"However you look at it, this cave is suspicious…" Aerindel looked at the cave mouth in front of them.
"Un." Freanor nodded in agreement.
"Do you think it is a trap…?" Rye was somewhat sceptical.
Earlier, they arrived at the Der'asa Mountain and soon found a mountain trail. They decided to follow it and it led them to the cave they were standing outside of right now.
The cave walls were embedded by pulsating rocks emitting a strange colour in an ambiguous line between blue and green colour. They couldn't really tell whether those were rocks or gems.
From inside, they could feel a foreign force of energy that didn't feel anything like they had ever encountered. It wasn't demonic, it also wasn't remotely magical. It didn't make them uncomfortable or anything, it just felt…pressuring.
"It seems dangerous, we should go back."
"We've gone this far. There's also no sign of restriction. I'll lead in front." Aerindel went inside first.
Freanor hurriedly followed him and hugged her brother's arm.
Rye sighed and followed behind them with the bird. He could only pray to Solistus that nothing would go wrong.
When they walked further inside, the path sloped downwards with many branches and turns. Worrying they would get lost later, Rye marked every branch with white chalk.
Unexpectedly, or as expected, they really found something. A gigantic, mysterious door at the very end of the path. It was made out of an unknown metal and was carved with complex, intricate patterns. At the centre of it, connecting the 2 doors, was a circular plate with a 2 headed serpent, one on each end, coiling and entangling around the circle. Six dull stone spheres were attached on its periphery, circling a bigger sphere at its eye.
"No way." Aerindel was awestruck.
"How do we open the door?" Freanor wondered.
"…They made a door and locked it because they did not want anyone entering," Rye fixed his glasses, "Let's return."
"Even though you're more curious than us?" Aerindel keenly noticed.
"…" Rye shut his eyes with scrunched eyebrows, "No. We're not destroying a foreign country's relic only for our curiosity."
"Isn't that why we're trying to find the correct way to open it?" Aerindel persuaded, "Do you know anything about it?"
"…That serpent is Der'asa, the god that the dwarven race worships. God of craft and creation. It is said that it owns all the elemental attributes including light and dark. The dwarves believe that our attributes inside our mana are from Der'asa's blessing."
"But dwarves can't use magic, right?" Freanor asked.
Rye nodded, "But they can craft weapons and tools of any elements with their ancient technique, passed down from generation to generation. Until now, none of the other races knew how they accomplished that without any help from magic."
"So…" Aerindel pointed to the stone spheres, "Do those elemental attributes have anything to do with those orbs? There are exactly six of them."
"Even if it is, we don't have any dark element with us. Only demons have them." Freanor reminded.
"You're right."
"Actually…" Rye hesitated.
The siblings instantly turned their heads to Rye in shock.
"Don't tell me you have it?? But that's impossible. Your holy attribute should be rejected by it and the other way around. Even Ludric doesn't have it."
"Dark attribute is…a little different than demonic attribute. Like your light attribute and our holy attribute," Rye shortly explained, "I made a spell with it once and it worked, but I've never used it again since I only made it for experiment."
Aerindel and Freanor made way for Rye and stayed behind him. Rye was unsure how to actually activate the spheres, so he tried to summon an element out on each orb for starters.
Magic circles of different colours appeared in front of each sphere. He didn't dare to use any offensive spells. He only summoned out the elements as it is and coated the spheres with them.
Seeing that nothing happened, Rye was disappointed but was slightly relieved. He was about to deactivate his spell when the bird suddenly picked him up from the ground and flew to the door.
Rye, "!?"
"Wait, what are you–"
He stretched out his hands in reflex when he saw he was going to hit the door. Once his hands touched the centre sphere, it soon emitted a dim silver. Five seconds later, it shone a bright silver followed by the 6 other orbs, glowing with their respective colours.
Rye, "!"
Aerindel and Freanor, "!!!"
Back in the dwarven city, Ludric and the others with him have received their new armors and were now exchanging words with the royal family. In exchange for their armor, the dwarven country needed their help.
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They were talking about the matter when a guard entered the room, "Excuse me, my king. Three people named Ash, Rock, and Marissa stated they were the Supreme Hero's friends and requested to see him."
After Ludric confirmed it and the king permitted it, the guards let Ash and the others entered the castle. Not long after, they reached the room.
"What's wrong, Ash?"
"We have encountered a slight problematic matter, Ludric. Our dearest Rye informed me that he was going to Der'asa Mountain with Aerindel and Freanor. A dwarf told us some disturbing matter regarding that particular mountain and I could not get a hold of Rye since our last contact." Ash showed Ludric the failed connection of his device to the one he gave to Rye.
Ludric stood up, "Did you say Der'asa Mountain?"
"From your reaction, I assume that you already know the occurrences that have happened there?"
"We were talking about it before you came." Rosetta answered.
"Do elaborate."
"Dwarves have gone missing from that mountain since 20 years ago. Der'asa Mountain has a cave of precious material that the dwarves needed to use to make their weapons. It's their trademark. Without it, their weapons wouldn't be able to be fully completed. That's why many dwarves went there despite the missing cases." Ludric started.
"We can't really close the mountain because, without it, we can't produce our crafts, but we placed a warning at the foot of the mountain." The king added.
"He definitely flew there and missed it." Lilith guessed.
"Until now, it is unknown where they are and what caused their disappearance. We were asked to investigate that."
"Is there really nothing else in the mountain other than that? For the three of them to go there, there must be something they were interested in." Marissa asked.
"Other than its historical value, there's really nothing else." The king said.
"Considering his background, that is enough reason to go check it out." Desmund commented.
"For now, we should go find Rye first." Ludric decisively said.
"He really is fond of disappearing, is he not?" Ash laughed.
"This is no laughing matter."
"No need to worry, dear brother. Rye is plenty strong to look after himself and the siblings."
The subject of interest was currently petrified with the siblings as they watched the heavy door slowly opening in front of them. The walls and ceilings rumbled around them from the doors friction. Its groaning echoed throughout the caves, sounding like the growl of an awakened beast.
Once it was fully opened, they could only see pitch black inside.
"You…actually open it…" Aerindel was still in disbelief.
"I am more in shock of this outcome than you."
"If that was the requirement to open it, then isn't it near impossible for anyone to open it? Much less the dwarves."
"Not by themselves. They could open it if they gathered several people to fulfil the required elements," Freanor corrected, "But that last one is Rye's mysterious silver attribute, isn't it?"
"Let's go look inside." Rye walked ahead before their conversation became more complicated.
He also thought that that last sphere required his attribute, but he also didn't know what that attribute of his was.
Should he try asking Octavian later?
They headed to the door while the bird stayed at its spot. Rye was the first to enter, but when Aerindel and Freanor wanted to follow in, they were blocked by an invisible force.
Before they could call out, the door which opened very slowly earlier swiftly slammed shut.
Rye jolted from the sudden bang and turned around to look. Unfortunately, he was now in complete darkness.
With his eyes blinded, his other senses were enhanced. His ears picked up a slithering sound from all around him that made his skin crawl.
He quickly cast a fire spell to brighten his vision and found two torches standing on either side of him. He lit them up.
Instantly the fire spread out through a specially made trail, travelling the whole floor in a symmetrical manner. Once the trail was set ablaze until its end, Rye noticed the fire created a particular rune on the floor.
He also noticed the two serpent heads hanging from the ceiling, staring at him.