Serena, still seated on the platform, watched him with a mixture of curiosity and concern. She could tell there was more to his story about the energy source, but she didn’t press him. Still, her sharp gaze lingered on him for a moment longer, as if silently telling him she wasn’t fooled.
Not wanting to continue on this subject any longer, Kain quickly changed the subject.
“Serena,” he said, shifting his gaze to her. “What happened after I fell into that quicksand? One second, I was with the group searching for an entrance, and the next, I was sinking. How did you get separated from the others?”
Serena’s expression grew thoughtful as she leaned back slightly, folding her arms. “The moment you disappeared, the entire ground beneath us destabilized,” she explained. “It was like the relic had been waiting for one of us to trigger it. Before any of us could react, we were all pulled under before we could even regroup together.”
Kain frowned. That explained why she wasn’t with the others, but it didn’t tell him where they were now. “So, you all got dragged in and separated? Then what?”
Serena’s gaze lowered slightly, as if recalling something unpleasant. “When I regained consciousness, I was alone. It was an entirely different location than this chamber—It was a cave on the surface that actually contained a tunnel underground to here.” She hesitated, then added, “But once I entered the ruins underground I wasn’t alone for long. The area I entered from was crawling with strange half-mechanical creatures. They manipulated a strange purple energy, and I think a couple even had something resembling abyssal energy. Although it was slightly different from true abyssal energy, it still seemed capable of corrupting others.”
“And that’s what ended up infecting you?” Kain interjected.
She nodded. “It wasn’t easy. For some reason Balens couldn’t heal me. I had to rely on my other contracts to keep myself alive.” She paused, tilting her head slightly. “But what about you? How did you end up here?”
Kain exhaled sharply. “Same as you—woke up alone on the surface, had to deal with whatever this place threw at me.” He glanced toward the glowing devices. “And like you I ran into some… complications along the way.”
Serena studied him carefully, her piercing blue eyes searching for the details he wasn’t saying. “I’m guessing those ‘complications’ are why you look like you’ve been through hell?”
Kain let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. “Something like that.”
There was a brief silence between them before Serena spoke again. “The others should have been brought in the same way, but I have no idea where they ended up.”
Kain’s expression darkened, the others were likely scattered and alone, possibly facing the same horrors he and Serena had encountered.
And if they faced the same creatures Serena did, then that was practically a death sentence for them. After all, Kain doubted that there were many of these special healing rooms. Not to mention, regular healing skills seemed ineffective against whatever was harming her.
“If the relic pulled everyone in,” Kain said, his voice low, “then the others could be anywhere. We need to find them before they run into something they can’t handle.”
Serena nodded, her expression serious. “Agreed. But this place is massive, and we have no idea where they might be. We could spend days searching and still not find them. In all the time Prismarin’s illusions went looking for help, the only person it found was you.”
“Fortunately, it looks like all we’ve got is time…”
————-
After they both felt better, they left the chamber that persistently emitted healing energy, and continued exploring the underground expanse of ruins.
Fortunately, in all of their travels, they did not come across any of the special experimental products like the one that Serena fought. Instead, at most they had to fight the ‘generic’ products that Kain had previously experienced.
Although they were incredibly powerful, once the two paired up, even multiple of them were not life threatening to them. The familiarity and synergy between their contracts made battles far more manageable.
However, Kain noted that strangely, like the first one he’d met, as long as he was also in the room, they would largely ignore everyone else and focus their attacks on him.
As a result, Kain needed to be continuously healed even more than many of their contracts, but it also made formulating combat strategies easier since they knew that they would persistently target Kain anyways and so used this behaviour to trap them.
But despite predicting their movements and inevitable targeting of Kain, as they ventured deeper into the ruins, the frequency of the half-mechanical abominations increased. The relentless assault was taking its toll, and even with Queen’s healing abilities, he could feel the strain building in his body since they were mostly targeting him.
“Why do they keep targeting you?” Serena asked, her voice tight with frustration as her Starweaver sent a rain of arrows composed of starlight to repel another abomination. “It’s like they’re drawn to you.”
Kain shook his head, his expression grim. “I don’t know.”
Serena frowned, her piercing blue eyes narrowing as she considered his words. “We need to figure out why they’re focusing on you. It was okay when there were fewer of them, but now it feels like you are slowly drawing everyone of those creatures that are in these ruins to you.”
Kain nodded, but before he could respond, a sudden, dull throbbing sensation interrupted his thoughts. It started deep within him, almost like a hunger pain, but it wasn’t coming from his stomach.
“Do you feel that?” Kain asked, his voice low as he pressed a hand to his lower chest.
Serena glanced at him, her brow furrowing in concern. “Feel what?”
Kain frowned, her confusion was answer enough. Only he could feel whatever this draw was, and with each passing second the sensation grew stronger, pulling at him, guiding him in a specific direction.
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