Chapter 101: The Forgotten Expedition

Chapter 101: The Forgotten Expedition

"They didn’t write anything after that."

Chloe turned the last sheet over again, hoping she missed something. The paper was blank. The ink had run out, or the writer had simply stopped. Either way, the log ended with that final warning.

Vesper looked toward the passage behind them, the one that led back to the staircase and the labyrinth above. Her grip on her staff was steady, but her eyes were cautious.

"So they turned back. They left the warning and went back up."

Sky shook his head slowly. He wasn’t convinced. Something about the camp didn’t match that idea. It was too quiet, too abandoned.

"Maybe," he said. "But if they turned back, where is the proof?"

He pointed toward the floor, at the thick layer of undisturbed dust near the entrance they had come from. The stone was covered in a fine grey powder that hadn’t been touched in years.

"There aren’t any footprints leading back to the staircase. If they left this chamber to go back up, we would see their tracks."

Chloe immediately looked down, her visor switching to a low-light tracking mode. She scanned the floor in both directions. The dust covering the stone floor was completely undisturbed in the direction of the exit. No drag marks, no boot prints.

Instead, the only visible tracks continued deeper into the ruins. Two sets of smaller human prints, and one set of larger, heavier prints with clawed toes. They all led toward the dark passage on the far side of the chamber.

Her expression hardened. She had been hoping for a simple explanation, but there wasn’t one.

"They didn’t return," she said quietly. "They didn’t go back at all."

The realization settled heavily over the chamber. It was one thing to read a warning from people who got scared and ran. It was another to realize those people kept going anyway.

Whoever had established this camp had eventually continued deeper. They had packed what little they could carry and left the rest. And they had never come back to collect it.

Sky slowly turned toward the dark passage. The air coming from it was colder, and it carried a faint, stale smell that wasn’t quite rot, but wasn’t clean either.

His Soul Clone suddenly returned. It emerged from the wall on his left, silent and translucent, and materialized beside him in a flicker of light.

Sky immediately sensed something through their connection. The clone was usually calm and empty, but now there was a faint pressure, like a headache being shared between them.

"What did you find?" Sky asked, his voice low. "Is it clear?"

The Soul Clone didn’t speak, it couldn’t. Instead it pointed toward the passage ahead, its translucent finger steady and pointing directly into the darkness.

Sky closed his eyes and placed a hand on its shoulder. The connection between them pulsed.

For a brief moment, its memories flowed through their connection. It wasn’t like watching a video. It was more like feeling what the clone felt. A flash of cold stone, of wide open space.

A large chamber, much bigger than this camp. Ancient ruins that were not just walls, but buildings. A massive structure in the center, half-collapsed but still imposing.

And something else, something that made even the clone hesitate.

A gigantic sealed gate. Taller than any door Sky had ever seen, made of the same dark metal as the terminals, covered in the same unknown symbols.

Sky opened his eyes, his breathing a little heavier. The image stayed in his mind.

"There’s something ahead," he said. "Not just more corridor."

Vesper immediately picked up her staff and raised it into a defensive position. Her holy light grew a little brighter.

"Another structure? A beast nest?"

"A gate," Sky replied. "A huge one. Sealed. The clone couldn’t get through it, but it saw it. It’s at the end of the next chamber."

Chloe secured the recovered records inside her inventory, sealing the metal container so it wouldn’t get damaged further. Her mind was already racing.

"Then that’s probably where they went," she said. "If you were looking for a castle and you found a sealed gate in the deep ruins, you would try to open it."

Sky glanced at her, one eyebrow raised.

"Probably? That’s not very certain for you."

Chloe shrugged, adjusting her visor with a small sigh.

"We don’t exactly have another lead. The tracks go that way, the clone saw a gate that way, and their map points that way. It’s the only direction that makes sense."

She activated her Forge Visor again, and the soft blue glow returned to her face. A faint blue projection appeared before her as she began analyzing the passage ahead, mapping its air flow and structural stability.

"Besides, if they were searching for the castle, this gate could be part of the route. Maybe it’s the outer wall. Or the entrance to the lower city." ℯℯ𝑙.

Sky looked back toward the abandoned camp one more time. He took in everything they had seen in the last few minutes.

Broken weapons leaning against the crates. Empty supplies that were left in a hurry. Old records that ended in fear.

And a warning left behind by people who had never returned, scratched into stone because paper wasn’t permanent enough.

Every instinct he had learned from years in the Dungeon told him they should turn around. Every rule of exploration said when you find a camp where people vanished, you mark it and go back for help.

But the mystery ahead was too important to ignore. It was pulling at him.

If those Awakened had really discovered a path toward an exit, a way out of this endless labyrinth that trapped everyone... then that knowledge was worth more than gold.

Then perhaps they had discovered something else as well. Something that explained why the Array was failing, why this place was so clean, why the castle was even here.

Something the Array didn’t want them to know. That thought had been in his mind since his visor started flickering.

Sky tightened his grip around the Blood Blade. The familiar weight of it steadied him.

"Let’s go," he said. "We check the gate. If it’s too dangerous, we come back. But we have to look."

Vesper nodded once, without hesitation. She trusted his judgment.

Chloe stepped beside him, already pulling up her scanning overlay so they could see traps before stepping on them.

"Stay close," she said. "If the Array interference increases again, I’ll let you know immediately. And if I see any energy spike, we run."

Sky raised an eyebrow at her, a small smile forming.

"You’re sounding confident. That’s new."

"I’m not confident," she said quickly, but there was a hint of determination in her voice now. "I’m just better prepared than I was before. I learned from the last time the Array cut out on us."

Sky gave a faint smile. He appreciated that.

"Fair enough. Let’s not get separated this time."

The three of them continued into the darkness, leaving the camp behind. Their footsteps echoed through the ancient passage, louder now that the chamber was behind them.

Clack.

Clack.

Clack.

The sound bounced off the perfectly smooth walls and traveled far ahead of them.

Behind them, the forgotten camp remained completely silent. The fire pit was cold, the blankets were still, and the crates kept their watch over nothing.

The words carved into the wall were the last trace left by those who had come before. A desperate message that had survived for years in the dark.

WE WERE HERE.

And somewhere beyond the ancient passage, past the ruins and the dust...

Another massive door waited for them.