Wandering through an empty cavern sucked. Walking through one when you're pretty sure you're concussed was worse. At least, Mars assumed they would be. While they were falling through the ground, a considerable amount of the tree hit Mars in the head, leading them to wake with a throbbing headache and a gash on their forehead. Mars had their right arm locked with Antia's, who insisted on supporting them. They rejected the idea, but with the pounding in their head, Mars was a little grateful. The other arm was holding the fabric scraps on their head, although she didn't feel much bleeding anymore. Anita was carrying Reoia, as she glowed in the dark. The only thing Mars could make out was Anita’s serious expression. Suddenly, Mars hit their foot on a rock.

“Ow!-” Mars exclaimed, stopping momentarily. Anita looked over, with concern Mars felt was a little exaggerated.

“Are you okay? We can rest if you need.” Anita offered.

“For the seventh time, I'm fine,” Mars replied. “Just kicked a rock, we need to move. Ahead.” Mars continued, Anita reluctantly helping them. They traveled through the empty path, until Mars stopped them. Anita raised an unseen eyebrow.

“What's wrong, why'd we stop-”

“Shut up.” Was all Mars said. Mars pointed towards a shadow on the wall. It was pretty far away from them.

“The shadow? What about it-”
“I said shut up.” the shadow suddenly disappeared. Seconds later, Mars was falling to the ground as the shadow coiled itself around Anita. The sword dropped out of her hand, and Mars snatched it up quickly. Anita was helpless, barely seen in the shadow. Her body was limp, and her eyes rolled back. Mars had to act quick. They grabbed the sword, and threw it at the shadow, who simply moved out of the way. Her plan had failed. Starting on plan two, Mars jumped on Anita, fighting their way inside. They grabbed Rune from the holster and slit the shadow in two. The shadow faded away and they fell to the ground. Mars quickly started to wake their companion.

“Anita? Anita, wake up!-" After a few small slaps, Anita started to regain consciousness.

“Mmm, yeah?” Mars hugged Anita tightly. She had no idea why.

They continued walking for some time, until Anita stopped, stopping Mars with her. “What is it, we need to move-”

“I don't think we can,” Anita said, raising the sword higher. As if on command, the sword glowed brighter, illuminating the area. In front of them was a cliff, and beyond them were ruined.

“There are ruins down here… but from where? There has never been any record of an underground city, or one sinking into the ground-'' Mars rambled. Anita just shrugged.

“Then these ruins must be that old. Look over there.” Sure enough, a little bit east of them, there was a narrow path that led to the bottom of the pit.

“Are you sure that going deeper into the ground is the way to go?” Mars questioned.

“There is no other way to go,” Anita answered. “Penelope only gave us food for a day’s trip. At least if we go there, we know the only other way to go is up. There may be something in the ruins to help with that.” They went down the path, Mars first so Anita could keep an eye on her. Along the way, Mars' headache intensified. They stopped walking. “Are you okay?” Anita asked. Mars nodded, trying to clear their vision. They took a step, and the path crumbled beneath their feet. Mars was too shocked to scream. On the other hand, Anita was screaming a lot.

“Mars!” Anita reached out her arm, grabbing Mars by the wrist. When Mars finally got around to noticing what was happening, they groaned.

“I’d rather you drop me and save me the embarrassment,” Mars complained. Anita frowned.

“I don't think I could drop you if I wanted to. I don't want to drop you, I l-” Anita cleared her throat. “I need you to be alive, or not only will I fail this quest, but the capital will be doomed. I can't lead.” This earned a loud snort from Mars as they was pulled up by their trainee. Anita wrapped her arms around Mars as she set them down on the passage. Mars looked up, only to be face to face with Anita. They were almost completely in the dark, as the sword was lowered. All Mars could see was a dark lower outline of Anita's face. Of her lips. Anita’s breathing was heavier than usual, probably from pulling her up. Anita must have been physically stronger than she looked. Mars looked over at Anita’s arms, then quickly looked back at her face. 

“We should probably continue,” Anita recommended. Mars nodded, glad for the intrusion. As they reached the bottom, they realized how big the ruins truly were.

“ This… this is a whole city, '' Mars remarked. She ran her finger down the side of a building. “These buildings could rival the capital’s buildings right now, and yet they seem more ancient. They have to be.” Mars tried to pin a design to the building, but it was truly a mix of familiar things and designs they had'nt seen before. The architecture here was something they would have to look for, but Mars had a feeling they wouldn't find anything. Anita pointed to a big tower in the center of the town. It had an opening at the top, most likely home to an observatory, which was another weird thing in an underground city. 

“Maybe that building will give us some answers,” Anita spoke, leading Mars toward the building. It was a pale gray, feeling as if it was carved in stone. There were ridges all over the building. The door was tall, taller than normal. The top was arched and it had thin, floral engravings all around the edges. There were no handles, but words in a forgotten language were inscribed on the door.

“How do we get in, there are no handles, and I can't read whatever ancient script that is-” Mars huffed.

“Wait, you can't read that?” Anita asked. Mars looked at her incredulously.

“No, I can't. We are literally in ancient ruins, are you telling me you can read ancient writings?'' Mars's headache started to fade a while ago, but it was slowly returning.

  “I guess?” Anita continued, “it's the same writing that was on the bookcase in the castle. Maybe there are more magic words?”

“Then please, read the magic word and open the door,” Mars asked, gesturing to the door. Anita sighed, and read over the words, before reciting.

“Open.” at the sound of the words, the letters glowed blue momentarily, before the doors slowly opened. Mars glared at Anita, who's smirk succeeded in returining her headache. Inside were dozens of tables, workbenches, bookcases, and many more things that could be useful. Although much of the furniture was tipped over, broken, or disintegrated over time, many books and papers still stayed intact. The one problem with Mars was that it was all in an ancient script.

“I can't read anything, '' Mars groaned as Anita flipped through another book.

“There isn't anything good down here to read, I think we should head up,” Anita responded. They ascended the stairs, flipping and searching for things that could be useful. There was ultimately nothing, save for the small bits of information about magic and experiments. Finally, they got to the top floor, but there was another door. Mars grabbed the handle and pulled, to no avail.

“Oh come on! There’s something in there,” they complained. Anita nodded in agreement. She tried to push open the door, which failed.

“Maybe there’s another secret word or something,” Anita mumbled, running her hand over the door. 

“Uhm, open?” Mars guessed. “Push, pull, ajar-”

“Drop,” Anita said. On cue, the door slightly glowed, dropping to the ground.

“Really, how did you even know that?” Mars pouted.

“It was a light engraving, I just had to feel it out'' Anita answered. They entered the room, looking around. There were more bookcases in here but in better condition. Workbenches were lined across the room.  There were tables with unfinished experiments and charts hung on the walls. One of them happened to be a map of Malovora, even if highly outdated. Mars took it off the wall, handing it to Anita.

“This is going to come in handy later,” Mars spoke. Anita slipped it into her belt, going back to scanning over some parchments. “What are those?”

  “It's… its information about the darkness.” Anita managed to blurt out. Mars looked at her with an excited expression.  

“Well, go on! We can see if we can find more information about it.”

“For starters” Anita stated, “ Its name is Arkon. If - you won't believe this- was created centuries ago by vengeful elves.” Mars almost laughed.

“Are you serious? Elves?” Mars questioned. “Elves are just old bedtime stories told to scare kids into doing good, no one has seen one. At least–”

“At least,” Anita continues “No one alive.” They take in the empty presence of the ruins. Mars was starting to think this place was buried for a reason. 

“Do you think all this writing is in some elven language?” Mars asked. Anita shrugged.

“I don't know. But even if it was, it doesn't tell me how I can understand it. I'm not an elf.” Mars only nodded in agreement. “The humans and elves used to live peacefully, before the creation of the elemental weapons. The humans used too much magic and the elves were being drained of it. Arkon was a force created by these elves to take back the elemental magic humans were using, but it became sentient, a force of havoc. It killed all humans, instead of just sapping their weapons of elemental powers. This only worsened the war between them. At first, it thrived, it simply slipped into a human’s body and killed it, then slipped into another but then it started to get-”

“Attached?” Mars guessed. Anita nodded. “If the darkness, Arkon truly kept getting stuck in these bodies-”

“Then it would eventually get stuck in one.” Anita continued. “The darkness grew dependent on the bodies of the humans, but too much magic would destroy it since humans were not meant to hold elemental powers in their bodies.” Mars thought deeply.

“If Arkon needs a body to survive, then if we destroy his current one, we can defeat him for good,” Mars states.

“We would have to do it secluded, so he couldn't escape, but yeah. By destroying his body and making sure he can possess someone else, he will fade out of existence.” Anita responded.

“Is there anything else on there?” Mars asked. Anita just furrowed her brows.

“Only the purest light can conquer the darkness, and heal the soul” Anita recited. 

“Do they mean the light of the sword, because we have that.”Mars questions. Anita shrugged. Anita quickly looked through some of the parchments, stopping at a picture.

“Look at this.” On the parchment, was clearly a sword. Anita’s sword. “Do you think they made it?” Anita asked.

“Could be possible. But I thought the sword was made during the war, this stuff definitely predates modern-day territories.” Anita looked for a little longer, before stuffing the scrolls into her pouch.

“Well, we found what we could in here, let's go look for an exit,” Anita said. They traveled back down the tower, through the town. Mars couldn't stop herself from marveling at the architecture of the town.

“This city, it couldn't have just been elven. There are alot of elements I know, and past humans were blacksmiths, not alchemists. Do you think some of them lived here together?”

“I.. dont know.” Anita admitted. “Apparently the war was bad enough for the elves to become bedtime stories, so I doubt it.” Mars wasn't paying attention, and was already entrapped in the architecture of a nearby building. At the end of the town, there was a light. 

“Look, do you think that's the exit?” Anita asked. Mars looked and answered.

“Only one way to find out.” They went towards the light.