“What do you mean he disappeared five days ago?” Skendus asked, and he was beyond worried.

  “Timothy disappeared first, and Gustav, one of uards is said to disappear within the same timeframe as him, someone saw the two of them together up on a hill. We're quite certain that it was Gustav who signaled us, but whe there, they were gone, and our best guess is that they got severely wounded in battle.” A guard expined, and his tone was rather formal, he almost sounded unapologetic.

  It wasn't too hard to believe that Timothy might have died, because he was generally reckless, and got himself into trouble quite often. Paired with the fact that a literal god may beam down here at any time, and kill them all together, his death became all the more believable.

  Arvena was here in the camp too, and she wasn't so appreciative of the other's tone, so she asked. “Well, did you find their bodies? Also, where’s Ortana?”

  “Ortana is out looking for Timothy’s body. Our scouts report that she's killed twenty beetles alone so far, and she's been cutting them open, to see if she could find your friend in one of their guts.” The guard expined, and then he added. “She's up that hill over there, that big one approximately one kilometer northeast. She fill you in with any other questions you have, because we o get back to work. A scout has spotted another beetle , and we’re going to see if we eradicate it today.”

  Arvena wao bash a ser beam against the other’s skull, as she didn't appreciate how she was being treated, but she resisted this urge. It was best to avoid unnecessary flict right now, so they just started walking towards the hill that they were poiowards.

  While they walked, Skendus said. “You better calm down, it's very uhat he's dead, regardless of how stupid he be. He was surfing over va a week ago, that's a sign of a man who doesn't die easily.”

  “I know,” She nodded, “I’m not worried about him, but that guard deserves a beating. I hope he gets eaten by a beetle, or humped by one, I would be happy either way.”

  “Easy…” He disced the other, though he was quite amused.

  Anyway, they made it to the top of that hill eventually, a Ortana there. They were told that this was the spot where Timothy had supposedly been killed at, so they figured if there were any clues to find, those clues would be here. They analyzed the se, and quickly caught up with the fact that the guards didn't know what they were talking about!

  “So they take down five Demoles, and then just die? If they could kill five of them, they'd be able to kill two-or-three more, right? I doubt that two people could run out of mana that quickly.” Arvena pointed out.

  The dead beetles didn't strike them as threateniher, they figured that these beetles couldn't be too dangerous. They shouldn't be, especially if a bunch of volunteers were trusted to deal with them throughout the week, or at least that was what the team believed, though two of them didn’t fight a beetle themselves. However, sihe death-t of Demoles was beyond fifty by now, their belief was set in stohese beetles were weak.

  Skendus had a better look around, and then he discovered something out of pce. He noticed that the shell of the beetles were severely cracked, they looked especially disgusting now that they've deposed almost beynition.

  “Did you crack their shells, Ortana?” He asked.

  “No, I found them like that. It was really easy to look through their guts too, but I couldn’t find Timothy in there.” She expined.

  With that said, Skendus couldn't help but picture how the battle went down. He was very good at pieg such puzzles together, especially since he kimothy lohan anyone else, he was very well aware of what his friend was capable of. Once he noticed that the big beetles also had a crater around their carcasses, he figured that the battle had happened up in the sky!

  The tter wasn't too difficult to figure out, though he missed it at first, because grass had already grown around those craters. It's been five days ever sihe battle, after all.

  Anyway, sihe battle happened up in the sky, he was sure that Timothy couldn't have been caught, aen. He was very handy with those flying bones of his, to the point where he'd outsmart any, and all is easily. He also figured that big, round bugs couldn't fly that well either!

  “Okay, so Timothy didn’t die, dies.” He called out, and then expined. “Tim carried out the etle in the air, and odds are that he had killed these critters far before that guard, Gustav, went missing.”

  “The timelihat those bastards expined, didn't make any seo me.” Ortana then pointed out, “I’ve walked through this hill about five times, far before any guard did, and I’m almost absolutely sure that the two of them never met. TIm killed the bugs alone, and probably just dashed somewhere afterwards.”

  “He killed the bugs, but he didn’t dash.” He argued, “My best guess is that he tried to figure out where the bugs came from, and he's likely hunting them still. Otherwise, he would've returo the camp a long time ago, because let's admit it, five days is a long time. Do we have any hints as to where these dead beetles came from?”

  “They came out of the ground over there, but I already checked the tuhey dug. The tunnels must have colpsed before I got here, because they're all dead ends.” She answered.

  Skendus believed her, but he still wao check for himself, so he got towards the biggest tunnel he could find, and walked into it. He was beyond curious to check them out, because he believed that even if the tunnels had colpsed over Timothy's head, he’d still survive that situation easily.

  “He would've dug himself out by now,” Skendus figured.

  The three of them walked into the tunnel, and as they went in deeper, it sure looked like a dead end afterwards. However, as their eyes adapted to the darkhat any underground tunnel would have, they started notig something weird - It seemed as if the dead-end side of the tunnel, was swirling around.

  “That doesn't look like a dead end to me,” Skendus added.

  Once Arvena got a better look at what the other ointing at, she then excimed. “That's a freaking portal! There you have it, that little bastard went through this portal, and chased after the bugs, he's safe.”

  “How did I not see this before? I've been dowhree times…” Ortana sighed, she felt very humiliated that she couldn't help her friend sooner, and then she yelled. “I wasted so much time cutting through bug guts, I feel so stupid!”

  “You’re not stupid, you're brave. I wouldn't tou i’s gut even if my own life was on the line, I’m sure they're pretty gross.” Skendus forted her, and then added. “I'm sure Timmy will ugh his lungs out wheell him that you've been disseg a bunch of bugs, just to find him.”

  Anyway, they didn't waste any more time afterwards. The three of them leaped through the pitch bck portal, and hoped to find their friend oher side!