Chapter 120: Residue

Chandea, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 48th day of Fall, Arenfall

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"Phellie, yah sure 'both this?" Ghwynmyr asked. "Be careful, ah?"

Orphella looked at her comrade and patted his shoulder, "I will be fine. Hopefully Adaloun is as well." She signed.

She divulged her attention to the beastman who had his hands tended by his squad healer. Orphella approached her and asked.

"Would you be alright?" She pointed his wounded hands.

The beastman silently nodded at her. She smiled to him and was about to approach Lord Prestonheim for their final instructions when suddenly Ulfaar called out to her.

"O-Orphella!" The beastman said. "Y-ou be careful out there."

The elf smiled again at him, "I will be."

After that brief conversation with her comrades, she immediately went to Lord Prestonheim's make-shift table located just near the mouth of the opening. The silver-head Commander along with the volunteering knights was already planning for the reconnaissance mission that they need to do in a moment.

The elf approached them and bowed to the Commander. Lord Prestonheim nodded back but immediately went back to the conversation. The elf stood beside the healer and listened to the Commander's stratagem.

"All you have to do is check what happened below." The Commander started. "If you encounter hostiles, give us a quick report and do not engage. The last thing we want is to stir whatever it is down there." He massaged the bridge of his nose. "Rescue any surviving members and if there's none, just retrieve their remains. We owe them a proper burial." Lord Prestonheim added.

All of them nodded in agreement. Everyone was anxious on what they might see once they reach the bottom. What Orphella could only do was pray for the best. Hopefully, Adaloun and the rest are still alive and just unconscious.

The rest of the knights fixed the pulley system to help them descend faster down the hole. While waiting for it, she checked her equipment once again. The long bow Ghwynmyr made for her was heavier compared to the lighter bows they had made from the cured Iron Willow wood endemic to the Vridian forest.

The dwarven bow was made from twisting metal fibers to emulate the flexibility of the wooden bow. A feat that only a skilled dwarf weaponsmith can do. She then checked the belt holding the quiver on her hip and tried shaking it. It was properly hoisted.

The dwarf also gave her a pair of leaf-shaped daggers. Again, the blades were a lot heavier than that of an elven-crafted blade, but its durability surpasses that of their race's craft. She placed them back on the holsters she wore on both her legs.

The pulley system was almost done by the time she was finished with her equipment check. The Orkamuu was waving to her asking her to come for their own huddle. She immediately ran towards them and listened as the dark-skinned warrior began to speak.

"Greetings of Light to all of you!" He smiled. "They call me Wahakim, I am tasked to lead this group on the…ummm..abyss, I guess. Let's work well together."

The other knights nodded and introduced themselves albeit quickly. The knight from Lord Prestonheim's flock was called, Martigan. The healer called himself Ikareon. The elf tried to introduce herself but unfortunately, no one could seem to understand her—the language she used.

So, she introduced herself by writing her name down using the Arterian runes system.

"Orphella," The leader said. "Well met. I would love to know you people better, but the circumstances are not in our favor to do a chat right now. Let's go!"

Everyone agreed and readied themselves for the descent. The Orkamuu along with her came down the hole first. They descended under the blanket of blinding darkness swallowing them as the descended further down the deep hole.

"Amazing!" Wahakim exclaimed. "This abyss truly represents the darkness Lord Apholak fought eons ago!" He said.

Orphella looked around the thick blanket of darkness, as she looked around the environment became clearer to her. Her eyes easily adjusted to the blinding dark and just before they could finish their descent, she was already able to see the silhouette of the rocky walls holding the hole in place.

But that was only temporary…

"May the light of Apholak tear this vei of darkness apart!" Wahakim shouted.

A shot of a bright warm light began to glow and spread throughout the hole. Orphella had to close her eyes as the light continued to shine brighter.

"Oh no!" Wahakim exclaimed. "I am sorry if I hadn't warned you about that. I thought you knew. You could've told—oh yeah…umm...sorry about that." He said.

Orphella had no idea what the Orkamuu was talking about. But she shook her head while covering her eyes as the continued their descent.

"It is safe to open your eyes now, Lady Orphella." The Orkamuu advised.

The elf slowly opened her eyes and saw the rocky walls she only saw in silhouette earlier. The rocky walls Was intricately formed with the earth rune the dwarf asked her to collect.

"No wonder why he was so drained." She told herself as she recalled the dwarf's poor state after using his magic on them.

The dwarf went above and beyond in keeping the integrity of the hole, especially with how it almost closed. Orphella recalled that the hole didn't collapse on itself as it closed instead, it felt like a mouth forcing itself to close.

The phenomenon was so unnatural she could only think of one reason why it happened—magic. They were already getting close to the ground. The Orkamuu tapped his shoulder and signaled her ready her bow.

She took out the bow she slung on her back and readied herself as they stepped on the ground. Orphella took an arrow from her quiver, pulled bow and pointed the arrow right in front of them.  She nodded to the Orkamuu that she was ready.

The Orkamuu then extended his arm towards the darkness in front of them and shoot a compact ball of light from his hand. The ball tore through the darkness before exploding at what seemingly was the wall. The bright light illuminated the entire tunnel and what they saw surprised them.

"What in the world?" The Orkamuu scratched his head as he looked at the scene baffled. He took out the map and checked it again. "Have I been reading this correctly?!" He passed it to her.

The elf was also surprised to see it. She looked at the map, it was grossly different from the one that Adaloun saw and described earlier. The narrow pathway was gone, possibly blown up from the explosion earlier.

Orphella's heart raced. She wanted to rush to the scene immediately, but she cannot leave the Orkamuu behind. She took a deep breathe to calm herself down, but her heart was still restless. She focused on her breathing to take the anxious thoughts plaguing her mind.

Is Adaloun still alive? Are they alright? Are we currently baited here? These thoughts run all over her mind. A small pebble rolled from the wall, hitting on the ground causing a booming thud. The sound made her lose her cool and accidentally released an arrow to the clearing in front of her.

Her magic-infused arrow simply ricochet itself, hitting the dangling stalactite before hitting the brittle dried ground.

"Keep calm, my Lady." The Orkammu said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "You're too tense." He added.

Orphella looked at him straight in his eyes and saw the same look of worry painted on his gold-colored eyes. She took another deep breath and bowed to apologize. The Orkamuu lifted her arm asking not to prostrate to him.

"Only the Kings and Lords merit a bow, but for free people like us a simple smile will do." He calmly said.

The Orkamuu was obviously as terrified as her, but the way brought the entire ordeal was graceful. In fact, too graceful, he might as well be an elf.

The other two members of the reconnaissance group had already reached the bottom. All four of them advanced to the place that Adaloun supposed to describe as the small tunnel, before the clearing on the other side.

"This doesn't seem to look like it—" said the healer. "And what are those?" He pointed at the big bubble that started to emerge near a huge white wall.

"What should we do now?" Asked the young knight.

"Our Lord say to avoid hostiles…but I have a feeling that we need what are the contents of that."

Wahakim looked around for a rock to throw at it, but it was too far away. Orphella knew it was foolish to use an arrow at it, but rather than a stone that's failing miserably to hit it, she might as well.

She nudged the Orkamuu gently to get his attention and volunteered to do the pricking of the bubbly for them.

"That's going to waste another precious arrow!" The Orkamuu said.

Before Wahakim could say another word, Orphella rapidly took her arrow and released it before the Orkamuu and the other men could blink.

The arrow hit the center of the crimson bubble. As soon as it did, The stench of rotting blood filled the air and the red liquid gushed on the floor. The viscous liquid along with questionable chunks of matter spilled all over the floor.

The group looked in horror as their greatest fear seemed to unravel in front of their very eyes.