One by one, people rose from the ground. Dust and dirt coated their clothes. Many shuddered, but relief flooded through their trembling hands and tear-streaked faces.
"By the heavens almighty, we have returned!"
Many were so relieved to be alive that their voices shook with gratitude, eyes glistening with disbelief.
As Asahi rose from the floor and wiped the grime off his clothing, he found himself miraculously located near the stone bridge leading to the golden light.
(Is this the end? Are we finally free?) Asahi mumbled.
During the conclusion of The Vortex, Asahi noticed that a dark figure stood far in the distance. He hadn't known her eye color, nor had he known what clothes she had worn. Nonetheless, he detected a familiar resonance beaming in her.
As the silence continued, Kendra and his followers raced over to Asahi, smiling with relief.
"My lord, you have done it!" A blonde one said.
"You took us back!"
"Our prayers have been answered!"
While they all cheered and rejoiced in overwhelmed relief, Asahi returned each greeting with a quiet, tired smile, silent tears stinging his eyes.
. . .
However, despite their praise, a knot of guilt twisted in Asahi's chest, shadowing his relief. His mind drifted back to a haunting memory: the moment he hesitated in a crucial decision, a split second that could have saved another life. A persistent itch whispered deep in his mind, a cruel thought that maybe someone else deserved the praise, and not him. Doubt stung sharper than any wound, and the shadow of his past lingered like an unyielding specter.
Just before he could lose sight of her, Asahi spotted the exact shadowy figure he had seen before swiftly disappear in the corner of his eye.
Only a little could be identified from her, but Asahi could catch two details.
An arm holding a magenta luminance in her palm and an S mark emblazoned on her hand, wearing five black rings.
(Is that…)
After he blinked, the sight of the figure vanished. Asahi scratched his head and noticed that Kendra was near him.
Though he wanted to discover who the person was, he couldn't create a clear depiction of the mysterious being. And so, following what he had said before, Asahi took one step at a time and conversed with his friend.
"Goodness, Asahi! I never thought we would ever escape that place!" Kendra said, glowing with happiness. "Thank you in advance. I don't know where we would have ended up if it weren't for you."
"I should thank you as well," Asahi replied as he took a deep breath. "You have made me realize something."
"And what's that?" Kendra said with an attentive stare.
"That I should do things one step at a time." Asahi's voice faltered for a moment. He turned to the distant golden light, face shadowed with memory. "Hopelessness came when I felt crushed by everything—I was so overwhelmed, I just wanted to run away. I… I lost hope because I was drowning in so many choices."
However, as Kendra leaned over and paid full attention with wide eyes, Asahi's tone gradually became optimistic, accompanied by a slight grin.
"But now I realize that focusing on one step will still take me to the same destination. So that's why…."
After one last sigh of relief, Asahi grabbed Kendra's arms and embraced her fully, tapping her back and whispering to her ear.
"I will focus on you next. We need to escape this place before it's too late. And I know just how to do it."
Not long after, he answered, the followers gathered around him, interested in their lord's words.
"Lord Asahi, are you being serious?" A man masked with a veil asked with open body language. "Are you truly going to escape all of us?"
Asahi nodded quietly.
"That's what I plan to do." He replied as he collapsed his hand under his chin. "But I don't exactly guarantee an escape. The Guardian is still lurking around the darkest corners."
Keeping Asahi's embrace strong, Kendra smiled through tears. Throughout all of this pain and surrender she had experienced, she would never have expected this to happen to her. Nonetheless, she had never felt such joy as a result of this encounter.
As they slowly parted from the lovely embrace, Kendra drew a breath and gently released it, turning her face to the distant golden light with Asahi.
"Thank you, Asahi." She whispered as they began their journey up the stone bridge. "Thank you for everything you have done."
. . .
Even with everything Kendra, Asahi, and the outside force had done, something horrible still managed to leave a last breath of life in the Nameless Caverns.
As Asahi, Kendra, and the followers peacefully climbed the stone bridge, unaware of the figure following them, a cyan light flashed from the dark corners of the underground expanse.
"What's that?" Kendra asked, tilting her head to the side.
Asahi's curiosity was quenched at the sudden disturbance. Despite that, they continued into the golden light until they couldn't ignore it any longer.
From pointed fingers, a person composed of fractured steel and swirling starry essence approached Asahi and Kendra in brutal strides.
Its voice was sealed shut, and its body trembled with repetitive gestures. It was more broken than before.
"Are… are you serious?" Kendra grumbled with a pinched expression. "How are you still alive?"
Asahi clenched his jaw and hurriedly grabbed Kendra's wrist, both disbelieving and annoyed by The Guardian's sheer persistence.
"After all the attacks you had endured… It's still NOT enough?!" Asahi said with an escalating voice. "What do you want from us?"
"I want… both of you to meet my Lord. The Omnipotent Ruler of All. Whether that be by force or by death."
The Guardian replied as it tried to reorganize its muddled, fractured parts. After Asahi, Kendra, and the others took another step back from The Guardian, it tightly clenched its fists and crushed a portion of its broken cyan heart.
"I will not stand here and fail. The Greater Result is fated and destined to happen."
The stone bridge shook and fractured with its last, desperate stomp.
Every thundering step forced Asahi and Kendra back, shoulders rigid with dread. Their chests heaved, hearts drumming in frantic panic, paralyzed by uncertainty.
The Guardian silently conversed with a colorless frequency.
It grounded its feet on the stone floor and threw its spear into the air, forcing all particles to exude out of the glowing tip. Now it became apparent to Asahi.
(This is The Guardian's Last Stand.)
Throughout the many hours of fighting, The Guardian, Asahi, and Kendra discovered many things.
They tried to fight, counter, and block the knight with and without weapons.
They attempted to use their magical powers, even to halt a vortex of epic proportions.
And despite all of that, none of their actions could eclipse the matchless power of The Guardian.
With no other option left, Asahi and Kendra drew near to a desperate resolve.
"RUN!"
They bolted across the bridge, fear clawing at every breath, each step an ache of desperate hope as the golden light beckoned them forward.
Abruptly, Asahi and Kendra's eyes went feverish from the blinding colors.
Their bodies danced to the deadly rhythm of The Guardian's swift swings. They jolted and strafed the bridge left and right, feeling the ground behind them crumble into the pit.
When they reached halfway through the stone bridge, the Guardian whisked across the air at the speed of sound and immediately changed positions, severing a fragment of the stone bridge like a knife cutting through butter. Rocks flew out; a chunk of glitter spewed out like a geyser, exuding into the air.
A crash followed, stunning Asahi and Kendra as they balanced their bodies at the sharp edge of the torn bridge.
Leaning forward, their eyes widened to a small gap made by The Guardian.
Beneath the cliff, a bottomless pit stood, leading directly into the unknown. Within the floor of darkness, stalagmites emerged.
One wrong step, and it would be over for them. But as the gap between now and never shrank, Asahi hurriedly grabbed Kendra's hands and kept his eyes forward.
Taking deep breaths, Asahi and Kendra tightened their grip and closed their eyes.
Without realizing it, they felt their feet lift from the ground.
The air around them hurriedly pushed their hair back, tickling their necks and raising goosebumps. Both their bodies were weightless, with their hearts beating in harmony.
Although their grip may be firm, their arms flailed like ribbons.
Once Asahi and Kendra opened their eyes, they felt their weight returning to their bodies. Loud echoes sounded with their impact, and sweats of relief poured down in rivers on their faces.
"We… made it!" Kendra exclaimed as she hoisted and stretched her arms.
"Yes," Asahi said as he hastily pulled Kendra toward the hole, caving into a tunnel. "We don't have much time. The Guardian could be here any moment…"
Just as Asahi's warning escaped his mouth, The Guardian pierced its spear through the ground, forcing blue and cyan essences to surge inside the stone like a stream of water.
Asahi and Kendra scrambled through the tight opening, scraping knees and trembling with every inch.
The claustrophobic tunnel pressed in, making hope feel like a flicker in the dark and dread an iron weight on their spines.
"Do not attempt… to escape your fate!" The Guardian said with their words trailing off brokenly.
Their legs ached, muscles locked with terror. They choked on shallow breaths, fingernails digging into stone as panic squeezed tighter, vision blurring from lack of air.
Their arms were crushed and snapped like twigs. Crimson splattered and scattered across the stone, their bodies squished after one last suffocated breath.
As the deafening silence settled, Kendra and Asahi gasped awake, heartbeats thudding loudly in their ears. An aroma of earth and sweat pierced the thin veil between illusion and reality, pulling them back. Luckily, this was merely a vision of their gruesome fate. The air felt tinged with a sharp, metallic tang that contrasted sharply with the cold, weighty dread still clinging to their minds as they awoke.
In reality, they escaped the tunnel and found a group sitting down around the staircase.
. . .
"Lord Asahi, where were you?" A familiar man with messy gray hair and crimson eyes asked as they noticed both their lord and their friend dropping down in exhaustion. "We have been waiting for you as you asked."
Before Asahi's gray eyes stood a fair number of familiar faces, some were children, others were women, and a few were men. Immediately, he turned away and covered his mouth, disbelieving of his followers' patience.
(They really do care about me.) Asahi mumbled as he straightened his posture. (They… listen.)
Although being a foreigner, Kendra could understand Asahi's disbelief. She never expected the followers to be as patient as this. However, as they started analyzing the room, Asahi's eyes shrank at a realization.
"Wait." He said, his eyes traveling back and forth through the enclosed space of stone. "Some of you are missing."
Upon his reaction, the room fell into a disturbing silence.
"Where are the others?" Asahi asked again, showing a worrisome tone.
As some looked away, tears of mourning welling up, the gray-haired man stepped forward and expressed it with a deep sigh.
"They… they left us." He said, gulping with regret. "They left us for the surface. They left us for the light. They didn't listen to us."
"Few of them actually did," Flavia added as she stepped in coldly. "They wouldn't listen. We tried our best to persuade all of us to wait for you, but…"
She tilted her head down and suppressed a sniffle.
"...but it just never worked. I'm sorry, my lord."
After a long pause came in between her last word,
"What happened up there?" Kendra asked them as she slowly leaned her head toward the golden light.
Despite asking, none of them answered. People instead turned their heads away, masking their emotions in front of her and Asahi.
Just before the thought slipped out of their heads, Asahi hurriedly snapped his fingers and warned.
"My followers, I know how much you grieve. However, someone is chasing us."
"You didn't defeat that knight, my lord?" A girl said with a disbelieving, high-pitched voice.
"Unfortunately, no," Asahi said as he took a bow of disbelief. "It will get even worse if all of you refuse to listen to me."
With that, he drew the attention of all ears as a rumbling followed behind him.
"If you want to go to the surface, we have to stick together." He said as he stepped back, straightening his posture. "We can't afford to stand here and watch others die. Do you understand?"
Captured with the sense of urgency from the flow of his words, all of the followers nodded their heads in unison and stood in front of the golden light. Their attention was caught at the last moment.
"Asahi," Kendra screamed as she hurriedly dashed toward the escalating terrain. "Behind us!"
Immediately, the wall collapsed in harmony, unveiling The Guardian like a stage curtain. It showed a gesture before stabbing the earth with its spear.
At that moment of realization, everyone fleet-footed up the stone staircase, dodging an expanding blue luminance. Some of them were caught, while others were far ahead, blocking the golden shower of light on the stairs.
"Don't try to escape!" The Guardian let out a yell as it finally showed emotion.
For once in this long battle, The Guardian, despite looking remarkably alienated from this world, evoked and presented a pure human emotion: desperation.
Nonetheless, that wasn't enough to grab Asahi and Kendra's attention. They kept their faces locked and anchored at the expanding ribbons of light, feeling the breeze swiftly enter the escalating underground terrain. They heard the birds chirp on the other side, followed by the peaceful sounds of the wilderness.
At last, Asahi and Kendra felt the warmth of the sunlight touch them once more.
However, during their ascension, Asahi heard a strangulated voice enter his mind. It was profound, matching a familiar face he had heard many times before in Linuxinia.
("Asahi…") He said with echoing distortion.
"Telos?!" Asahi said as he dodged the swift strike of The Guardian. "You're finally awake?"
("You're… not…") Just as the voice finished his sentence, a scream of terror resounded over the staircase.
Asahi scratched his head, noticing a large group of people gathering around the edge of the border between the underground and the surface.
Notably, as The Guardian slowed, he noticed a crown of the skull poking out of the ground. Then, as he continued, he found complete human skeletons scattered across the stone staircase.
They looked fresh; their flesh had been noticeably removed. Pieces transformed into piles until, finally, he approached the edge of the staircase and the fresh soil.
"My lord!" Someone screamed with a trembling voice. "Don't come close. There is…"
At that moment, when Asahi and Kendra pushed the others out of his path into the golden light, he noticed a magical, floating, transparent wall of cyan luminance appear from thin air. Their bodies phased through the wall as if it were a sheet of slime, feeling the breeze push their hair. Trees and tall, lush hills surrounded them. They were nowhere close to Toivo's mansion.
Though they both had made it past, when Asahi turned around to see if the others had followed them, he witnessed an absolutely terrifying sight. Piles upon piles of skeletons were just behind the barrier.
He witnessed his people desperately reaching their arms out through the barrier before their skin had melted off completely and consumed their bodies until they were nothing but dust and bone.
Both Asahi and Kendra's faces turned ashen white in horror. Their eyes appeared damp and white as they watched The Guardian slowly approach the screaming people.
"PLEASE!" Flavia screamed as she tried her best to pass through the barrier. "Please, save us, my lord!"
It was at this moment that Asahi discovered the truth. Those skeletons did not belong to anyone else but his followers. His heart sank into fear as he remembered what that man had said when they first passed through the tunnel.
"They left us. They left us for the surface."
When he tried to phase through the barrier again, Asahi felt a painful sting consume his body.
He felt dizzy, nauseous, and terrified, taking a step back. He grabbed onto Flavia's hand and forcefully pulled her out of the barrier.
However, just as a speck of her skin came into contact with the transparent wall, a strange essence spread, melting her body like a candlestick; the glowing liquid consumed her hair, eyes, mouth, arms, and legs until her skeleton and shield inevitably collapsed onto the stairs.
Beads of sweat slipped off his forehead as he took a step back into the surface, watching as his followers stared at Flavia's corpse in pure terror.
"No," Asahi said with a trembling voice. "N-No… No, no, no!"
It was at this moment that all hope for his promise to his followers eventually faded.
When he had seen both Flavia's corpse and all the other corpses resting behind the barrier, unable to touch the light of the surface, Asahi realized that he and Kendra were the only ones who could pass through the barrier.
He understood The Guardian's motives and what he meant by breaking the laws of this world.
And now, seeing The Guardian stand behind the helpless, terrified group of people, Asahi collapsed onto his knees and witnessed as each of them succumbed to the embrace of its spear with despair.
"NO! Stop!" Asahi and Kendra screamed as The Guardian continued to toss the people into the barrier, melting their flesh one by one. "Don't kill them!"
Suddenly, the same profound voice hollered at Asahi in his mind.
("You're NOT supposed to be there!") Telos screamed with pure desperation, his voice echoing and distorting. (You are breaking one of the most crucial and vital laws of your world! Never, under ANY circumstance, delve into neither Depths above nor below!")
"Huh?" Asahi mumbled tremblingly as he forced himself up. "So.. that's…"
(I refuse to break my promise!) Asahi screamed in his mind as he felt the ground beneath his feet tremble.
Before anything could be said, Asahi tried to pass through the barrier and strike The Guardian with all the weakness he had.
However, just before his fingers could even touch the underground border, a golden and cyan beam of cosmic light ferociously engulfed every corner of the escalating staircase, forcing the earth to collapse into itself.
Rocks crumbled, the skeletons were crushed, and even The Guardian was caught in the lethal light, leaving nothing but a barricade blocking the entrance to The Nameless Caverns forever.
When Asahi tried to step back, feeling every single memory of his encounter with The Nameless Caverns flash before his eyes, a visible thin strand of strange black essence flowed outside of Asahi's head.
With each footstep, Asahi felt all memories of that encounter slip away, leaving nothing but fragments of it behind.
. . .
As the smoke from the terrifying event cleared, Asahi and Kendra noticed familiar faces sprinting toward them from a distance. Canyon, Toivo, and Brunella.
"Asahi!"
Asahi's feet were rooted into the ground, clueless and questioning where he was. Kendra stood there, her face a mask of pure horror, recalling every detail of the events.
Though Asahi could only grasp fragments of memories of The Nameless Caverns, Kendra was the sole carrier of the complete recollection.
Her role was not simply to remember; the depth of her memories held the key to unraveling future challenges that Asahi was determined to address.
The knowledge she possessed could guide them through upcoming trials or potentially reveal unforeseen dangers lingering ahead.