Aiden and Ema quickly noticed my distraught expression and glanced at me expectantly with questioning looks.

  ‘In these depths nothing but death remains.’ I let out. ‘That’s what the writing says.’ Aiden just shrugged. ‘So what? No reason ta’ be white as a damn sheet.’ I shook my head. ‘If it was in any other language, that would certainly be the case, and I’d just disregard it as nonsensical rambling. But this is Ancient Celestial we’re speaking about. Very few know how to properly write in it, aside from the Angels or Priests. And if they wrote this…’ I let the ominous implication hang in the air. ‘So we’re screwed then, are we?’ I rolled my eyes at Aiden’s attempted injection of humour.

  ‘Fellas, I think there’s a fork in the path!’ Ema quickly exclaimed as the hallway came to an end, splitting off into two smaller hallways to either side.

  ‘Split up or one at a time? I don’t really care.’ Aiden suggested in a fairly neutral tone.

  ‘I say we split up. I’ll go with Elfy over here, and I think the meat slab will be fine on his own.’ Aiden rolled his eyes at Ema’s humorous jab. ‘Meat slab? I’ll have ya know it’s a jacked meat slab ta’ you.’ Ema completely and thoroughly ignored Aiden’s antics as we split ways to both paths.

  The air got noticeably thicker and more stale as we progressed. It wasn’t quite enough to hamper breathing, but it was rather uncomfortable, especially considering my kind was rather sensitive to dirt, grime and other nasty things. Ema also seemed to catch on to my peril, and decided to tease me a little.

  ‘Aw, look at the little Elf, all whimpering and practically panting from a little lack of fresh air! Ha!’ I shook my head in annoyance but didn’t bother responding.

  ‘Don’t give a girl the silent treatment…’

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  ‘Hey, Ema… Just how much longer is this hallway going to last?’

  We’d been walking down for roughly an hour now, though I wasn’t sure since I had no method of observing time. It had felt like an hour though, and my legs certainly did agree with their aching as pleas for rest. Ema seemed to be even worse off.

  ‘Hmm… maybe we take a little rest? Just to…’ She paused her sentence midway through to look at my devilish grin with an incredulous expression.

  ‘Aw, look at the little girl, all complaining and practically falling from a little exhaustion! Ha!’

  She just sighed deeply and mumbled a response.

  ‘Mean…’

  After taking a short rest for our legs’ sake, we continued walking down the long hallway with rejuvenated spirits, and legs. The place was really small and tight, even more so than the previous stretch of hallway. Eventually, thank the gods, we found something that wasn’t more hallway. A cube-shaped room, with… something inside.

  I put my enchanted goggles on and gaped at what I saw.

  I immediately, without warning, pushed Ema behind the wall next to the doorframe to the room and quickly whispered something before she made noise.

  ‘Don’t make a noise! In there is a basilisk, which is triggered by sound! Don’t make a noise, and it can’t sense you!’ She surprisedly and rather feverishly nodded along to what I said, before calming down a little and quietly sneaking into the room. As expected, the serpent was asleep and did not move at all. We slowly but surely maneuvered our way around the serpent, and exited into the room beyond.

  ‘Luke… what is that?’

  I looked inside, and saw… some kind of floating gem? I put my ocular clarity goggles on and it was indeed a floating, perfectly round piece of sapphire. We slowly walked in to investigate, when a voice caught me off guard.

  “Err… Please don’t touch me! Or destroy…”