Chapter 54: The Tomb of Humming

"Dark and Light? Boy you should have just called them black and white at this point! You boys have no creativity when it comes to names!" Sammy was absolutely furious with the names Arcos, now Pygmy by his code name, had chosen for his pair.

It was a simple name, one that the two owls liked quite a bit.

But they were too direct, too simple. Why must a black owl be called Light and a white owl be called Dark? It was so strange...

"Darling it’s a name. It’s his right to choose whatever name he wants for his familiar beasts. Besides, you shouldn’t judge someone just because of their naming sense." He looked at her pitifully, as if reminding her everyone has their own flaws.

The names that Arcos gave weren’t all that bad either. He liked it as well so he caressed her head as the party watched the two birds going inside of Arcos’ body for the first time.

"Ah. That felt chilly..." A shiver ran down his spine as he felt the unfamiliar sensation.

They were inside of him now, which didn’t make sense at the first glance but it was also pretty unique.

He felt them inside of him. Around his heart to be specific.

They were moving. The heart was their home. Maybe it wasn’t the organ itself but that area was certainly where they were now making their nest.

They’d soon finish building the nest. Perhaps, he would feel more at ease when that happens.

"You better hold on for the next few hours. They should be done soon." Lily advised him and guided him as he closed his eyes to channel his energy.

When someone forms a bonding contract with a being of nature, they give them access to what they are, allow them to influence their minds and bodies, and become one with their spiritual cores.

The bonding can happen with any being of nature, so it is considered one of the most sacred things in one’s life. Life of the beast and the master becomes tied after the bonding. And so do their deaths.

"Anyways, enough chitchat." Andrew brought them back to their senses as they reached the library study area that Sammy uses.

There, standing before a peculiar bookshelf filled only with books with silver covers, they waited and asked the boy a new question.

"Have you heard about the Continental Teleportation scroll?" Beth asked the confused boy who was looking at the books with an interested look in his eyes.

"Hmm? I have, yes. They are rare items you find in old dungeons, right?" They were pretty famous.

Being able to go anywhere you want with a single item makes it sound so magical, right? There’s a lot of energy required to activate this item but if you can go from one part of the world even at a one way trip cost, wouldn’t the adventure be amazing?

People idealised the item, but those who had read about it knew well just how amazing the item was.

Arcos had also read a lot about this item. But now that he was looking at this bookshelf, along with the question that was asked to him, he got a strange feeling about this whole thing.

"Wait..." he looked at the books closely, at the thin magical energy that was surrounding each one of them. "Do you mean all of these...?"

He was stunned even though he had seen a lot of unexpected things these past few days.

An item like that was no normal thing. He knew the last one that had made public appearance a decade ago had gone for an astronomical value.

Someone wanted to go to the other end of the world even though they had no idea where they would end up or what they would find there.

They spent everything they had... Now that person is considered the greatest explorer alive.

"These are certainly rare. But, they weren’t made to travel to random locations." Sammy picked out one of the books as she conjured different frequencies of magical energy she extracted from a Mana Crystal in her other hand.

These frequencies created a loop around her hand, dancing in ways that were unique in its own right.

"You start off with a destination." The pages of the silver book started flipping as a circle of light appeared underneath their feet.

They watched as the frequencies around her hand started vanishing as more and more circles started appearing under them.

The circles weren’t uniform though. They made a certain shape that resembled the shape of some atom’s orbit. However, as it changed further, the shape started resembling an unconventional magic circle.

"Looks cool, right?" As someone who was especially interested in magic and magical phenomena, this stunned Arcos.

He watched her with great attraction. And with time, the silver book had vanished from his hand completely.

The Mana crystal was also gone, and she seemed to he done with whatever she was doing.

-Oooooooooooong!

Underneath them, the magic formation started glowing in an iridescent charm. Then there was an explosion of light that blinded them with its sudden appearance.

"Huh!?" There was a young gasp as their surroundings changed from that of a library to a vast hallway made of long sandy stones.

Carved finely, the place was made immaculately with olden crafting. It was a recollection of the minds and ’love’ of the old minds of that time.

"Where...?" Arcos could not tell where this place was. However, he was certain that this was an old site that wasn’t of the modern era.

The carvings on the walls should have suggested some culture, but it did not. They were so old that even an expert of old texts like him was seeing them for the first time.

It was strange... but the stranger were the hundreds of small statues that were located all around this room.

They gave off a weird feeling. And it seemed like each and every one of them were also looking at him.

"Where is this?" He asked with genuine concern, sticking close to Sammy as they walked forward towards the only gate, an abyss of darkness, present on the wall before them.

"You won’t find it on the map, so don’t think much about it. These idols are also possessed by spirits so feeling uneasy is a given."

Saying it so casually didn’t make it any better for him. If anything, knowing these things were possessed by a spirit only gave them a weirder sensation.

He looked around as they passed through the deep black door, the statues turning their heads to watch him with different emotions.

As they went inside the door, a dark passage devoid of any light followed. It made the passage seem more sinister and the boy had to clench the other’s hands as tightly as he could.

He was not afraid of the dark. Here, he was afraid of getting lost in this strange, creepy darkness.

Soon, however, light appeared in the distance... and his heart found some comfort.

He walked towards the light, his surroundings becoming more and more quiet.

His grip on the bigger hand tightened as well.

He was walking towards the light. Walking, walking, and walking further towards it. But he did not reach that light even though he had been walking for over twenty minutes.

Then, he noticed something strange.

The silence.

Quiet.

Why weren’t the rest of them speaking?

Why couldn’t he hear their breathing, their heartbeats?

It was only then that he realised something...

"..."

Since earlier, what he was holding didn’t feel like a hand of flash and muscle. It wasn’t warm like it should have been.

This hand was cold. Too bony for a mage, swordsmen, or someone who worked with materials.

This strange feeling and sensation on his hand were that of a non living entity.

[ "So you finally noticed?" ]

A soul chilling voice spoke to him, asking him a question in a tone that looked down on his entire existence thoroughly.

At the same time, with all his might, the prince looked up to see whose ’hand’ he was holding exactly... only to lose a heartbeat when he saw what can only be described as one thing: an undead.

A walking corpse with half of its head chewed, one eye missing in the gory socket, and its flesh rotting.

At the same time, Arcos realised that the reason he wasn’t leaving the hand that he had been holding was not because he was scared alone.

He simply could not release his fingers wrapped around the hand. They were glued to the rotten organ.

[ "You came here for a Relic without knowing who this place belongs to, huh? They sure know how to keep things from one of their own." ]

The ghastly voice was worse than the darkness, worse than the eyes of those statues outside.

As he listened to it more, he felt it in his bones. He felt the betrayal. He felt the way those people had tricked him once again.

This wasn’t just a place where they stored their weapons and relics. This was a Tomb!

The one speaking to him was obviously a Demonic Spirit. A natural evil creature that manifests only in the tombs of powerful individuals.

He wasn’t in some ancient site. This is a deathbed!

[ "Hmm. A smart one, aye? Well well well~." ]

The darkness that covered him on all sides vanished, and the boy found himself standing in the middle of a big room, surrounded by the same zombie undead that he had been holding onto since earlier.

He was by himself here. Under the watch of the owner of this place...

[ "We formally welcome you to the Tomb of Humming! Survive and you shall find what you have come for!" ]

He was surrounded by enemies now.

And with whatever few things he had learned, he will have to survive this new hell.