VI.

  “Onward?” Madoka questioned as she stared at the logs piled up before them.

  Eraziror was about to speak, but stopped when Madoka drew her axe from the portal. She had gotten used to being able to use it at will, without even needing to hold it since it was close to her core. The hexagonal light simply floated nearby her conveniently. Now, “onward” was a command she understood. She rose her axe once more and smashed the fallen debris and logs to pieces, then swept them away with her Knotting magic. Now that the way opened for her, the maid bowed instinctively and held a hand out for him to continue. Eraziror gawked, but his expression remained wary before he hurried through. There was tension in the air, a certain something in the surroundings accompanying the gloomy grey skies sinking in that made her nose twitch.

  “Death is in the air,” she informed him. She also noticed that the purple mist from the Witch had fallen upon this place, but she did not inform him of that. Drawing Knotting magic into her core made it fade away from her vision, but her temporary party member seemed to notice the change in the atmosphere. After glancing at him, it seemed that he did not seemed physically affected by the mist. Good, that just left that look on his face.

  “Aye,” Eraziror seemed genuinely worried, but for who she did not know. “The landslide certainly didn’t just hit where we were.”

  A sinking feeling settled on Madoka’s skin. Adventurers face death and destruction wherever they go, do they not? How miserable. She was preoccupied by the thought of the upcoming battle with the Crystal Lizard that she forgot that she was supposed to be monitoring the situation here and the goblin attacks. Therefore, they pressed through the trees and eventually came across the Gladeban Mine’s walled off site. The place was certainly neglected, though she could hear voices on the other side.

  “You two,” someone called them from on top of the wall. “Hurry in and get to the village chief in the Main Hall. We need hands to find missing miners!”

  It was an adventurer with light armor on. He did not seem to have the time to check on them again before signaling someone else to unwind the gates for them. From the looks of it, they seemed like they were exhausted. Madoka hurried inside the walls, not even waiting for the gate to fully open before squeezing inside. The streets were littered with all kinda of filth, from debris and mud to cracked stone and fallen scaffolding. Most notable to Madoka was the presence of strange white powder mixed in with the dirt and damaged buildings. The Mineshafts themselves were blocked off by a giant closed gate, barred off by a stone barrier conjured by Knotting magic. The gate itself carved into the mountainside and stood taller than the trees. It seemed like it was not built for any Narm or Sovos, but Madoka could see broken gear mechanism attached to chains locked in place. The odd gate size and dark gloom that sheltered the whole place threatened to swallow her, but soon Eraziror pointed at one of the remaining small buildings left standing between the crushed houses and others.

  The sign on it must have meant it was Main Hall, but it did not seem like much of one like the Gladeban’s place. The door creaked open with a pitiful wail and whimpering broke the silence settling inside the hall. There were a lot of people resting inside of here. The glow of Substance magic weakly illuminated some corners of the room, but it only made Madoka wish Audrey was here to heal these people. An elderly Sovos approached Eraziror with a solemn bow.

  “Here from the Adventurer Guild?” He asked, but surprisingly, he was directing his gaze at her instead.

  “Hai,” Madoka nodded, confused. “Reporting in from the Lady Fate herself.”

  “Ah,” the Sovos man ran his hand across his forehead, seemingly exhausted from today’s events. “I am the Village Elder and Chief here, though not much of one. The situation is mostly cleared up from goblins, but only after we’ve barely managed to seal the gate to the mines.”

  “From what?” Eraziror’s voice rose a little from apprehension. Madoka knew what they managed to lock inside it, but others shot him a look to keep him from being loud. People were resting and mourning here, after all.

  “It’s, ah, no matter. Not anymore, at least,” the Elder said sadly. The weight of the room felt more like a tomb. “I’m glad you people have arrived.”

  Someone scoffed from behind her. Bitterness, sorrow, and a desire to blame anyone filled its tone for a moment. A fist slammed the table and someone spoke up with a disgruntled voice.

  “Well, I’m not,” the man growled. He slammed the table again. “We… We posted so many times, but you fools never showed yourselves…!”

  She turned to see who was making all the commotion. It was a boy, surprisingly, who seemed around her age. He glared at her with hostility, as if it was her fault she caused the quakes and landslides.

  “Henzor…!” The Chief cried out, but looked at her apologetically. Madoka shrugged. She wondered why he assumed she was the one in charge of this temporary party. “M-My apologies, Adventurer, but…”

  “Hai,” Madoka pressed ahead of him. Spare me the feelings, she suppressed a sigh. “What of the goblins?”

  “H-Horrible,” the Chief gasped, as if he was recalling unsightly things. Madoka scrutinized the old man, noting strange peculiarities about him but she nodded for him to continue. “They have been claiming the lives of stray villagers. We’ve been holed up and sending only messengers on bright days. Then the landslide happened and then the kind gods struck us with magic.”

  “Magic?” Eraziror asked before she could.

  “The sky mostly halted goblin movements, turning them to stone before our very eyes. We were on the verge of collapse when they broke out, but then the sky went white with divine magic. The seal closed, but everything inside of it got struck by the beams. The magic even got some of ours— it was most dreadful,” the Chief cried out in sorrow. “What did we ever do for their judgment…? T-Take this.”

  He shakily stepped forward and shoved a scratched up scroll in her hands, but Madoka simply offloaded it to Eraziror who stood there dumbfounded. The Sovos suddenly realized she could not read and looked like he was about to laugh.

  “F-Forgive me,” the Village Elder wiped his eyes and left stains on them. “The main thing we need is hands to retrieve these people — dead or alive.”

  Ah, that scroll presumably had a list containing the names of people who have gone missing during the landslide, whatever that Sky magic was, and the goblin monster attacks. Madoka had barely enough time to process any of this — she did not even know monsters existed this close to cities until now. Such was being a sheltered maid in the most powerful man’s house, she was ignorant of the world around her. Strangely, Audrey seemed more equipped than her at being outside, despite growing in the same Palace as the maid. Perhaps, the differences between the two were because Her Highness’s involvement and diplomatic talks with Nobles from faraway lands while she had to hold her head down and clean. Eraziror was holding the list, explaining something, but she could not help but think about Fiara during its final moments. She was probably going to come across bodies in states like those crushed beneath the roots. What would she do in this situation?

  For what reasons would she help people beneath her station…?

  “Madoka?” Eraziror waved a hand in front of her. She realized she was staring upward at the sky again. There were no thoughts from animals. Only the dusky grey clouds casting a dark blue shade over everything.

  “That Chief…” Madoka started. “What do you think of that man?”

  “The Village Elder?” Eraziror pondered over what she said, instead sitting on a flipped over bucket. She traced shards of purple needles scattered in a trail nearby, poking out of the white salt covering the streets like snow. “I haven’t a clue what you’re thinking.”

  “His clothes… Too clean,” Madoka instinctively followed the trail of purple shards. None of the ones she stepped on gave any semblance of a monster’s thoughts, but they crumbled away beneath her boots as she stepped. Eraziror’s footsteps trailed behind her. It seemed like he was wanting to direct her somewhere, but he followed her instead. “They truly have been hiding or maybe he was too scared to help these people.”

  “Well, the kid in there seemed very angry,” Eraziror sighed. “What are you doing, by the way?”

  Madoka knelt down to inspect a particularly long thought-shard. It was sticking beneath some wreckage which was also plastered by the white powder. Once she touched it, images immediately flooded her mind. A terrified Narm’s face shook with fear, while a greedy claw suddenly reached out and slashed her ear right off. Two children were missing their ears, huddled behind her. Before another hand wielding a knife could bring itself down upon them, the point of view suddenly looked skyward and an overwhelming fear filled whoever she was observing. The perspective suddenly jerked upward and something spiny and dark lanced its way through the building, smashing it to pieces. She gasped, stumbling against the tough armored shin guard of Eraziror’s leg. A hand steadied her shoulder while those visceral thoughts faded.

  “Three are dead here,” Madoka breathed. She was certain that she just saw the final thoughts of the murderous ear goblin from that shard. A memory? How does this magic from the kind goose God of Tomorrow even work?

  My thoughts stretch in both directions.

  Present to future, forever until its thinker is forgotten.

  May you be remembered for your deeds, forever.

  In action, the people of Today and Tomorrow will think of you every day.

  Their worship of you strengthens Me.

  Madoka panted, while the God of Tomorrows’s voice rang out in her head. So even thoughts of her make that kind god stronger? No wonder why she felt utter terror instead of the usual alien feeling before it. The cracking of wood shook her mind back to the present. The damn dragon man was actually going to look at them. Before she could warn him, Eraziror’s hands had already lifted the biggest beam of the pile up. He twisted back, recoiling from the shock of seeing the three dead bodies lying beneath the rubble. The broken board he held collapsed back onto them.

  “Ceghinort’s blood,” he puked. “Definitely dead.”

  “Are you alright?” Madoka knelt to check him over, while he tried to wave her off.

  “Yeah,” he breathed, then as he stood he called to a nearby party. “Three are dead here.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  The party marched over greeting him. Madoka realized she truly did not know what to say with them, so she remained quiet as Eraziror explained quickly. From the shadow of a female Narm a Night Operator emerged. He bowed politely to her.

  “We’ll take it from here, Miss Adventurer,” she said. “Please hurry and find the others!”

  Madoka awkwardly nodded, then hurried along the next trail of purple needles. With the God of Tomorrows’s magic, she could detect the monster attacks and the whereabouts of the final places of the victims. Each of the monster attacks had a common end: They each were frozen by a strange attack and also lifted high in the air. She would simply have to report this to Audrey when she gets back to her. The thought of that Castle Threat leveled monster stopped her. If she gets back to her…

  Eraziror helplessly followed along with a sigh, evidently giving up on the “normal” way on how to find people during disasters. He also did not double check and see if they were truly dead, trusting her completely. Madoka wondered if the Princess had her own ways of dealing with landslides or feel as detached as she did. Each name on the list was dead and not a single one moved her heart. What was she now after everything she has gone through? As she was headed to the last remaining people, but the glow of something caught her eyes.

  “A white flower?” Eraziror was the first to speak. Growing in the corner forlornly was a quiet flower, shining a white light. This stupid thing…! Madoka thought the flower was beautiful at first, but she did not know what or which kind god it beonged to. When the Sovos touched it she nearly instinctively stopped him, but the flower instantly dissolved into small specks of dust. “Oh.”

  Just then, muffled noises suddenly blurted from beneath her. This last person was alive! Madoka grunted.

  “It’s alive beneath there,” she pointed at the rubble. “What do we do?”

  “Pull them out! Hurry,” Eraziror feebly stsrted digging at the dirt. Madoka hesitated before opening the portal. Was there anything inside of here that she could use? Strangely enough, Audrey had put a pair of shovels inside of the storage portal at some point during their escape. She pulled them out and tossed one to a bewildered Eraziror. “You just have everything in there, don’t you?”

  “I guess,” Madoka thought the same thing. “Let’s get this person out of here.”

  A moment of digging later exposed a bloody hand, only fueling her to dig faster. It belonged to a woman! The woman was breathing still, Madoka just exposed her out when suddenly someone was approaching her. They certainly intended on intervening them from getting the survivor out of the hole. Before Eraziror could stop her, she immediately went on guard and shoved the attacker away.

  “Back off,” she growled before noticing the kid she shoved away into a fallen log. It was the one in the main hall!

  “You…!” Henzor cried out.

  “She needs time to breathe,” Eraziror told him. “Hey! Do we have any healers?”

  The woman was in awful shape when the others got her out as safely as they could, broken by both nature and the monsters. She managed to stab one’s eye out in exchange for her own. More disturbingly, was the detail of someone’s boot kicking her. A Sovos’s boot. Madoka mused silently as she tossed the shovels into the storage portal, but she did not know why she was frustrated for not feeling remotely sad over this woman. The survivor was actually not much of a person anymore, too wounded to live and Madoka knew it. She noticed the buried creature was actually one of those pink ones she encountered near Tritorjan. The kid was yelling at her, but she simply stood on guard and did not let him approach the wounded girl. She could not manage her own feelings, let alone someone else’s. A frazzled healer came close with a shaky hand. Madoka had little hope for the woman’s survival, since the iron tag around the healer’s neck did not give her much confidence.

  Instead, she sat down next to her. After a warning glare from her, Henzor crawled next to the fallen survivor while the healer uselessly channeled her weak Substance strands into a talisman. Observing his boots, Madoka realized that this whole place was crooked. The green cocoon of magic barely illuminated the woman’s face, which contorted in pain.

  “S-Sister!” He cried out. The woman’s twisted face reacted to his voice and instantly relaxed when she heard him. A weak hand squeezed his. “N-No— No! Don’t leave me!”

  The talisman in the healer’s hand broke in half, who bowed apologetically. After the woman said something softly to Henzor, he grew more frantic. I forgive you. Be strong to our Mountain, Madoka heard her whisper clearly. After her words, the hand that was holding his slipped out of his grip. The boy howled in anger and despair, while the healer slipped back to her party. Eraziror and Madoka stood silently, but this Sister of his was the last of person on the missing victims list. The maid simply tapped his shoulder.

  “That was the last of them,” she said. “We should give this man some space.”

  “H-Hai,” Eraziror looked at his list. The whirring of the Night Operator’s magic stormed in the distance. Madoka noticed that their Moon Magic, or Mansion Magic, glowed cyan in enchanting patterns as it dissolved the thought-needles away. How interesting, she wondered how the God of Tomorrows felt about its magic being destroyed.

  Their futile magic cannot stop Tomorrow’s advance.

  Even the weak who are loved live on in their lives.

  That weakling, Henzor, shall carry his fallen Sister to Tomorrow to Me.

  He too, shall be claimed in the currents of time.

  Madoka shook her head out of it. What does all of that mean? She wanted to know more, but quickly realized she actually understood the kind god’s words. All of those thoughts would be inside of him, no matter how harsh his feelings were, no matter what burden or despair they brought him. Henzor would carry that memory for the rest of his life. That secret guilt that bound him to this mist. Was he always full of trickery like this…? That life long torch would empower the kind god, it seemed. Even the burial ritual would serve Tomorrows. This did not seem to affect only him, but everything in the world that could think. Was that what you were trying to tell me? Madoka squeezed out her own thought to the God of Tomorrows. Its silence seemed to answer her, but she also realized that instead of understanding she desperately thought of an excuse. Was there such a wish? Was there anything she could do to ease or even erase the pain of this future torture? She did not know if she even wanted to stand up to this god or even if it was evil, yet it seemed so unfair! Inevitability is indeed beyond a dragon, she shook in frustration. Inevitability is the God of Tomorrows.

  Before she could feel absolutely crushed by her thoughts, Henzor’s screams pierced the silence.

  “You should have gotten to her quicker, you useless adventurer!” He pointed a shaking finger at Madoka. “Should have known faster! Should have called for help sooner, now she’s gone because of… Because you pushed me away!”

  “Oh?” Madoka stopped and turned to the snot nosed kid. His tears and eyes were from anger. She even felt a faint killing intent emanating from him. “What would you do if I haven’t stopped you from getting her crushed further?”

  Henzor stopped, but his bitterness rose and his better judgment in his head was clearly vacant.

  “You…!”

  “If there’s nothing more to say to me, then I will—“

  “Enough, Madoka,” Eraziror shielded her from the pointing kid. “You go on and complete your Mountain’s Ritual. We’ll take it from here, okay?”

  “Now you speak up for me,” Henzor growled. “You’re still worthless, never forget that!”

  Madoka felt rain splash on her skin, so she helped Eraziror hurry over to the hall to report the total loss. When they approached, he was handing the healer who lost her talisman a more precious looking one. He bowed in respect.

  “It’s, no worries,” the Chief said. “Please accept this as compensation. The place is finished anyways. Ah, you two. I take it that you have more bad news.”

  The healer took off along with her party. They were departing, Madoka guessed. She did not understand why, but anyone would be eager to leave this dreadfully gloomy place. All the dead and the crumbled buildings here was enough to make her want to leave as well.

  “All fifteen missing people are dead,” Madoka stated blankly. And that kid is mad at her like it was her fault for some reason. “What do you have next?”

  “Well, you still have business in the mines,” the Village Elder had a strange glint in his pained eyes. Greed? Perhaps he intended them to die in there so he could simply steal their things. “You’ll get your Writ afterwards. Take these.”

  There was the catch, Madoka suppressed a sigh. He handed an odd item to Eraziror. It shimmered with white magic, like Audrey’s Storage Talisman.

  “A pair of keys,” he said. “The red one will let you in and blue one will bring you out immediately. If you run into anything danger, use the blue one and report back to me. We can’t lose more… We’ve lost enough.”

  Both of the flat stone tablets glowed white, but Eraziror seemed to not notice the shine. He simply nodded politely and told the Chief that they were departing now. He tucked the keys into his bag, but his confident smile vanished the moment they left the Main Hall. From behind the closed door, she heard him whimpering to himself yet she was not convinced.

  “You know he’s lying, too, right?” Madoka questioned him. Eraziror raised an eyebrow back at her.

  “I’ll not admit anything,” Eraziror replied, but his eyes were gazing at the exiting gate. “If I were to, say, go about my own intuition from being in the business, what would you do?”

  “I’ll go in,” Madoka said blankly. She held out her hand to him for those keys. The Sovos scoffed incredulously.

  “Madoka, you simply can’t,” Eraziror ducked his head. “There’s details that are definitely not adding up. These magical stones are locks!”

  “There’s something big inside the mine,” Madoka admitted. “The Chief probably knows that the Goblins were the least of their problems.”

  “Something big— And you want to fight it?” Eraziror rubbed his temples.

  “Hai,” Madoka declared without any hesitation. He swore, but they had already turned away from the exit and were headed to the big mountainside gate instead. The princess would definitely go for the Castle Threat Level, she smiled to herself wryly.

  “That Henzor,” Eraziror mused. “He left in a huff, I’d say.”

  “That Henzor is a thief and the killer of that woman,” Madoka said frankly. “Pay him no mind.”

  “How— How do you know?” Eraziror kept his voice low. “It’s not good to speak ill of others, especially if they’ve lost someone.”

  “He was the one who kicked her away to escape,” she shrugged. She could not explain that she saw it in the dead goblin’s memories, so she lied a little. “The woman’s dress had a boot stain on her stomach.”

  Eraziror stared at her, but there was something on his face that did not seem like disbelief. Why did he trust her, anyways? For all she knew, he probably did not and was simply trying to process what he had just heard from her. Madoka retreated back into her own thoughts. Should she give up because of such an impossible thing as Tomorrow? Even standing behind the door knowing what was standing within its darkness, the presence of the monster did not stir trouble in her heart as much as the God of Tomorrows did.

  “What are you thinking about?” Eraziror asked. The question caught her off guard. She realized they were standing at door at the end of a bridge, which was next to the giant gate. The wide pathway that led to the gate was actually a moat of water, which suddenly made sense. The moat just so happened to be covered in mud, logs, and fallen buildings among other mining equipment.

  “I was wondering what she would do in this situation,” Madoka murmured.

  “Heh, I was just thinking the same thing,” Eraziror chuckled. Before she could ask him why he held the red key stone up to the door’s center bauble, which also began to glow red. A loud thump followed by mechanisms methodically clicking behind the door like the raindrops drumming on the walkway’s broken rails. After all the clunking and clinking, the door slowly cracked open. Her eyes followed glowing red bauble’s slow descent into a sunken indent in the ground. It perfectly fit!

  “We were a whole lot of not helpful in the rescue efforts, the people here are also tangled up in their own schemes,” Eraziror tossed the key into his bag again and wiped his hands off. “Now, who do you think is best suited for that kind of chaos?”

  Madoka chuckled. Small magical lights like the torches in the Truth Guild suddenly flickered on in the deep mineshaft, revealing a tunnel into the darkness. Madoka could hear water rushing. She looked at Eraziror, who nodded. The large room at the back held her prey that the commission Ceghinort gave her.

  “A Crystal Lizard awaits us back there,” Madoka informed him. “Do you still want to go inside there and fight it?”

  “A Crystal Lizard?” Eraziror shuddered, but then he gave her a thumbs up. “Kidding! I’m ready when you are.”

  “You bastard adventurers, get in there and feed it your eyes!” Henzor suddenly came rushing at them. Something made the hairs on her neck raise. This feeling…! She reacted faster than the ambusher’s kick could reach them, pushing Eraziror quickly out of the way and diving to the floor.

  A crackling ignition flashed through the door, striking Henzor square in the chest. Madoka propped herself up and noticed that the wild youth was definitely not alive. That familiar lightning sent him soaring away and breaking her bones as he landed.

  “So, the Uracksheegal has its vision here the whole time,” Madoka mumbled as rumbling and roaring shook the ground. A hand stuck out from above her. Eraziror’s. She shook her head and kicked herself up as the monster inside the cave through a tantrum. “Should have known that monster was behind this whole mess.”

  “Aye,” Eraziror seemed focused now. Let’s see if he can keep that same energy for the lizard monster in there, Madoka grinned.

  “You still in?”

  Eraziror nodded and together they faced the howling tunnel. His killing intent was rising and so was hers.