The first light of dawn started to filter through trees with long, golden shadows over the forest?floor. The hung tension from the previous day held between Kaiser and Aria like a thread, fragile but unbroken as Kaiser and Aria continued their slow trek through the woods.

  Aria paused, her gaze falling as though she were contending with her thoughts. Kaiser glanced at her, his brow knitting.

  She paused, kicking at a loose stone. Finally, her voice soft and tentative, she asked, “Can we… go to the graveyard? I wish to see the resting place of my parents.”

  Kaiser blinked in surprise. “The graveyard? I didn’t even know there was one around here.”

  “There is,” Aria said softly. “It’s close to the edge of the forest.”

  Kaiser’s face softened, but there was curiosity in his?eyes. “Wait. Hold on. How were your parents buried? I thought … I?mean, I thought it all happened so fast. You were even left like?that right after their—” He checked himself, not wanting to say the word.

  Aria sighed, crossing her arms as she looked away. “It was a few weeks after. An exploration party came into the forest. They were looking for the knights.”

  “An exploration party?” Kaiser repeated, with?a tone of suspicion. “How did they get past the spiders?”

  “I allowed them.” Aria said dismissively, looking back at him.

  Kaiser raised an eyebrow. “You let them? You’ve got all these spiders crawling around, turning the place into a death trap, and you just gave them a free pass? Why didn’t I get the same treatment?”

  Aria smiled faintly, her voice quiet but steady. “By the time you found me, a year had passed. I was losing control of the spiders more and more. But back then… I could still clearly command them. I realized those people weren’t like the knights. They had no greed, no cruelty. They just wanted to find out what happened to the knights and anyone left in the village. So, I allowed them entrance and made sure the spiders didn’t attack.”

  Kaiser rubbed the back?of his neck, half smiling. “Well, thanks for nothing. It would’ve been nice to also have the VIP treatment.”

  Aria let out a small laugh. “You know, you didn’t exactly make the best first impression. Charging at me with a stick doesn’t exactly scream ‘good intentions.’”

  Kaiser smirked. “Fair point. Still, next time, maybe give a guy a heads-up before sending an army of spiders at him.”

  Aria laughed again, a bit louder this time, and for a moment, the weight of her past seemed to lift. “Noted,” she said, shaking her head.

  “So,” Kaiser said, steering the conversation back. “What happened after the exploration party got into the village?”

  “They discovered the bodies,” Aria said quietly. “All of them—the knights and the villagers. They brought everyone to the graveyard near the forest. They buried the knights too, though I didn’t understand why at the time. Now, I think… Maybe they were just trying to bring some peace to the chaos.”

  Kaiser’s sneer vanished, replaced?by something more contemplative. “And you haven’t visited that place yet?”

  Aria shook her head. “No. I’ve always been too afraid. Afraid of?what I would feel, or not feel.”

  Kaiser looked?at her for a moment, then nodded. “All right. We’ll go.”

  Aria’s eyes widened slightly. “Just like that?”

  “Uh-huh,” said Kaiser, already beginning to walk again. “You want to go. I don’t see why not.” Kaiser said and continued to walk, only stopping because Aria wasn’t walking right next to him.

  Aria stood still for a beat, then burst out laughing. “You don’t know where it is, do you?”

  Kaiser glanced back at her, grinning. “Details, details. I’m sure I’ll find it eventually.”

  Aria shook her head, taking his hand and pulling him towards the right direction with an amused smile. “You’re weird, you know that?”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Kaiser and Aria continued to walk, the heavy silence of the webbed forest slowly breaking down behind them. Finally he realized something was slowly changing, first noticing the air—it felt lighter, fresher. The oppressive dampness of the world of spiders was over, superseded by a clear breeze with barely discernible notes of pine and moss. Penetrating rays of sunlight started to illuminate trees, distributing rays that shone like gold across the ground. The webs thinned, holding onto only a handful of far branches, and then, they were gone in their entirety.

  The transformation was subtle yet striking. Birds called faintly from somewhere far ahead, and the eerie silence that had haunted the forest for so long gave way to the quiet hum of life. Kaiser exhaled, realizing just how heavy the air had been before.

  “We’re finally out,” he muttered to himself, glancing back at the faint trail they’d left behind. The web-shrouded forest loomed like a monster even as they moved further from it.

  But he was unable to savor the peace for long. By the time the trees were thinning out, the expanse had opened across from them, and Kaiser’s steps had faltered,?his breath caught and his eyes widening as they were instantly locked onto the impossible sight standing before him now.

  In front of them loomed a mountain, though the term felt inadequate. It was a high monument to mortality, with slopes that rose above his line of sight completely cloaked in graves. Thousands—no, tens of thousands of headstones stretched as far as he could see, climbing upward in rows so precise it looked as though the mountain had been carved by some divine hand.

  The sheer scale of it was overwhelming. The graves weren’t just markers; they were monuments in their own right. Some were simple stones, worn smooth by time, their inscriptions faded and illegible. Others were grand, adorned with intricate carvings of angels, beasts, and symbols Kaiser didn’t recognize. Wildflowers covered the earth in patches, with their delicate color a jarring contrast with the hard grayness of the stone. Mist lay lazily around the foot, winding around and back among the graves like a living creature, its strands fluttering with the sunlight of the day breaking.

  Kaiser couldn’t move. He had crossed kingdoms, fought battles, seen things that only appeared in fantasy books, but this, this surpassed all of them.

  “What is this place?” his voice barely a whisper, as though speaking too loudly would disturb the sacred stillness pf the unholy place.

  Beside him, Aria didn’t answer. She stood quietly, her face calm, as though the sight didn’t shock her in the slightest. Her small hand reached for his, and before he realized it, her fingers had slipped into his palm. Her touch was warm, grounding him.

  “Aria," Kaiser replied, this time louder, but still in disbelief. “Where are we? How is this even possible?”

  Her eyes remained closed, her expression serene. “It’s the resting place,” she said softly, almost reverently. “For everyone. The villagers, the knights... anyone who fell in these parts.”

  Kaiser’s gaze darted back to the mountain. He did not know how such a place could possibly exist without him ever knowing anything about it. Such a large, perfectly made graveyard would have been famous throughout the world. It would’ve been legendary.

  Approaching them, the soft whirring sound of the wind became louder and almost musical, as if the mountain itself was singing a lament for the deceased. The sound sent chills down his spine.

  “I don’t understand,” he said, shaking his head. “How could something like this be built? Who buried them all?”

  Aria blinked back to life, her mind a blank slate, but her hollow eyes would drift far, far away. “Explorers,” she said quietly. “The same one who came after the village fell.

  “You keep saying ‘Explorers,’ Kaiser said, his voice laced with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. “That’s just a nickname, right? Who are they really?”

  Aria glanced back at him, her expression calm, almost amused. “Explorers were what some people called them, but their real title is something else. Liberators.” She said the word so casually, as if it was something everyone should know.

  “Liberators?” Kaiser repeated, his brow rising.

  “Yes,” she replied, her tone matter-of-fact. “They aren’t just travelers or adventurers. They take on all kinds of jobs—retrieving lost artifacts, mapping uncharted lands, rescuing people, and sometimes, bringing back the bodies of the dead.”

  Kaiser stopped in his tracks, blinking at her. “Wait, you’re telling me there are people whose job is to dig up and return corpses? That’s... absurd.”

  Aria turned to face him fully, her hollow eyes narrowing slightly, though her lips quirked in a faint smirk. “You think so? To me it’s not so strange. They just believe that everyone deserves a proper resting place, no matter how long they’d been gone. It’s about respect.”

  Her explanation was like a kick to the stomach, her straightforward explanation and earnest tone made his skepticism seem almost childish. But the idea itself? Completely alien. He’d traveled across countless regions, fought in wars, and lived through more than most, yet he’d never heard of these so-called Liberators.

  Still, he wasn’t about to admit that. He crossed his arms and gave a nonchalant shrug. “Of course. Everyone knows about the Liberators.”

  Aria raised an eyebrow, her smirk growing. “Do they? Funny how you didn’t recognize their work when you saw this mountain.

  Kaiser felt his cheeks warm slightly, but he kept his expression steady. “I recognized it. Just didn’t expect to see it here, that’s all. You know, considering the circumstances.”

  “Uh-huh," she looked away, clearly unconvinced, but she let it slide, and moved up the slope.

  Kaiser muttered to himself as he followed. "Liberators… Of all the things to be ignorant of."

  He decided to keep his face unaltered at all costs as they climbed. He would appear to be an expert on the Liberators even if Aria brought them up again. But for the time being, he remained silent, his mind racing as he attempted to make sense of this weird new world she was guiding him into.