The experiments in the domain went well, Alan discovered a lot o things and increased the size of his military as well. The only downside being Maxwell cursing him now and then. He didn’t know why Maxwell was vehemently cursing him so often.
‘What happened to him?’
Alan thought of his recent actions, but no matter what, he just couldn’t pinpoint the reason behind Maxwell’s foul mood. A few days passed, and the uproar on the internet calmed down, not that Alan cared about it.
Samantha had also woken up, Alan was elated to see that and immediately went to the room she was in, after hugging and crying he examined her with the help of his eyes. He noted that although she was fine, she was lethargic, extremely lethargic.
She seemed to be falling asleep more frequently, Lanesha told him her body just needed more rest, so he made a special room for her in the domain, guarded by his knights and beasts.
It was a useless measure, knowing that nothing could go inside his domain without his permission. However, even though he knew of it he still insisted on not leaving her alone, Hell, he even went to the measure of ordering his soldiers to play with her if she needed to.
The days passed, and Alan was informed that the expedition in the other world would start soon, he got ready and entered the world. The expedition was to march into the forest with the entire group.
The wellingtons and twilight got ready, and began the expedition after leaving behind a few personnel to guard the base, and the non-combatant, Maxwell.
The group ventured for quite a few days, taking rest stops to conserve their strength. Logan tried to keep Sabrina in the base too but failed miserably, The girl was…rebellious in this regard.
Alan could see Sabrina’s clear annoyance plastered on her face, it was amusing.
“What are you looking at?”
It was also scary.
‘Scary.’
He thought, as he turned his head and focused ahead, he could see the forest the others mentioned. The trees were as odd as described, having metallic spikes for leaves as well.
The blacksmiths back at the guild tried to melt the spikes but failed, the spikes burned like ordinary leaves. They left behind a black residue like tar, and no matter what the artisans back at Earth tried to do, they found out the only property it had was to act like a hard glue. The wood that was sent back was in the middle of being processed, although they did find out that the sap was an incredible adhesive, one that even awakened would struggle to separate.
The forest was now in clear view, Alan could see some stumps. It seemed as if those were the trees the Twilight hunters cut and brought back.
The party ventured inside the forest, and collected numerous plants along the way, anything they found that they could safely carry they did. This task was made easier with the help of Alan’s spatial equipment. All sorts of plants and fruits they found were stored there.
Alan scanned one of the fruits with his eyes and found out that they were edible. The fruit was in the form of a cone, and possessed an odd smell to it. It was a fishy smell, and it had pores throughout it’s skin. Alan gobbled the thing up, much to everyone’s shock, and let out a burp.
“Huh. Tastes like…oranges?”
The fruit tasted like oranges, though heavily salted. It made his tongue go sour very quickly, and he drank a bottle of water right afterwards. The rest of the group looked at him in shock. Kazikato, Richard and Sabrina just simply sighed, having expected such an action from him.
Disregarding his ‘experiment’. They ventured further into the forest, the types of trees did not change, and the metallic spikes were littered on the floor as they passed.
As if Autumn had descended on this part of the forest. The bark of trees looked dead as well. However, that was only a part of the forest. It turned lively once more.
Nothing happened, and they didn’t encounter any species as well, except for a few peaceful birds resting on the trees. They flew away immediately after they noticed the group.
They were fast as well, very fast.
“Huh?”
‘Thud!’
A member of the Wellington family stumbled on something and fell to the ground, he was able to collect himself quickly, and he coughed to hide his embarrassment.
The man had been so focused on what was ahead, he didn’t see the thing that caused him to fall present on the ground. Thinking it was just a root or piece of wood, he continued. But the rest told him to stop.
“What is it?”
He questioned, and looked back to the group, who were all staring at the ‘thing’ he stumbled on. It was a piece of stone.
Most of the stone was embedded in the ground, and the ‘sharp’ corner of it, eroded by time, was the only part of it above ground.
“It’s just a normal stone…?”
The hunter seemed confused, he thought everyone wanted to laugh at him, but the seriousness on their faces told him the opposite, he went closer and examined the stone. It looked like an ordinary piece of rock, but when he looked closer, he could find a small, small crevice in the stone. One very similar to the stones used to form pavements on Earth.
“Dig it up.”
Sabrina ordered as she went behind. The mages from the family used their skills to unearth the stone, and everyone silently observed them.
“… I was right.”
Sabrina muttered as the piece of stone was unearthed. It was as large as a human and was filled with hexagonal patterns.
It was very clear something made it. The stone seemed to be normal and didn’t possess any remarkable qualities, so the group stored it in their rings and continued. The trees in the surroundings lessened, and they soon came across an open space.
Well, to call it an ‘open’ space would be an understatement, they found a structure.
It was like a temple, but broken. Carved of stone and of gigantic proportions, vines and plants littered the entire thing. The temple had broken steps leading up to what appeared to be a stone platform. There was a roof, or what remained of it.
“I knew there was going to be something here…”
Alan muttered. It seemed as if there were structures in all the four directions. The forest one, however, seemed devoid of life.
Logan and Richard ordered the group to go forth, and they found themselves on the base of the structure. The steps that led up to it as tall as them. They had to climb to go up. .
Alan extended his hand to Sabrina, who grabbed it. He then lifted her up like she was a twig with one hand. The girl had an odd look on her face, as if this was humiliating. Alan simply snickered.
“You know you could do it yourself if you feel it’s embarrassing.”
“…”
Sabrina simply stayed quiet at the taunting until they reached the top, and then swiftly smacked his head with her staff. Although it had little to no effect.
The stone platform on top was empty, except for the wines that littered it, there were rooms in this giant platform, and a hole at the centre. The group explored the rooms and found straw dolls the size of humans, beds, and even weapons. The dolls were ruined beyond repair or recognition, whilst the weapons were too large and primitive for them to use.
The beds were covered with hide that had deteriorated and smelled like rotten flesh. They had maggots on them as well. Blood stains were present on the walls as well, appearing like some ancient drawing.
On closer inspection, it wasn’t blood, but was actually paint. There were clay pots in the corners of the room as well. The drawings were like claws, and spears.
Other than those, they found nothing else inside the rooms, all they could go was towards the centre of the platform. There were pillars around it, and it seemed as if there was a small roof above this hole as well. That had disappeared with the passage of time.
“So, Who wants to go in?”
Richard asked the group, in a joking manner. However, seeing the tense expressions on their faces made him think it backfired. He sighed and threw a heavy rock inside the hole, to judge its depth.
It took an entire two minutes for the sound of the rock falling to be heard.
The group decided to draw straws to decide who would go in first, and unfortunately for Alan, he lost.
“…”
“Oh come on, You can fly, you’re the best person for this job.”
Sabrina said from the back, taking her revenge.
Alan stayed silent as he jumped in without the rope, and unfurled his wings.
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