Chapter 63 - There Is A Price

The wind had calmed down, the baby was no longer crying, and the void was right behind me, but was still.

The serene atmosphere felt a little strange to me, considering how chaotic it was just moments ago.

The baby opened its eyes just a silver, revealing its light blue eyes. The baby took a look at me, making me feel a little awkward.

My foot took a step forward, bringing me right next to the pedestal.

"...Do you want to leave?"

The baby turned its head to the side.

I guess it was bold to assume it already knew how to understand language.

The baby nodded.

...Ah, did the baby understand what I said?

"Do you understand me?"

The baby nodded again.

Huh, I guess it did learn the language... somehow.

My eyelids rapidly blinked.

I was at a loss on how to pick the baby up.

My hands tried to pull the baby up by the shoulders, but then it started crying.

In a panic, my hands let go of the baby and it fell on its back, hitting the pedestal. The baby glared at me.

My hands raised like someone surrendering.

"Sorry!"

This time my hand tried to get a hold of the baby's back. The baby seemed to lose balance with just one hand, so my other hand held onto the back of the baby's knees.

This time the baby did not cry, only sucking on the left thumb and looking at me through slightly opened eyes.

My eyes lingered on the baby's eyes for a few moments, before my steps took me out of the room and into the void.

It was dark.

It felt as though my body was submerged in shallow water.

Then... the light reappeared.

My eyes narrowed and my hand blocked the light from my eyes.

"Ah, there you are. Where did you go?"

My eyes blinked a few times and my vision slowly cleared to see Leon with a raised eyebrow.

My fist was held in front of my face and a cough came up from my throat.

"What do you mean?"

Leon tilted his head by a few degrees.

"You disappeared for a few seconds, do you not remember?"

My hand scratched the back of my head.

"Uh... I guess I did go somewhere, I think?"

Mark chuckled.

"You found the crying kid?"

Oh, I forgot about that. My eyes looked down at my arms, which were empty. My head turned around, to see a glowing pale light floating behind me.

"Oh yeah, guess I did."

Osric narrowed his eyes.

"Where did you go?"

My finger scratched the side of my head.

"Well, there was this small room and path with a baby at the end of it. It was hard to get to the baby, but once I did, I picked the baby up and left."

The faint blue light was energetically prancing around me. Leon laughed.

"Haha, it appears you have profited off this venture."

My head tilted to the side.

"Guess so."

Osric's eyelid twitched.

Mark held a finger on his chin.

"Now that we have explored every other path, why don't we take a look down the first one?"

Leon nodded.

"Might as well."

The four... five of us walked back down the pathway. The pale blue light followed behind us and lit up the way.

My finger scratched the side of my head as we walked.

"Say, Leon. How are we going to cross that place if there isn't a floor for the most part?"

Leon turned to face me.

"It will take some time as the mana here is thin, but I will be able to create a pathway down."

I nodded.

"Ah, that works."

It did not take too long for us to get back to the start.

Leon sat down and closed his eyes. Silently, earth was forming across the pathway we have yet to fully travel down.

In the meantime, The pale light was erratically moving around me, like it was curious about every little thing.

The path was now lit up, letting me see that it extended quite far and that the path was almost completely crumbled, save for a few sandy pieces at the edges.

In the corner of my eye, I could make out Mark looking at me. Subconsciously, my head turned to face him.

Mark had the same smile as always, but his eyes were narrowed.

"You have quite the strange power, Jay."

My hand scratched the back of my head.

"I guess so, do you know anything about it?"

Osric turned to look at Mark.

As for Mark, he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I know little."

I nodded.

"I don't really understand it either."

Osric's eye twitched, but he remained silent.

Leon took a deep breath.

"That was annoying."

The pathway forward was filled with brown dirt, into darkness.

Leon cracked his neck.

"I should be able to make the rest of the pathway as we walk."

Mark nodded.

"Then let's get to it."

The five of us walked down the pathway.

The dirt was as hard as stone and did not even tremble. Leon seemed to be pretty good at what he does.

The further we walked down the path, the more reluctant the pale blue light behind seemed.

It was no longer as energetic or jumpy as it was before.

...Should we turn back?

My head had to turn around to look at the pale blue light. It was following from behind and the distance between us grew the more we walked.

My finger scratched the side of my head.

"Um, we don't have to continue right?"

Osric raised an eyebrow.

"I don't see a reason why we should avoid this one. We were fine walking down every other pathway were we not?"

Leon turned his head around to face me.

"At most, it will be a waste of time, I doubt anything can threaten us down here."

My hand scratched the back of my head.

"Alright, that makes sense."

My head turned back to look at the pale blue light once more, before continuing onward.

This pathway was the shortest of them all. As we reached the end of the path, earth was filling up the hole at the end of the path.

The room we reached was as large as the other ones. The only difference was that the center had a skeleton and blood scrawlings were on the floor, similar to the ones I saw before. There were five green glowing stones around the perimeter, though their shine was dull.

The pale blue light lingered behind for quite a distance. It made me wonder what it was trying to avoid.

The skeleton in the middle had cracks on its bones, a dagger in his hand, and a rusty metal necklace. The necklace had a small heart at the end, but it was cracked.

The four of us walked closer to the middle.

Once we were closer, my eyes made out that the skeleton had one hand holding a few pieces of some shattered white rock. The other hand had a reverse grip on the dagger. The tip of the dagger was in the palm of his other hand.

There was a piece of paper on the ground near the skeleton. While the rest of us stayed at the perimeter of the blood scrawlings, Mark walked over and picked up the piece of paper without much reservation.

After looking at it for a few seconds, he walked back over to us and held the paper out so we could read it.

"Take a look, it is quite interesting."

Though the writing before was neat, the words on the paper were uncannily straight and pristine.

The corner of my eye twitched.

'It is right in front of me.

Just one more step and the fruits of my research will be complete.

The necklace I gave her all those years ago is right in my hands.

All I need to do is drop it and my wife will come back to me.

But I couldn't do it.

Why?

The necklace in my hand was freshly cleaned. The heart at the end of the necklace was beautiful and gave off a clear reflection.

My reflection was staring back at me from the heart.

It made me wonder what I've become. How did things turn out this way?

So many people died by my hand.

Not just evil people.

Not just innocent people.

But even people I deeply cared about.

There were so many opportunities to move on.

So many kind people exist in this world.

I can still remember all of them.

It gave me the strength to move forward. So many great people.

Yet, I killed them all.

Repaid all of their kindness with selfishness.

I suppose I had my answer as to why I couldn't do it.

I was afraid.

I was afraid of her seeing me like this.

The failure that I became.

This place must become sealed. The history of this place must be destroyed.

I have already destroyed the path to this place.

If anybody is reading this, it must mean you are looking for the secrets to resurrect.'

By getting this far, it must mean you have some power in this world.

But do not let the power get to your head, else your fate will be no different from mine.

THERE IS A PRICE TO CHEAT DEATH.'