Phantasia: The Princess Knight 90 The Darkness

"I am sure you all have heard of the war between the devils and gods. Well, when the fallen god disappeared no one was able to find him and then he reappeared with an army of millions. Now seeing this statue I have a speculation that the fallen god did not create his army from scratch but did so by enslaving the Subterranean race. He must have caused some kind of change in the subterranean race to turn them into what we now call devils. This is only my speculation but since the Subterranean race lived underground they were rarely seen and there above ground entrances were all well hidden. For a fallen god it would have been the best place to hide." Blake explained.

"And this is a statue of what the Subterranean race looked like?" Starla asked.

"No, the Subterranean race looked just like the devil you met back in Brown Village. This here might be some kind of religious statue." Blake explained.

Alicia examined the statue and adjusted the eye that was detecting the thermal signature. "I think there is something hidden underneath the statue..." Alicia continued to look around until she saw what looked to be old scratch marks on the rocky floor. "Blake help me push from the side!" 

Alicia and Blake went to the left side of the statue and started to push. It took a bit but after some hard pushing creaking sounds could be heard as what sounded like ancient gears started to turn. Soon the statue moved slowly centimeter by centimeter until finally, a hole opened up in the floor with a staircase leading down. Warm air could be felt coming up from the stairwell. 

"Now I know why I was able to detect the statue.  This air is warm but not overly hot. But compared to the cold rock walls it would show up on my detection magic when I combine it with my eye." Alicia tried to detect if there was anything in the stairwell that they would need to watch out for. But she did not detect anything that seemed out of place. 

"Should we go?" Rose asked. You could tell she was overly excited about the situation.

"Since we found it we might as well check it out!" Alicia said as she drew her sword and cautiously stepped on to the first step. 

Everyone else followed suit and pulled out their weapons as they slowly made their way down the stairs. Loeri held a flame in her hand to light the way.  As they made their way down the stairwell the scenery changed dramatically. It went from rocky cave walls to plated metal walls. Not only the walls but the stairs as well. 

It took almost ten minutes to finally reach the bottom of the stairwell but what was in front of them was something they truly never expected. 

"Is this a city!?" Starla cried out. The area they came out on seemed to be some kind of terrace that overlooked a massive city.  Tall buildings could be seen stretching out for kilometers.

"Such an expansive city could have held millions. But from what I can see this city seems to be dead. There are many heat sources but nothing that seems alive." Alicia said. She had scanned the whole area with detection magic but could only find what seemed to be some kind of heating vents. 

"Let's make our way down. We can search around a bit and see if we can find anything about what happened here." Blake suggested. He himself was somewhat excited to find a Subterranean city.

The staircase on the way down was somewhat rickety but was still strong enough to support everyone. This time it took even longer to reach the ground. An entire hour passed before they stepped foot on a metal road. 

"The whole place really is made entirely out of metal." Rose exclaimed. The capital city rarely used metal for construction but here everything was completely made of metal which seemed strange to her.

"There seems to be a shop of some sort over there. Let's check that out first." Alicia said as she pointed to a small building. Too, Alicia, this building seemed to resemble the convenience stores back on earth. 

The group made their way to the small building that had no windows on it. The door to the place was slightly ajar which made for easy entry with both Alicia and Blake pulling on the door which seemed to be a bit rusted at the hinges. But what surprised Alicia though was how well preserved everything was. While there was some rust it was not so bad to cause any issues and if it was sanded down and oiled it would be like new again. With the door open they walked into what seemed to not be a store but more of an office building or workshop. There were a few tables and chairs strewn about with some machines sitting on top of them. 

Alicia walked around but stopped her steps when she saw what seemed like a letter or note of some kind laying on one of the tables. The strange letters were not something Alicia recognized. "Hey Blake, can you read this?"

Blake walked over and his eyes opened wide. "Ancient god language!"

"Can you read it?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah, I can." Blake nodded. "It says.."'To whoever reads this. I want you to know what has occurred here. I have been stuck in this workshop for many months now. We can not go outside. Covalia is the last of the cities to still be holding out against the darkness. Those touched by the darkness change and become violent. They attack anyone and everyone. What's worse is the eating. The touched as we call them will consume the flesh and drink the blood of those they kill. Millions have died already. If only the old bastards that run the city could have called for help from the surface dwellers, we might not be in such a dire straight. But they refused to do so out of their own pride! I have not eaten for days and I will probably end up dying here in this workshop. If only I did not return to get something I had forgotten. But I would rather die with my mind intact than to turn into one of those beasts out there. I just did not think the darkness would spread so fast. If you have discovered this city I warn you, beware of the darkness as it can consume anything and turn it into a beast.'

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Chapter end