Step. Step. Step.
Unafraid of the unknown, Adam stepped forward confidently, completely imrsed in the darkness. He didn't know what was beyond the Serpent Gates, he didn't know where he was going, but he knew why - that was all that mattered.
Though Adam couldn't see it, he could feel the crimson mist covering everything around him, curiously passing over him to venture beyond the gate.
"How strange... I no longer feel like I am in the caverns. There's no familiar echo of my voice here, but I don't know how wide or narrow the boundaries of the passage are."
Silvana didn't have an answer to that question either. For her, as for Adam, the Serpent Gates and what lurked behind them was a frightening mystery.
Suddenly, cracking sounds ca from outside.
Cracking. Crack. Crack.
Adam alerted, preparing to fight as he assud a fighting stance. If several Sacrificial Holders attacked him in total darkness, it would be a tough fight for him.
However, no one was going to charge Adam, at least not now and not here.
Flash.
Several bright lights flashed, becoming the first sources of light Adam had missed, for the last few minutes his only companions were silence and darkness.
Deep inside he was glad that one of his problems had been solved, but he kept his guard up, looking around intently.
As Adam had suspected, he was no longer in caves. He stood in the middle of a spacious passageway, the ceilings high and the walls far away.
The walls were made of crimson bricks tightly fitted together, the main pathway in turn was made of broken stones joined by black material covering the gaps between.
However, unlike in most places in the Wild Lands, there were no torches or bright crystals to provide light.
What, then, illuminated the passageway? What suddenly happened that made the darkness disappear?
"Wait... Wasn't sothing like that on his back?"
Several massive flowers were growing right out of the walls. They only had three petals, long and wide, seeming heavy and dense for their thickness.
The petals were dark but retained a bright red hue, unlike the center of the bud, which shone brightly like the active fla of a torch.
The multitude of scarlet stans trembled slightly, emitting a powerful bloody scent, each stan emanating a thin trickle of the crimson energy traveling upward like a mist.
Hidden by the multitude of stans, a red core lurked in the heart of the bud, emitting a bright light.
Every now and then, a pulse emanated from the core, shuddering through the three massive petals before returning.
Adam's eyes went wide as he gulped.
"What a dense energy here... All because these flowers opened up? Damn, that would be far better for any monster than even a few runes, I'm sure of it."
Soon, a disgruntled voice resounded in his mind:
[Pfffttt... Do you think my runes are completely useless? Hearing sothing good from you seems impossible...]
Lone Blaze was clearly displeased.
Adam didn't answer anything, he just scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile on his face.
The flowers he was looking at were called the Voracious Krigias, they were as regular guests in the depths as the runes in the fortress.
Yet, that wasn't really what Adam was supposed to be paying attention to right now.
'Adam!' Silvana exclaid in urgency, 'Look up!'
Without further question, Adam did as she said.
The ceiling was very high, the light from the colors barely reaching the top, but it well illuminated the two round objects hanging down.
"Well, well... Looks like this place isn't going to let just walk around here safely, does it?"
Blood vessels coming out of the cracks between the bricks ran along the ceiling, shivering vigorously from ti to ti. They held in place and fueled two flesh clots, slightly elongated in shape.
It remotely resembled eggs, but... the most accurate description would be the womb, bloody and creepy slightly bobbing up and down under its own weight.
Did Adam expect the clots to explode and the monsters to attack him? Sure, he realized that the flowers activated for a reason, the Voracious Krigias sensed his presence, that he didn't belong there.
However, after a few minutes of close observation, nothing happened.
The flesh clots twitched from ti to ti, emitting strange tearing sounds, scarlet pulses ran through the blood vessels, but there was no action.
Step. Step. Step.
With a confident stride, Adam passed under the clots before turning around. Neither the flowers nor the wombs reacted to him in any way.
Moreover, the first two flowers gradually closed, one petal after another as their light was no longer needed by Adam.
'Oh...'
Silvana breathed a sigh of relief seeing the sa picture as him.
'Looks like it was just a natural reaction of the colors. I don't know what's lurking in those eggs... hanging from the ceiling, but it's good news for us.'
However, Adam did not go any further, though he had the opportunity to do so. He narrowed his eyes staring intently at the flesh clots.
"Yeah, but... What if next ti I et five of them, or ten? And, they won't be quietly waiting for to pass by." Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire
'Hmm?'
Silvana raised an eyebrow, after a second her eyes went wide.
'Wait, Adam, you're not going to...!'
Well, she knew what he wanted to do and that he would do it.
"Hah, of course, I am!"
Flas lit up in his eyes as the silver needle appeared in his hand. Without a mont's hesitation, Adam tore forward, bouncing off the wall and reaching the two flesh clots.
Slash.
With two smooth swings, Adam left wide cuts on the clots before landing on his feet.
Thump. Thump.
With a thud, two streams of blood rushed to the ground, bringing two silhouettes down with them.
Adam threw his head back, resting his needle on his shoulder like a great sword.
"Well, well, looks like you showed up earlier than you should, doesn't it?"
The two Sacrificial Holders tried to get to their feet, but they were having a hard ti doing so.
And, unlike the first one, these two had no vines behind them, and their arms were blocked as before by wide chunks of flesh.
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