I stared at the open door some distance away from us as Elliot’s light illuminated a few meters of the corridor, though not clearly enough for us to see anything.
Yet I could almost feel what lay beyond as I walked toward it directly, the sound of my boots breaking the stillness of this place.
The others followed as well, the light devouring more of the darkness within the open passage.
In the silence of this place, I could hear the beating of my heart clearly.
I didn’t know why, but from the moment I stepped in here, I felt something strange.
The ornamentation on the gate above and the beautiful door before us felt familiar, as though I had seen it somewhere before.
Not in the Cradle of Shards... No, it was different.
Whether it was the way this place was built or even the feeling within it...
It wasn’t ominous like those ruins.
Instead, it felt more... comforting... And sad.
It took only a few moments to reach the open door, and I stepped through without hesitation.
But in the next instant, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned my head and heard Elliot speak.
"Be careful... We shouldn’t just rush in. What if we accidentally trigger some kind of trap?"
I looked at him calmly.
"There’s nothing dangerous here."
Even so, I turned my head and passed through the doorway.
Whether it was Ellen, Izel, or even Leona and Kyle, all of them remained silent as the bright light above us drove away the darkness shrouding the vast corridor.
A single path stretching forward, made of gray stone that had remained pristine to this day...
Even with the high humidity, no moss had grown upon its surface, nor were there any signs of erosion.
But the place wasn’t entirely empty either.
I stopped a few meters beyond the door and stared at the scene before me while Leona’s heavy, trembling voice echoed out.
"Those people... the ones who opened this place..."
Izel stared at the sight with a solemn expression, while Ellen and Elliot simply remained silent.
Because there, throughout the length of the corridor, countless skeletons lay scattered everywhere...
And every one of them belonged to humans.
Some sat with their backs against the walls, their heads lowered, the remnants of tattered clothing covering parts of their ancient bones.
Others lay in the corners, sleeping forever.
And others were scattered here and there as though they had been scrambling about in their final moments.
There were hundreds of them.
And it wasn’t difficult to determine who they were.
"Are they the people the old man spoke about?" Elliot asked in a solemn tone as he approached one of them.
"I think so," Ellen nodded in response.
I stared at the white bones from afar for a few moments before moving forward.
"Let’s keep going."
We walked toward them and stepped between them, avoiding stepping on them whenever possible.
Leona moved beside me, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It looks like they died while waiting."
"Or they were hiding," Kyle added.
I looked at the white bones beneath my feet as I stepped past them one after another.
On the pristine walls, faded writings could still be seen, their traces nearly erased by time.
Some were in English.
Others were in Russian.
And a few in other languages.
’My dear... my son... I’m sorry.’
’None of this is real. It’s just a dream... a nightmare.’
I looked at the writings and messages that seemed to have been written in moments of despair, reading them unconsciously.
Ellen approached one of them and ran her hand across the ancient text while her calm voice echoed through the corridor.
"This place... this place is strange. We were supposed to find it sooner than this."
"I wish we had found it... Then we wouldn’t have suffered like this."
The words were barely visible and difficult to make out, but Ellen continued.
"Then we wouldn’t have remained here... We were supposed to be prepared... We..."
"We never belonged here."
The words ended and faded from the wall, and silence returned once more.
I stepped forward and approached another piece of writing.
Like the previous one, it was barely visible, but I was still able to read it aloud.
"Darkness... Darkness is everywhere. I’m afraid."
"It wants to erase us... to wipe us out."
With every word I read, the script seemed to grow deeper.
"But that light is stopping it. They’re fighting out there... The world will shatter if they continue."
"We must endure until this disaster ends... When she wins, she’ll save us... Please don’t lose."
The others approached as I left those words behind and continued down the corridor toward another inscription.
This one was deeper and clearer.
"That disaster is over... The earthquakes have stopped, and the world itself has changed... And the moon, the moon... they destroyed it and scattered its fragments across the sky."
"I saw it... One mistake... one mistake turned Europe into ashes."
These fragmented and incomplete words would have seemed meaningless if I had read them before seeing the world.
"It sounds like they were hiding from something that wanted to wipe them out," Leona said sadly as she stared at the bones.
"Something powerful enough to destroy the world itself in the process," Izel added, her voice solemn and calm, unlike her usual behavior.
Elliot approached the wall.
"But there was also something trying to protect them from it... and save them."
Kyle walked past us and pointed farther down the corridor.
"There’s another message over there."
Without hesitation, we headed toward it, and I was the first to arrive.
So I read it aloud, translating it immediately so everyone could understand.
"It’s over... We’re finished."
"Neither side won... Neither of them won... Both lost and destroyed each other."
"The light faded... and the darkness vanished."
"But some of it is still here... It’s entering this place."
The words faded away, leaving behind only a single line.
"I can see it... The darkness is sticky and terrifying... I’m afraid... We’re afraid."
"We don’t want this... Not like this."
The final line was distorted, as though it had been written in a hurry.
Directly beneath it rested a skeleton on the floor, one hand touching the wall, as though it had once stood there.
Silence returned the moment I finished reading the final word.
I stared quietly at the text...
Or at least, I appeared quiet.
With every word I read, I felt myself growing angrier and angrier.
Even with the fragmented messages, it wasn’t difficult to guess what had happened here.
Whether it was the darkness that engulfed the world or the being that fought against it and prevented the extinction of humanity, neither side had won in the end.
Yet even so, the darkness had managed to accomplish one final thing before disappearing.
"What the hell does that even mean?" Izel approached and asked impatiently.
"Everything," I replied as I stepped over the skeletons and continued forward.
"What’s wrong with him?" I heard Izel mutter behind me.
She was probably talking about me.
I glanced back and saw Elliot shrug before they began following me again.
It didn’t take long for us to reach the other end of the corridor.
Elliot’s light shone ahead of us, illuminating the vast space beyond and revealing what the darkness had hidden.
Just like before, skeletons were scattered everywhere, though their numbers were several times greater than those in the corridor.
"This..." I muttered unconsciously, my eyes widening against my will as I stared at the enormous hall before me...
And the breathtaking sight within it.
There, upon the towering walls and all around the chamber, a massive image was imprinted.
A vivid image filled with beautiful colors.
And beneath it, elegant lines merged together with great care and precision, forming a single word.
"Arcadia."