As soon as Alden stepped out of the tunnel, entering what appeared to be a small cavern, a crimson shine enveloped his surroundings.

Once the ominous glow had subsided...

A wave of alarm washed over Alden.

He found himself amidst a sea of bones.

There was no order to their chaos - it was as if someone, or something, had just strewn them haphazardly on the cavern floor. Some of the bones had turned yellow, crumbling to dust. Others, meanwhile, retained their natural appearance, as if protected from the passage of time.

Alden even saw strange, golden runes engraved on a few of the bones, their soft, golden glow giving off the impression that the bones had once belonged to a tribe of mythical, magical beasts.

That wasn’t what frightened Alden though.

Rather, the source of his terror lay in the empty, lifeless gaze he had accidentally met.

...Alden froze, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest.

The skeleton had its back propped against the cavern wall, one hand hanging limply by its side, as if trying and ultimately failing to put pressure on a wound that had once tore through its gut. Alden witnessed the same golden runes earlier engraved on its bones, etched around its empty eye sockets, arms and legs.

’What... is this place?’

Peering closer, the Keeper’s Apprentice noticed that the opposite cavern wall was actually a large set of double doors. Inscribed on their surface was another assortment of runes, albeit different in both quantity and composition.

Shifting his gaze further, Alden spotted a light fixture - a wooden torch - flickering softly, resting in an artificial stone sconce to the side. The flickering of the torch indicated that a draft of air was coming in from somewhere, but for the life of him, Alden could not discern from where.

It also didn’t help that he had observed what seemed to be dried blood coating the walls, as if the skeleton had a carved a message with the last of their lifeblood... hoping that someone would one day come across their remains and stumble onto their final warning.

At least, that was what it looked like to Alden.

’...Nothing good ever comes out of anything written in blood.’

Especially, in a such a secluded place, littered with bones.

Eventually, the young man shook off his apprehension, carefully navigating his way through the sea of remains, until he arrived near the skeleton. Then, taking a deep breath, Alden strained to read, or at least decipher what was written on the wall.

Based on the faded script, it had been quite a long time since the formation of the message.

That was without mentioning that it was a script that Alden didn’t fully recognise. It seemed to share some similarities with the way people wrote in the Sanctuary, but there was also some strange characters in there as well, as if it was an old, antiquated language belonging to a different era in time.

Still, Alden felt unwilling to give up.

Conscious that he couldn’t spend too much time gazing at the blood-soaked runes, he squinted, forgetting all about his tired mind.

"Beware..."

Alden gleaned the first word, after some time.

"Of..."

Then, the second.

"What..."

The third involved some guesswork.

"Lies..."

The fourth was more difficult.

"Beneath..."

Whilst the fifth was much more challenging.

"The..."

The sixth was fine.

The last two, though...

’Huh?’

Alden blinked.

The last two were strange, possessing different meanings, all related to the concept of ’Fire’.

Alden continued to stare at the blood-soaked rune. The more time he spent studying it, the closer he felt like he was to deciphering.

However, just then, the Keeper’s Apprentice rubbed his eyes, a pulsing headache splitting his skull.

Suddenly, Alden grew wary.

Was the headache a result of him overexerting his tired mind, or was it a byproduct of some other mystical phenomenon triggered by understanding the last rune?

If the last rune did indeed possess a mystical side-effect, then it was imperative for Alden not to discover what it meant.

...After all, nothing good ever came out from knowing what you should not.

Especially since Alden was still an [Adept].

The dire consequence of stumbling on a piece of knowledge he was not yet ready to learn, and what it could do to his mind... caused the white-haired young man to shiver.

Cold sweat slid down Alden’s back. A sense of nervous apprehension gripped him.

His breathing started to grow shallow...

Alden bit the inside of his cheek, snapping himself out of his fear-induced daze. He suppressed a shudder, his gaze drifting back towards the blood-soaked runes one final time.

They seemed to be calling to him.

Inviting him.

...Reaching for him.

Alden hurriedly stepped back. In the process, he had inadvertently stepped on a yellow bone, crushing it.

The sound thundered within the cavern, rolling across its small, near-silent expanse like a shock-wave. Alden flinched. A few loose rocks fell from the ceiling, and for a horrible moment, he feared it would cave in.

However, thankfully, that did not happen.

’This damn creepy place.’

Alden cursed.

An anxious pit formed in his stomach.

He remained motionless, inhaling deeply to regain his composure. After his breathing had returned to normal and his nerves had somewhat settled, the Keeper’s Apprentice turned around, preparing to leave.

However, at the last moment, he paused.

Alden cast a furtive glance towards the mystical skeleton from the corner of his eye.

He couldn’t shake off the feeling that the skeleton had once been an important figure in the past. Something about the golden runes, the large double doors and their warning soaked in blood...

’If I’m still alive in the future, I’ll return once I’m stronger.’

Alden clenched his fist, suppressing his curiosity.

...That was the only option he had. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

As the flames of a deep desire for strength burned in his heart, the Keeper’s Apprentice left the cavern, heading back towards the Salamander’s Den.

Meanwhile, the skeleton’s lifeless gaze continued to stare out into empty space.

In the flickering, eerie, torchlight, the golden runes engraved on their figure gleamed.

Then, the glow faded...

Leaving behind a single, frantic message:

"Beware Of What Lies Beneath The Great Pyre."