“Say, Lydia,” Ana ventured, supporting the girl’s frail body as they moved through the endless corridor. “There’s something I’d like to ask.”

  “Hm? What?” Lydia’s voice was as weak as her appearance.

  “Fynn. The man from earlier. During the fight, he said something to me. It was probably just provocation, an attempt to make me lose focus or give up, but still…” Ana bit her lip, her voice lowering. “I can’t stop thinking about it. It didn’t feel like he was lying. He said we have no way out of this place.”

  Lydia lifted her gaze, their eyes meeting for a brief moment before she nodded once. “He wasn’t lying.”

  “What?” Charmy snapped. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean that by ourselves, we have no way out of this place,” Lydia replied, almost casually.

  Ana’s thoughts stalled. Then where are we heading? The question echoed in her mind, but Charmy voiced it first. “Then where—”

  “Where do you think this place is?” Lydia interrupted.

  The three of them glanced around. So far they’ve only seen gray corridors, broken only by intersections and chambers like the one where they had fought Fynn. There was no sunlight, no moonlight, nothing that hinted at the outside world.

  “This is underground, isn’t it?” Ana ventured.

  “Calling it underground means you think it’s beneath the holy capital,” Lydia replied. “But do you really believe zealots this secretive would dare build their headquarters right under the holy capital?”

  Ana froze. She knew he was right. Not even the Inquisitorum Regiae had managed to establish a true headquarters beneath the capital. At best, they maintained a Wardenpost Guild that received requests that were outsourced to a nearest headquarters.

  “This place isn’t under the holy capital,” Lydia continued. “Well, technically it might be, but if you were to dig to find this place, you’d realize it isn’t.”

  Ana frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know the basics of teleportation and space magic?” Lydia asked. “This facility isn’t in the plane of existence you and I are used to. It exists in a different layer, wedged between layers.”

  Ana’s heart sank. She knew little about teleportation beyond its rarity, but she did know that space magic allowed access to different layers of reality. It was enough to grasp the implication.

  “So…” Ana murmured.

  “So we’re not getting out without someone who can use teleportation or space magic.”

  “You can’t do that, right?” Uta asked. Her face was still pale, but her voice was steadier now.

  Ana shook her head. “I can’t….”

  “Does that mean…” Charmy’s voice trembled as panic crept in. “Does that mean we’re stuck here?”

  “Don’t worry,” Lydia said, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “We’re not. I know som—”

  She cut herself off abruptly, her attention snapping forward.

  “What is it?” Ana asked at once, her heart leaping as she scanned the intersection ahead.

  At first, there was nothing. Just another crossing of corridors. Silence pressed in, heavy and suffocating. Then Ana realized it was not silence at all. A faint, rhythmic sound echoed through the halls.

  Footsteps, she thought at first, but the rhythm was wrong. Uneven. Alien.

  The sound grew louder, and from the corridor to the right, they came crawling.

  “What the hell is that…” Ana whispered.

  At first glance, they looked like small animals. Then recognition hit, and her breath caught. Monsters. A grotesque tide surged forward. Cat-sized scorpions skittered across the floor. Horned reptiles slithered low to the ground. Colorful ants crawled along the walls. A living swarm, each creature different, each unsettling in its own way.

  “Eeeek!” Charmy shrieked, stumbling back as the horde poured past them, some rushing across their path, others streaming straight ahead.

  Ana’s body tensed, every instinct screaming at her to fight or flee, but Lydia’s sharp command stopped her cold. “Don’t move,” the girl ordered. “Don’t try anything.”

  “Wha—”

  “Just don’t,” Lydia insisted. “They’ll ignore you.”

  Ana swallowed hard. Reluctantly, she obeyed. Uta and Charmy followed suit.

  The swarm washed over them. Crawling, hopping, scrambling, flying. Creatures brushed past their legs and shoulders, close enough to feel, yet never once striking. They ignored them completely.

  All but one.

  A massive centipede coiled at Lydia’s feet, its countless legs writhing. It circled her once, then climbed onto her body. Ana’s stomach lurched as the creature merged with Lydia in a grotesque display. The process looked agonizing, yet Lydia did not cry out. Her pallor faded instead, silver strands reclaiming hair that had gone dull.

  “They’re close,” Lydia said, now standing on her own, strength seeming to have returned to her steps. “Follow me. Our way out is ahead.”

  The trio hesitated, stunned. Lydia glanced back, her expression suddenly severe.

  “One more thing. When we meet that person, do not speak. Bend the knee. Lower your gaze,” she seemed to expect confirmation from Ana, so she nodded. “Now let’s move. The sooner we meet them, the better.”

  They followed her down the corridor the swarm had come from, through halls that twisted and stretched unnaturally, until they reached a long, straight passage that turned sharply to the right.

  And there, waiting at the end, stood a familiar figure.

  Aaron, the wizard.

  The last of the critters lay butchered at his feet. His robes were scorched, his wand still raised, and when his eyes fell on them, the corridor seemed to grow very still.

  “You…” His surprise was unmistakable. “What are you doing here?”

  He stepped forward, wand glowing as a magic circle formed at its tip.

  Ana moved ahead of the others. Her posture was brave, though bravery was all she had left. Her HP was nearly gone, her MP even worse. A quick appraisal told her the truth. She had no chance of winning. Still, she stood her ground as Aaron’s spell neared release.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

  A scream shattered the moment. Aaron turned just in time to see it end in a horrifying thud behind him. Blood painted the walls. Ana saw it despite the speed, just long enough to glimpse a person being hurled through the corner of the corridor then turned into paste. Aaron recognized him instantly.

  “Mathis!” he shouted, rushing forward.

  He barely took two steps before stopping short. Something impossible unfolded in seconds. From the blood-soaked remains of Mathis, colorful flowers burst forth. Vines crawled across the floor, leaves spreading rapidly, and in less than five seconds, there was no blood, no body. Only a thick, bushy mass of vivid petals remained.

  “Was zur H?lle ist hier los?” Aaron gasped.

  He turned toward the corner from which Mathis had been thrown and froze. Whatever he saw there made him spin around and sprint toward Ana, panic breaking his voice. “Schei?e, Schei?e, Schei?e. Was zur H?lle ist das?!”

  It was fast. Half a dozen thunderous stomps were all it took to catch him. A massive paw came down. Pinning was too gentle a word. Aaron was crushed into the floor, blood and pale innards spilling as the concrete cracked beneath the creature’s weight.

  The creature was white, an unnatural white rarely seen in nature. It stood twice as tall as a large bear and twice as wide. A ridiculously long, fluffy appendage lashed behind it as a tail. At the front, an elongated oval head bore a single massive eye. There was no nose, only a small mouth from which a long, snake-like tongue flicked in and out.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Aaaagh!” Ana faintly heard from beneath its claw.

  Then the body underwent the same transformation as Mathis. In seconds, flesh vanished, replaced by greenery. When the creature lifted its paw, only a bush remained. The creature seemed amused by the sight.

  Then its attention shifted.

  Fear locked Ana in place. Her limbs refused to move. Uta and Lydia behind her fared no better.

  Come back to your senses, Ana screamed at herself, but her body would not respond.

  Lydia’s voice cut through the paralysis. “Get on your knees. Remember what I said.”

  Ana collapsed to one knee. The creature stopped a few meters away and then did something she had not expected.

  It spoke.

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t my baby.”

  The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. Ana was curious, but through strong restraint she kept her gaze lowered.

  Then came a sound so disturbing it forced her to look up. Flesh, bone, cartilage, and blood were torn apart and reshaped in midair. The white monstrosity began to implode, compressing into a dense mass that spat out bones. They assembled into a skeleton. Organs formed within it almost instantly. Muscles knit itself together, followed by skin, until a humanoid figure stood where the creature had been.

  A teenage girl.

  At least, she could have passed for one at first glance.

  Her long ears revealed the truth. She was an elf, and her face was painfully familiar.

  Ana understood why a moment later when she glanced at Lydia. The elf shared her complexion and those unmistakable elven eyes. A beauty mark sat beneath her mouth on the left side, identical to Lydia’s. The only difference was her short silver hair. She looked no older than Lydia, perhaps even younger, judging by her undeveloped figure.

  Ana did not let appearances deceive her.

  This was an elf.

  And the only elf that immediately came to Ana’s mind was Queen Theta, the elven daughter of Queen Arianna. Despite being born decades earlier, Theta had appeared as a child when she was presented to the world and crowned queen. For her to look like this now meant centuries had passed, and quite possibly even millennials.

  Ana’s mind raced through every record she had memorized. Human contact with the elven continent was scarce, but history spoke of them often, especially in the past century and a half. One hundred fifty years ago, Queen Arianna returned to the land of men after a long exile, accompanied by powerful elven allies. One of them was rumored to be the father of her daughter, Queen Theta.

  There was little detailed record of the elves who had allied with Queen Arianna. Only two were ever mentioned with any certainty, one male and one female, both described as having silver hair. Could this be her.

  As Ana turned the thought over in her mind, she accidentally met the elf’s gaze. Realizing she had been staring, Ana quickly averted her eyes.

  Assuming this person truly was who Ana suspected, the resemblance made no sense. How could she look so much like Lydia? Then Ana realized she was asking the wrong question. The real question was how Lydia looked so much like her. Were they related? Was Lydia some kind of halfbreed? She had called Lydia her baby, after all. Yet Ana felt certain the truth was far more unsettling than something so simple.

  “Yep, this is definitely you. What a surprise to see you here,” the elf said lightly. “I was already surprised when you disappeared from my radar, so this is quite something.”

  Ana felt the elf’s attention shift to her. Against her better judgment, she raised her eyes and made the mistake of meeting that gaze again.

  She understood immediately why Lydia had ordered them to kneel. Ana had met many people who placed little value on life, enough to recognize apathy when she saw it. Living among inquisitor had made her familiar with cold indifference. But this was something else entirely.

  The elf looked at Ana with silver eyes that held the same level of empathy a seven year old child might feel toward a line of ants.

  Ana’s breathing became uneven.

  “Weren’t you being held captive here,” the elf asked casually, “or did these lunatics just let the girls they kidnapped wander around freely.”

  “We were held captive,” Lydia replied. Her tone was different from usual. “But we escaped.”

  “You escaped,” the elf echoed, amused. “So you clawed your way here?”

  “Yes.”

  “I guess, that explains the state you’re in.”

  “Yes.”

  The sound of flesh tearing filled the air once more, but this time it did not come from the elf. It came from Lydia. The centipede she had absorbed earlier split free from her body and crawled toward the elf, merging with her just as it had with Lydia.

  “I see,” the elf said thoughtfully. “You were thoughtful enough to minimize the damage you caused to this place. Well done.”

  “Thanks.”

  “So what now,” the elf continued. “What are you planning to do next? You evaded everything just to reach me, didn’t you.”

  Ana hesitated, then began to speak, only to stop as she noticed approaching footsteps coming from the same direction the elf had arrived.

  Two figures emerged.

  The first was a very old man. On closer inspection, Ana realized he was undead. The aura of death surrounding him made that unmistakable. Ana had always held a strong distaste for necromancy. The thought of her own corpse being used revolted her, enough that she had long decided her will would demand cremation. She had worked hard in life and had no intention of being worked even harder in death. Still, seeing how old this corpse clearly was, she could not help but think its original owner had been fortunate. Not because his body was used, but because he had lived so long before dying.

  Ana wanted that. To die old. To die because her body finally gave out, not because she was stabbed or burned alive. She wanted a mundane death. A death of old age

  The second figure was a man, far younger and noticeably more lively than the undead. He was tall, with platinum blond hair and half-rimmed glasses. Something about him felt strangely familiar. He wore the attire of a squire aspiring to knighthood, though he lacked the leather chestplate. He moved about casually and carried no weapons, only an armful of clothing that looked suspiciously like it belonged to the naked elf standing before them.

  “You’re late,” the elf said, reproachful but not threatening.

  “Late. You’re the one who charged off chasing zealots like a wild animal,” he snapped, then froze mid sentence as he caught sight of Ana. The moment Ana heard his voice, her lingering doubt vanished. This was the man responsible for her being in this situation.

  “What are you doing,” he asked the elf.

  “Talking with my baby,” she replied easily. “We were discussing what we’re going to do next.” She turned to Lydia. “You have a suggestion, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Lydia said with a nod. “Let’s hear it. What do we do now.”

  Ana met Lydia’s gaze and realized how different she seemed from the girl she had known, especially compared to the Lydia from just a day ago.

  “You’ve found this place,” Lydia said calmly. “Uta and Ana?s are no longer of any use to you. Charmy had nothing to do with this at all. Let them leave.”

  “Let them go,” the elf mused, her tone turning ominous. “That’s complicated. They’ve seen this place. They know about the zealots. And more importantly, they’ve seen me. Not just me either. They’ve seen Dorian with me.”

  “They have not,” Lydia began.

  Ignoring that revelation entirely, Ana stepped forward. “I can make them forget,” she said quickly. “Everything. This place, the abduction, meeting you, all of it.”

  This was for the best. Ana had no doubt about it. She knew how deeply today would scar Uta and Charmy. Earlier, she had rejected the idea. Now, she has changed her mind. This was no longer a suggestion but a choice between survival and death, and hesitation had no place. She chose the option that guaranteed survival.

  “I can erase those memories forever.”

  The elf smiled at her with those apathetic eyes. “Of course you can,” she said calmly, “but can you erase your own memories of this event.”

  Ana stiffened. The answer was a tragic no. For all its convenience, her power did not allow her to do that. She did not dare lie about that fact. She did not dare bargain. Silence was the only response she could give.

  “She belongs to the Inquisitorum Regiae,” Lydia said firmly. “She knows how to keep a secret.”

  “That is true,” the elf replied, her tone thoughtful. “But isn’t extracting secrets from others her specialty. What happens when someone does that to her.”

  “That’s…”

  At that moment, Ana became convinced the elf simply wanted her dead. The urge to resist rose in her chest, but she knew acting on it would only hasten her end.

  “So,” the elf said lightly, “do we take that risk or not. Let’s settle this with a vote.”

  The man who’d been silent so far sighed before stepping in. “Let the girl go, Goblin. I’m returning to my office in the Inquisitorum Regiae anyway. I’ll keep an eye on her if it’s truly a concern.”

  The elf grimaced. “You’re sure about this?”

  “Yes. Why do you even sound so reluctant.”

  “Oh, I’m not against it,” she said, waving it off. “It’s just that she showed interest in her powers, so I figured… you know.”

  At the mention of this “she”, both of them turned toward the old undead. Ana immediately understood that the interest was not the undead itself, but whoever controlled it.

  A shiver ran down her spine. A necromancer was interested in her.

  Dorian exhaled slowly. “If that’s all, I’ll speak to her. What would she even do with a low-level lawyer anyway.”

  “I don’t think it’s her lawyer power that she finds interesting but alright then, we do as y—” the elf said before freezing mid sentence.

  “What. Something happened?” Dorian asked at once.

  Her gaze went distant, as though communing with something far away. When it returned, it burned with something new. Something vicious.

  “Yes,” she said with delight, her voice steeped in killing intent. “One of my babies might have found someone I recognize. If it really is him, I’m going to enjoy tearing that fucker apart.”

  Without sparing Ana or the others another glance, she walked past them, her body shifting once more in that monstrosity as she charged deeper into the facility.

  Left behind, Ana finally dared to breathe out loud. The suffocating pressure of that gaze was gone. She was not the only one to sigh. The man she called did as well, though his sigh sounded more of exhaustion rather than of relief.

  He approached Ana and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You exceeded expectations. Well done, Miss Annette. The Chairman did not exaggerate when praising your talent.”

  Before she could reply, he turned to the undead and gave a nod. A portal opened beneath their feet, swallowing them whole and depositing them into a place of endless white.

  “This is…” Ana murmured, realizing in that moment that the undead was the same one who had cast the portal she had seen closing beside Lydia when they first met.

  “This is most likely a pocket dimension,” she said after a moment. She lacked the artifact herself, but she knew inquisitors who used similar spaces to store objects. This place looked much like she had imagined.

  Under normal circumstances, being thrown into an unknown space would have terrified her. Compared to what they had just escaped, it felt almost comforting. She turned to Uta and Charmy, both visibly shaken and hollow eyed.

  The sight erased any lingering doubt about what she had agreed to do. She felt no guilt about erasing their memories of this place.

  “We’re safe now,” she started to say, but a sound behind her stopped the words short.

  She turned and felt her breath catch. Lydia looked smaller than Ana had ever seen her.

  “Lydia,” Ana said softly, stepping closer.

  Tears streamed down the girl’s face despite her clear effort to suppress them. Her eyes had lost their elven shape. The beauty mark near her mouth was gone. Along with her expression, it made her look like an entirely different person.

  “Are you alright,” Ana asked, reaching out.

  Lydia stared at her for a heartbeat, then collapsed into her arms. The restrained sob broke into a wail, raw and childlike, echoing through the white space. It reminded Ana of something Lydia had once said, that not so long ago, she had been nothing more than a village girl.