Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons 59 Chapter 25: The Ruins Of The Ancients

I lay there... silent in the darkness... alone, betrayed and left behind to die...Unable to wrap my head around what had happened...Slowly the realization struck that I was indeed alone in this world.

The wound in my right shoulder had been bleeding for a long time,realizing this I thought it was beaten to die silently.

I was about to give up on life as everything had been taken away from me, my friends, trust, and loved ones... I... was prepared to die and hopefully start anew. I fought my tiredness for a long as possible but couldn't stay awake. When I finally succ.u.mbed to the tiredness I found myself in an endless void...

Filled with nothing but eternal darkness, there I was... Alone…When suddenly softly and faint, there was a voice.The voice grew stronger as my consciousness faded away.

"Thisss... Isssn't... your... time... to... die..."

Hearing those words I awakened to an unfamiliar ceiling. Quickly I realized I was still inside the cavern, as it was true that there was no way out.

I shot up, thinking I had died for sure, but when I reached for the wound on my shoulder, nothing was there... it... was...

As I carefully examined the place my wound was located, nothing was there... except for what felt like, Scar tissue?

"What happened when I was unconscious?"

I asked expecting someone to answer, looking around no one could be found.I shrugged my shoulders as if I should have known.

"Of course... no one is around. Haha, I'm all alone here in this G.o.dforsaken place."

I sat right up, trying to collect my thoughts as I had finally calmed down after all the hards.h.i.+ps.When suddenly the voice spoke to me once more.

"You... are... not... alone..."

I jumped up, surprised to hear the voice, I got alert, and looked around. Something felt oddly familiar about the voice... again the voice spoke to me.

"We... are... always... with... you... never... forget... that..."

That's when the realization struck me, it was Yami!

"Yami! can you hear me? Oh, man... I am so ashamed about myself... if only I could have done something to save you instead..."

"Don't... worry... about... me... you... have... to... live... on..."

My heartfelt heavy as Yami's voice inside my head faded away.

"She was right... I can't let her sacrifice be in vain!"

Jumping up, it got time I looked for a way out.

But as I checked for any possible way to escape it quickly became clear the only way out had been blocked off by the rubble.

Aside from the shrine in the back, the area I was in wasn't different than an ordinary cave...

Noting that I had checked all the options available, I thought of things I may still have overlooked.

Because of what happened I didn't consider the shrine to be of any value,as it had the so-called Orochi skull stationed for wors.h.i.+p.

Unable to trust what Ragnee had told me I remembered meeting a large snake-like creature inside the forest as I was refilling my water supply at the pond.

"Hmm... that certainly happened, right?Then maybe... Maybe Ragnee did tell me the truth?"

Even if it was bad to trust the words of those who had betrayed me not too long ago,something inside me told me I could trust what she had said.

Doing so I walked towards the shrine and began examining it.

The shrine didn't look like it was anything out of the ordinary. The foundation seemed to have been made out of wood, as a tightly knotted rope hanged over the top.The Skull stood in the center, almost as if it was an altar.Deciding to examine the skull from up close I gently grabbed the skull lifting it from the shrine.

It wasn't that heavy, as I easily lifted it into the air. Looking closely at the skull I got baffled by the sheer size of it. As it would fit around my head without much effort I decided it was good to keep as extra protection. Seeing as the rest of my armor was almost entirely made out of demon wolf bones, I didn't see why I couldn't include some other creature's bones.

I examined the inside of the skull making sure there weren't any sharp edges left,As I looked inside I saw something was hidden behind the nose bones and picked it up.

It appeared to be a letter, this struck me as odd, but it did make me curious,so I decided to read it anyway. Opening the letter carefully I began to read the contents.

"To those who have found the hidden letter, well done.

My name is Sheila Ragnee and I wish to warn whoever finds the contents hidden inside the letter. Months ago our clan received a secret mission of the king,informing us to monitor the summoned ones, as he feared their monstrous potential.In the time we had received this mission we came to know his suspicions were true.

The king had told us about the ancient times when the first "Summoned" of "Other Worlder" had arrived.

This individual was known as "Gilgamesh", Offspring of the primordial deity Khaos.

His destructive prowess was equal to that of the G.o.ds. Because of this power he took no interest in other G.o.ds as he enjoyed to toy around with lesser life forms.

This potential got rooted inside all other worlders as they prove to be allies that protected Arganthes as we now know it. Wanting to be the most powerful the king feared their potential to overthrow his family and ordered the monitorization and extermination in the event of rebellion against the throne.

This is where we came in…

Ragnee

PS: In case you survived the events June had planned out for you Michael. Please check the back of the letter."

Quickly I checked the backside of the letter, as indeed it continued.

"First I have to apologize for the things I have put you through, but know… there was nothing I could do about it… Or at least… not that they knew off.

Which is why I had to play it save…

You see… I made sure to keep this letter hidden as we planned the ambush ahead of time.

The Shrine you see in front of you was to make everything believable as it truly is a shrine made to honor our clans' deities the Orochi's. If you look closely you'll see there is light escaping in the back of the s.h.i.+re. This is because I prepared an escape route for you to live on…

I want to humbly beg for your forgiveness as I hope we will one day meet again.Also being a bit selfish, I have a request to make, as now you know it was the king's order.

We couldn't fight his demands as he threatened to slaughter those last remaining of our clan, including ourselves. So, what I wish to ask is that when we ever meet again, to bundle our strength and overthrow the king with the rebels.

I know we used the mention of ruins in a ploy to get you all here, but in all honesty,

there truly are undiscovered ruins not far from here. Go and find the entrance, if you need help our descendant will wait for you at the end of the tunnel, guiding you to the entrance of the ruins… Once there… everything will become clear.

Lastly…

I hope you have read this far as never in my life have I met someone as innocent and pure-hearted as you. I wanted to thank you, for accepting someone whose origins lie with the cursed clan and treating me like any other. For that, you have my grat.i.tude…"

Tears rolled down as I read the letter, it became clear there was more at hand than simply betrayal as even the Orochi twins were bound by shackles…

Vowing I would get stronger and rescue those dear to me, I began examining the back of the shrine.

The Orochi's Skull now had more emotional value to me than ever as I cast aside the shrine.

Ragnee was talking about the truth! Behind the shrine, a small tunnel could be found.The faint light coming through made it almost invisible to the naked eye,making it the perfect escape route.

Quickly I fell on hands and knees as I began crawling my way out of the caverns.

A sigh of relief fell over me as the heavy burden on my heart lessened. I didn't know what to believe anymore, but since Ragnee left me a way out I decided to trust her one more time.

Finally, I arrived at the outskirts of the cavern leading directly to the center of the surrounding forests.

Tears began to fall as I realized nothing was as it seemed. With a heavy heart, I lifted my head into the sky as I gripped my chest tight and uttered these words in disbelieve.

"She was telling the truth all along... I swear to you on the blood that courses through my veins, I will rescue those bound by tyranny and break down their walls of disbelief... as you did for me..."

I breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, continuing my journey as I had learned,there still was someone I could depend on in this world.

After I had ventured through the woods, again, Ragnee's words had been proven true.

As I began finding remains of ancient buildings. These buildings had been eroded and perfectly blended with nature over time. The wildlife used the large cavities to hide from the brightly burning sun. As I continued to venture through the remains of the ancient civilization,

I eventually ended up in front of a traditional gate made out of stone…

Cracks could be seen as time had taken its toll on it. Parts had crumbled away while at the same time, the plant life had been steadily growing around it. When I wanted to walk through the gate something moved closer behind me, almost like someone was dragging something with them as they moved along…

*rustle* *rustle*

Thinking it might have been survivors of the ambush, I slowly decided to turn around.What I saw… was nothing like what I had imagined…

In front of me lay a gigantic snake, its size caught me off guard, making me take a step backward. Thinking it would swiftly lash out at me, I quickly tried to prepare for a potential attack as I swiftly brought up my guard.

After holding my defensive position for a while, nothing happened.

Not sure of the situation I relaxed my guard. In which the gigantic snake curiously turned its head. Wanting to know what was happening I tried to initiate a question towards the serpent.

But before I could, It carefully and gently spoke to me as its tongue quickly shot in and out of its mouth.

"Friend…?"

I looked at the serpent with confusion written all over my face.

"Not… Like… The… Othersss… Right?"

The serpent felt docile towards me as I now had the chance to carefully examine how it looked like. Still… the size of it was baffling, yet now I realized its scales were pure white as freshly fallen snow, perfectly reflecting the sunlight like a mirror.

The skin in between and underneath the scales looked black, creating a perfect balance in gradients. Its eyes were bright pink, with a faint hint of turquoise at the inner edges of the iris.

Its eyes made me think about the freshly grown cherry blossoms.

Looking closer its head had the shape of a V as horns grew out of the ends,still covered with scales this made a smooth harmony. The snake didn't know what to do as I stood there admiring the way it looked.

"Friendsss… With… Sssheila?"

The serpent asked as it looked at me as it turned its head.I sighed, knowing I couldn't deny that we were now indeed friends.

*sigh*

"Yes, We are friends."

The serpent looked at me with longing eyes.

"Not… Like… The… Othersss… Not… Really… Afraid…"

I didn't know what to say as tears began to form in the eyes of the serpent.I looked at the beast and smiled, shortly after I gestured for it to come closer.The serpent slowly proceeded to move towards me, lowering its head near me.Now nearby, I too gently moved towards it.

I could see it was anxious about contact,probably because most encounters weren't kind and peaceful as I could imagine others would try to lash out at it. I inched closer ever so slightly, as I could see it didn't like to be stared at and moved away.

I had to start over again… But… it had not attacked me at all, which was a good thing.

Thinking of how I could approach it, I closed my eyes and lay flat down on my back to concentrating. The serpent got curious about what I was doing and inched closer ever so slightly.

Trying to win its trust I knew I had to let it approach me, showing that I too had blind faith in it as well.

Still, no reaction as the beast slowly began to curl its body around me.Curiosity took the better of the beast as it slowly lowered its head towards me.

Thinking about the situation I now found myself in, playing dead for a gigantic snake,I suddenly realized something similar had happened not too long ago, the only difference was that I didn't know what kind of creature it was last time…

The serpent inched closer as I could feel its breath on my body brus.h.i.+ng away my hair.

"We… Friends… Too?"

The serpent asked almost too afraid to hear the answer.

I smiled, and slowly opened my eyes. Thinking back something similar happened not too long ago. At that moment our eyes met, unable to look away I knew it for certain.

"Yes, we are friends."

Overjoyed the serpent lay its head against my body, not knowing what to do I decided a hug would be the best thing I could give it in this situation.

"Well then… Since we are friends now, let me introduce myself."

I pointed at myself as the happy snake stared at me.

"I am Michael, nice to meet you."

The snake smiled as it was overjoyed by the opportunity to get to know someone better.

"Now it's your turn, please tell me your name."

The snake looked at me with a questioning gaze as it looked away for a moment.

"What? You don't have any?"

"No…"

The snake answered sadly.

"Then… Want me to give you one?"

Overjoyed the snake began to twirl its tail and slammed its head against me.

"hahaha, okay okay, let me think."

I had to make sure it was a good one. So I gently began to examine it.Looking for clues, I noticed it had long eyelashes, which made me question something.

"Before I give you a name, I have to ask, are you a boy or a girl?"

The snake playfully turned its head as it didn't understand the question.

"Well… Depending on what your s.e.x is, I may have another name in mind.But maybe… just maybe the same thing as last time might happen?

Oh, what the heck… let's just give it a go. What do you think about Hikari?"

The moment I called its name it began to glow and grow in size, only to shortly after shrinking in size and a.s.sume a human body. Hikari had turned into a girl. A very beautiful girl at that…Scales still covered her body, her eyes were still the same, making me think of spring.

The young girl in front of me had short, straight, white hair.

In away… this made the situation a bit awkward because even though she was covered partially in scales… she was otherwise, naked…

I didn't know where to look as Hikari must have synched with my subconscious as she a.s.sumed this form… Not wanting to be inappropriate and blindly stare at her rack I looked away, only for her to quickly face me with an innocent smile.

I quickly turned around as I had to keep my head on the objective.

But before I could move Hikari began hugging me from behind.

The feeling it gave me was euphoric as I slowly began to drool.Quickly snapping out of it, Hikari kept repeating the word "hug" over and over again.

"Hug, hug, hug!! Hikari… lovesss… to… give… hugsss!!"

The situation began to turn from better to worse as I was unable to escape her adorable clinging, trying to get her off me I quickly had to think of a way to move on.

If better got to worse, then I would need to drag her with me.

"Hikari, Ragnee told me to find someone who would guide me through these ruins,since you know Ragnee, she must have been talking about you right?Could you please show me the way?"

Hikari let go of me as she answered my question.

"Yesss, Yesss!! Ssshe ha.s.ss a.s.ssked me to ssshow you the way towardsss the ruinsss."

"Great! But lets first find something to cover up your private parts as this won't do…It must be the first time in this form for you, right? I mean… I like the view as much as the next guy, but aren't snakes cold-blooded?"

Upon realization, Hikari began to s.h.i.+ver and curled up in a fetus position.Quickly I began to collect large leaves to make her some appropriate attire binding them together with a piece of rope I had left in my bag. Overjoyed about her new clothes she thanked me and gave gently slammed her head against mine.

Getting startled by this, not wanting to lose myself in the moment I quickly backed away as it got time we went on our way towards the ruins. Without thinking I grabbed her by the hand as we went on our way.