A few moments ago, after the st piece of rock fell onto Efraim's head, his sciousness drifted away from his body, and the sed he opened his eyes, he saw a never-ending darkness, a pitch-bck abyss without a single speck of light.

  "Where am I?" he uttered; his voice echoed, resonating into the void.

  Without knowing what was happening, he took a step forward, and the moment he did, torches of green fmes lit up in front, revealing a pathway with an enormous empty throne on its end.

  Its white color exuded purity while the bck crystals embedded on its rail described elegas arms that carved in a dragon's head signified overwhelming strength and authority.

  Efraim felt puzzled, yet his heart ounding iement. He walked towards it; however, the distaween him and the throne was not getting smaller even by a bit.

  He tried to ruing energy on both of his legs, but despite how fast he went, the throne remained distant. Feeling flustered about the situation, Efraim took a sed to catch his breath.

  He walked ahead, thinking and searg how to get into that empty throne. During his ption, the grouh him began to shake, and the pathway started to colpse.

  "No! Wait!" Efraim excimed, startled by the sudden turn of events.

  Then, he found himself falling into the void along with the rge ks of rocks, and seds after, his back touched something solid; the impact made him spout a mouthful of blood. He tried to stand, but the debris kept in falling on top of him, causing him to feel excruciating pain.

  Afterwards, he heard a sweet, tender voiing from underh his right ear.

  "The heir to the throne is still not strong enough; the Oblivion Mage takes over."

  Efraim couldn't fully grasp what the voice said as his eyes started to dim. And as soon as his sciousness faded, the white casket dangling from his ear turned bck with a green cross embedded at its ter.

  . . . . .

  Several hours had passed; Efraim woke up from a deep slumber; his head rang as soon as he opened his eyes; the light from the sun made him experieemporary blindness.

  "Where am I?" he asked.

  Then he felt something caress his hair, and as he moved his eyes a little, he saair of goldearing at him.

  "You're awake," Lindsay whispered, her voice soft ale.

  Efraim stared at her for a while before he noticed that the woman's p was cushioning his head. As soon as he realized it, he stood up and turned around; his cheeks and ears felt hotter than usual.

  "W-What happened?" he asked without looking back while feigning ignorance.

  Lindsay couldn't help but smile, seeing how embarrassed his colleague was.

  "You pulled me closer and even put your hand on my waist; don't you remember?" she answered with a pyful grin.

  Upon heariatement, Efraim didn't wait for another sed; he turned around again and faced the woman.

  "I deeply apologize for what I did; my mind is still clouded, and I don't really know what happened," Efraim asked for fiveness while bowing his head to show his siy.

  Lindsay was surprised by his sudden a; she blinked a few times before a soft chuckle escaped from her lips.

  "I'm just kidding," she imparted, still wearing her tagious smile.

  Upon hearing this, Efraim looked at her with a deadpan expression. Their eyes locked for a silent exge before Lindsay broke down the silence.

  "e, sit here with me," she said while tapping the grouo her.

  Apanied with a deep sigh, Efraim sat down like what the woman wahe two of them stayed like that for a while before Efraim opened up a versation.

  "What happened ihe arena?" he asked, his voice ced with curiosity.

  He was looking at the rge dome in front of him when Lindsay answered his question.

  "To be ho, I don't know. After you lost sciousness, I tried to fight back, setting the whole p fire, but it was not effective. Then something struck me at the bay head, and my mi bnk," she said.

  Then, she looked at Efraim, and the moment their eyes met, she spoke once again.

  "I woke up lyio you, and we were already outside of the pce," she added.

  Efraim nodded after hearing her answer. His memory was a little cloudy; he tried to rack his brain if he would remember something, but not a sihing came to his mind.

  The sed, he stood up and checked the few scratches on his body before extending his hand to Lindsay.

  "Let's go," he said.

  "Where?" Lindsay replied while staring at the man's hand.

  "Don't worry, I don't have any more reason to go back to that pce," he answered.

  Lindsay smiled at him befrabbing his hand.

  "Thanks," she said as soon as she stood up.

  The sun was still up high into the sky; the two of them still had plenty of time to search for clues in regards to their mission. So, without further ado, they moved deeper towards the abaown, but hours had passed, and they found nothing.

  Then, the two people returo their gathering spot. The sun was still up, though; after a few more minutes, it would begin to sink into the horizon. After several steps, they were the first pair to reach their meeting pce.

  Though, it only took a few more minutes for the others to arrive.

  "Did any of you find something?" the old man asked as soon as the st pair set foot on the area.

  However, none of the people uttered a word; most of them were shaking their heads, and some started looking at the others.

  "Lindsay," the old man uttered a name.

  Then, a woman stepped forward as soon as she heard her name being called

  "Yes, Captain," Lindsay responded, still the same as before, her voice always ced with respect.

  "As?" The captain asked.

  "We covered a radius of five kilometers, but there was not a sirace of beastmen traffickers," Lindsay replied while taking a g Efraim.

  Upon hearing her ahe old man nodded and stroked his .

  "This would be the best; I hope we wouldn't stumble into something dangerous before c the whole ruins," he said before dismissing the team.

  The group set up their camps; the me out to gather some wood while the women prepared the meals. Nothing unusual happened, and the long night passed in a glimpse.

  The following day, the group reached the town's ter; they were halfway done in iigating the whole town.

  Each pair carried out their one and only task: to find clues about beast traffickers. Efraim and Lindsay went a few strides, and they noticed a giant pit on the ground.

  "I think we already found something worth rep," Lindsay veyed her thoughts.

  "Should we go in?" Efraim asked while staring into the hole.

  "That's a bad idea; let's call the others first," Lindsay replied, shaking her head.

  Then, she raised her staff, and a fireball was shot up into the sky. Several minutes after, their panions arrived along with their captain.

  "This is quite strahe old man ented while looking at the giant pit.

  The sed, Lindsay unched a fireball ihe hole as the captain ordered. But the pit was so deep that the speck of fire vanished in a matter of seds.

  Given this fact, the old man looked at his team; there were traces of uainty in their eyes. Then, he g the appraiser on his opposite side.

  And as soon as their eyes met, Efraim spoke.

  "Your orders," he said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

  . . . . .

  A day ago, ihe arena, after all the apparitions were destroyed, the green fmes tio burn. The pce became unreizable; traces of the battle could be seen everywhere, and in the middle of all of it was a young man, standing, without a siraotion.

  He was staring at the pool of blood in front of him. A woman's dismembered body was lying in there; its head was o her severed feet.

  Then, the casket dangling from his ear shone a bright light, and it turned bato its white color with a bck cross embedded on its surface. Afterward, the veridist heptagram pattern on the man's eye disappeared, and he fell onto the ground, void of sciousness.

  The moment, the green fmes died down, and the darkness crept back to the arena. The silence tinued for several seds before the limbs scattered on the floor showed signs of movement.

  Seds after, the severed body parts began to reattach to the main body. And as the event tio unfold, Lindsay opened her eyes; she stood up and looked at the man lying on the ground.

  Her eyes were dazzling, glowing in a golden radiance. She stared at Efraim, and the ers of her lips curled upward, f a sweet, mischievous smirk.

  . . . . .