Chapter 35: Down to the Void Pt.4

"Oyue?!" He mumbled. "Oyue, is that—" Servus 132-X stopped himself from sounding pathetic.

The darkness could have played tricks with his mind. He looked above him and saw the small sliver of light atop of him. Servus 132-X descended further into the void, with the mouth of the grim darkness slowly engulfing him. Its cold ruthless breath welcomed him into the world of despair. The crack of light from the upper world finally succumbed to the nothingness of the burrow.

Without the essence of light to even make silhouettes of his movement, Servus 132-X has now descended into the abyss as blind as a bat. The pitch-black hole was unforgiving, the silence of the burrow could make any sane man jump into the depths of insanity. Only his beating heart that resonated along with his breath has been his only companion.

He felt the rope tightened around his waist. It was beginning to feel uncomfortable as the slow descend became unfathomable to his perception. He adjusted his arm that gripped along the rope, he tried to wriggle subtly to ease the throbbing pressure on his back. The warm tingling sensation of his stressed muscles made him wish that he should've just waited for the Principalia itself to take action.

But this was his steppingstone. His crowning moment to achieve his freedom and his comrades. This is where his sacrifice could make it all the difference. The sound of his hand clapping his cheek echoed violently in the darkness. It was a much-needed slap to get his mind back to his goal. To take the fear out of his system. To make him remember his blood-tainted hands. He had to remember it all, for Freedom.

As his descent continued, his feet dipped into something cold and wet. He retracted his feet in surprise. The sound of splashing water reverberated in the darkness.

"Water?" He mumbled.

Afraid of what lied beneath the water, Servus 132-X cautiously dipped his right foot in. He tried testing it by rapidly touching the bottom of water, splashing it all over the darkness. He felt something solid—like ground. He checked it once more, alternately kicked and stomped his foot forcefully to see if it moved, and gladly, it didn't.

After making sure that it was safe for him to put his feet on, he slowly dipped his left foot into the water. Now, both of his feet comfortably stood on the ground submerged in ankle-high water. He slowly moved his feet underneath the muddy ground, making sure that he doesn't lose his footing if he untied himself from the rope.

"Servus 132-X…" Lord Prestonheim's voice broke from the darkness.

The Commander's voice rattled Servus 132-X. It was the first human voice he heard since he descended. He looked around and only saw darkness.

"Servus 132-X, are you alive?" The Commander rang again.

Servus 132-X remembered that crystal ball device issued to him. He patted himself trying to look for the satchel. It took him a moment to locate the satchel that was moved to the further right side of his hip. He carefully took it out from the satchel and immediately answered the Commander.

"Y-yes, I am."

Servus 132-X can hear a sigh of relief on the other end. He could just imagine the old Commander pacing in front of the crystal ball.

"Thank the Gods! I thought when the rope shook, you were being attack by something!" Lord Prestonheim recalled. "What's your status there?"

"I am currently standing in what is seemed to be like water." Servus 132-X immediately realized how vague his answer was and tried to correct it as quickly as he can. "I meant, the ground seemed to be submerged in ankle-deep water."

Servus 132-X bit his lip. He knew there was no time for blunder during this crucial moment. Communication is particularly important in this situation especially when you are their only source of information.

It reminded him of the blunder his comrade made during his 44th incarnation. He was called Joryo, and he was tasked to locate an area of the forest where a squad of rebels hid from them. The order was to bombard the area once he have successfully located the enemies. After 4 days of tracking, he was able to track them down and mark the location. Unfortunately, he made a blunder. Instead of reporting the location of the rebels, he informed his location instead. The poor man died engulfed in flames as the mages casted ruthlessly on the location. It was already found out that it was his position that he gave, not the rebels.

That comrade of his, burnt into crisp and ash. He didn't want that to happen to him. That is why he became anxious after not being clear of his location.

"Do you see anything else?" Lord Prestonheim asked.

"I-I haven't my Lord, it's too dark. Wait!" Servus 132-X explained. "Let me use a rune."

The darkness made it difficult for Servus 132-X to identify the different markings of the runes. The good thing about these runes was that they come in various shapes conveniently designed for this type of situation.

He made a mental note of the runes earlier when he checked it at Lord Prestonheim's tent. The triangle is for fire, the round is for water, the square is for the air, a six-sided one for earth, and lastly, a finger length rectangular shape for the light.

He fumbled for the light rune in his satchel until he felt the rectangular wooden rune. Recalling the process taught to him by Ser Tristam, Servus 132-X closed his eyes and focused his exousia to his fingertips. He felt the energy coursing through his body, making its way to his fingers and then flowed directly to the rune.

Servus 132-X has now put his exousia to the rune but still nothing happened. He opened his eyes and still it was dark, the rune did not activate. He flicked the rune but still it wouldn't light up.

His silence did not go unnoticed. After a few moments of silence, Lord Prestonheim's voice echoed once again. "What's wrong, Servus 132-X?"

"I-I…I am unable to activate the light rune."

"Have you followed the steps Tristam told you?"

"Yes."

"Have you touched the rune symbol?"

Servus 132-X forgot about that. "Oh!" He immediately touched the rune symbol and light burst out from the rune.

The light blinded him for a while. His disorientated state almost caused him to drop the crystal ball.

"What's going on down there?!" Lord Prestonheim shouted after hearing gasp.

"I am alright. The light rune just activated and blinded me a bit." He squinted his eyes and tried to get a glimpse of the place. "There are no signs of life here."

Servus 132-X looked up and saw how deep the hole was. He lowered down his hand holding the rune and tried to glide it across the water. It was murky but still visible enough for him to see what was on the ground.

In front of him was another opening. Another gaping hole in the ground.

"There's another entrance in front of me." Servus 132-X took a step forward, "I'm going in to investigate."

He carefully walked across the watery path while wiggling his foot forward. He wanted to see if there were any other holes that he might've not noticed. He glided his rune again, above the water and around his surroundings to make sure there were no lurking monsters around.

When everything was clear, he started to move forward towards the opening which was a tight space, estimated to be around 4 footlings in length and 3 footlings in width.

"The opening is enough for one man to fit." He reported. "I am going to try and put some light on it and see what's on the other side." Servus 132-X placed his light on the small tunnel and saw something shimmering at the other side of the opening.

"I think I found it!" He shouted with excitement. "But I would have to crawl across this small hole to get into the other side."

"Affirmative! You best be careful!" Lord Prestonheim replied.

Servus 132-X placed the crystal ball back to his satchel and readied himself.

The light from the rune flickered as he went down on all fours. His hands felt the cold muddy waters. Surprisingly, the rune was still alit despite being partially submerged. He glanced at the small opening once more, took a deep breath and crawled his way in.