Not long after, Ashes finally saw the main island appear. Just like Thunder had said, it looked as if several pieces of it had come together forming a triangle which was wide at the base and narrow at the top, with a surface which at first glance looked very smooth, not at all resembling a natural creation. But believing that the whole spire had been sculpted by people was a bit too hard to believe. Just the exposed part of the tower already reached the size of half of King’s City, while the hole in its middle was large enough to entirely enclose the Tower of Babel the church has built at Hermes.
The sea was still retreating, and water rushed out of the cave just like a waterfall, while the shoal of fish completely covered the parts of the island that were still emerging. As far as Ashes could see, the whole sea had been dyed red, letting her wonder, if perhaps millions of scarlet red fish had been living in the cave.
Waiting until the sky had turned dark, the sea water finally retreated, revealing the bottom of the cave. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Thunder ordered his sailor to stop the ship and connect it with a long, thick hemp rope to a copper stake. Standing at the edge of the gigantic cave, you could see right through it to the mouth at the other side — yet light coming in from both sides could still only illuminate a minuscule area, with the center of the cave being almost pitch black, causing people feel an ineffable oppression.
“Did you left these stakes behind the last time you were here?” Ashes asked.
“No,” Thunder shook his head, “When I came here for the first time, they had already been here. It should be the former inhabitants of the ruins who built them.”
“The ruins… where are they?”
He smiled and pointed upwards. “Just above us, we’re at the entrance to the ruins.”
…
The following part of the journey could only be described with one word, inconceivable. The witches followed Thunder and his sailors and entered the gigantic hole through a stone gate, following the stone steps, along which the water was still flowing down, taking one step at a time, slowly spiralling towards the top. Even though everyone was holding a torch, their flickering flames only allowed an extremely limited view, hiding the end of the staircase in darkness. And making them a feel both weak and small.
When they proceeded through the darkness of the abyss, Tilly tightly grabbed Ashes’ arm, no any longer showing her usual calm and composed expression.
While walking inside of the damp and dark spire, Ashes mood instead became a lot more cheerful.
All along the way they didn’t come across any demonic beast or any mechanism to block intruder — even if they had, after being immersed in the seawater for so long, it would have most likely lost its effectiveness by now. The only problem was the endless climbing which physically exhausted a large part of their group, slowing everyone’s movement more and more. So when the stone steps finally came to an end, the whole team could not help but burst into cheers.
The last barrier was not a stone door, but a door made out of metal, which brightly reflected the torchlight. Stepping forward, Thunder placed his hands on it and pushed, slowly opening the massive door panels with an ear-piercing screeching sound.
Grabbing her sword with one hand, Ashes was the first to enter the room. Only after confirming that there was no danger, were Tilly and the other witches allowed to step into the hall.
After hanging the torches along the walls, a large hall appeared in front of everyone — although wide, the room seemed empty, one glance was enough to have see the whole room and come to the conclusion that there was nothing worth finding here.
“This is the ruins?” She removed the dirt from a green stone table with the palm of her hand, “Apart from some stone tables and stools, there is nothing else here.”
“Indeed, there is not much left,” nodded Thunder, “The ruins have slept at the bottom of the sea for too long, apart from stone, everything else it hard to conserve. I already told it to Her Highness Tilly beforehand, but she still insisted on seeing it for herself.”
“The red stone, where did you find it?” Tilly opened her mouth and asked. “Where, exactly, did you find it?”
“Right away on the ground, at that time, they were scattered all over the place, there were probably dozens of them.
