Cracked grounds, dry dusts blowing without a direction to the breeze.
Valtor stood watching the Corrupted stare at him, with hollow eyes having the same green glowing core in its chest.
He moved closer, and the Corrupted turned to another direction, leading him far into the desolate land.
Valtor knew the creature wants to show him a place, but, it took a high level of common sense to be able to understand this reaction.
Farther away from the Safety Zone, the lands were worse than he imagined.
The 'stumps' here were crenated blood-red having irregular frozen structure, similar to a splash of water frozen mid-time.
Clustering together, almost without a space to walk straight through, Valtor had to move sideways to get through, also keeping his eyes on the pointed tips so as not to get scratched or pricked.
The Corrupted however moved without any form of intelligence. The sharp pointed crystallized stumps tore through its bone, tearing some parts away, but it continued walking straight-forward.
If it had a sense of intelligence, Valtor could have asked, "Where are you taking me to?," But why try when it can't even keep those bones from getting broken.
It took about five minutes through this area, before they both reached the end of a cliff, separated by a wide crack.
Here, the Corrupted jumped into the deep crack, and the sound of bones with a rough landing, left Valtor wondering if it was actually a good idea not to look before leaping.
If he was going down a cliff, he definitely wasn't jumping in. Instead, he chose to slide down.
With one hand against the wall and his feet controlling his descent, Valtor lowered himself deeper into the zone.
After landing on the ground, he noticed the Corrupted hadn't moved a single bit.
The green core in its chest was much brighter here than it had been on the surface, illuminating the area quite well.
Ahead, there was a cave—an old one. Dried twigs covered the entrance, but passing through it was easy.
In cave was better than the surface—the air felt clean.
It was much bigger than the entrance, with enough space to move around. Stones and crystals covered the ground, but unlike the ones outside, these crystals glowed—pulsing like they were alive.
At the center, a clear lake stretched out, getting closer, its bottom visible through the water.
"Where am I?" Valtor muttered, scanning the area. This place was completely different from the wasteland above.
And radiated life...
Suddenly, the glowing green orb left the Corrupted's body, causing its bones to collapse into dust. Valtor watched, confused, "Odd..," he said, but whispered a silent prayer before following the orb past the crystals.
Then, his eyes widened.
The orb floated toward a figure—a pale white woman glowing with the same green light.
Valtor blinked, stunned. Was this real? Could another being still exist in this dead world?
She sat in the pool of water—the same one he had noticed earlier.
Weakly, she lifted her gaze, her green eyes locking onto his. Her voice, softer than the whispers of a child, reached him, "Would you spare me a drop of water?
"Huh?" Valtor froze, 'Huh?' He had heard her clearly, but his mind refused to process it. 'A drop of water?..'
She repeated, "Would you spare me a drop of water?"
At that moment, Valtor remembered the bottle Pete had given him earlier—the one he hadn't finished.
He pulled off his boots and stepped into the cold lake, moving toward her.
Up close, he saw the truth—her legs were gone, as were her arms. Only a white linen draped over her slender frame.
Silently, he brought the bottle to her lips, helping her take a sip.
She barely drank before stopping.
"The taste of refreshment... after a decade." Tears rolled down her pale skin, dropping into the lake.
Then, raising her head, she let her golden locks fall back. "I am the last goddess of this world," she murmured. "My name is Elneal—not that you should remember it. What is your name, Young Monarch?"
Valtor's eyes widened. 'How does she know... Master Gap said such as well... But how?' He thought to himself.
The goddess studied him, then spoke again, "You are quite fazed. What is in your heart, Young Monarch?"
Valtor swallowed. "How do you know I am a Monarch?"
Elneal blinked slowly, with a clear exhaustion weighing on her expression. I sensed the same energy in Chaos when you used Gi... and brought you here with the Corrupted's help."
"Oh..." Valtor muttered before speaking louder. "I'm Valtor. Elneal, what happened to you? What happened to this world?" His gaze dropped to her missing limbs. "What happened?"
Elneal pushed her body to rest against one of the Crystals having the same green glow as her body radiated. Then, she replied, "In the beginning, the Ancient god depleted energy gave rise to Supreme gods, and as well, dimensions.
Every dimension was given a god to rule over it, I'm the main Supreme goddess of the second dimension, and this world is the realm where the creator key of my dimension dwells in."
Valtor took a seat on the ground beside the lake. This sounds more like a storytelling but in a reality way. "Chaos destroyed this Dimension?"
She laughed weakly, a painful one. "It devoured the Life of the Dimension, shattering the realms, destroying the Creator key, which keeps the Dimension in check. Chaos left a fragile piece of the Creator Key, which have a potential of shattering without getting shattered."
Valtor asked after hearing this, "The Creator key isn't it the core of this world?"
"Yes! Shatter the Creator Key and this world is gone."
Valtor let out a long sigh, before saying, "I'm sorry for all what had happened..."
"Do not be!" Elneal voice sounded more serious, "I am the one who couldn't protect my world, this dimension... If I had gathered together the powerful divine being of the realm, we might have had a chance not to be destroyed..."
Valtor knew speaking regarding this would be wrong. Instead, he asked a question, which never knew the answer would come to be a shock, "The world is actually gone, Desolate."
"Yes Valtor, and, Every red spiked crystal you see on the surface, the stumps, were once living beings whose life force was absorbed from their very soul."