The heroes’ march continues without incident. For two days, they travel across the rural countryside. At night, they camp outside on the open plains. Without adequate cover from wandering beasts, none of the group members can find peace in their slumber. Occasionally, the roars of wild animals shake them awake, but none have attacked thus far.

On the third day, they arrive at the mountain range. The sun rises to its highest point, the green moon reflecting the light. “Listen up,” Cale says, commanding the other’s attention, “We’ve been tasked with scouting this mountain range. Our goal is to create a proper map and to make a note of the natural defensive positions on the mountain.”

Emily’s eyes shine with excitement as she observes the mountain range, “Finally, something new to explore. I’m tired of the dull forests and empty plains.” Since childhood, she had sought every adventure earth has to offer. She climbed the highest mountains and explored the deepest caverns. Her parents did not care what she did; they were too focused on their own selfish goals.

On Emily’s twentieth birthday, her parents were officially declared dead. They were missing for over a year, their bodies never to be found; they were victims of their own obsession. The loss of her parents further fuelled her desire to explore. By age twenty-three, she had nothing left to do. Alone in a mansion, the world’s wonders had failed to fill the hole in her heart, but then the Goddess came, offering her that which she most desired.

“Can I take the lead? I have some experience with mountain climbing,” she asks. “Alright, we’ll follow your directions,” Cale agrees, taking position behind her. They approach the mountain range, and Emily meticulously guides them towards a lower peak. Avoiding sharp inclines and loose terrain, they gradually make their ascent.

An hour passes as they finally reach the top, Eric complains through haggard breaths, “We need to take a break, I’m not build to climb mountains.” Emily laughs and says, “This is the lowest peak; we still have a long way to go.” Eric sighs in frustration; from far away, the mountain range seemed much more manageable.

“Everyone,” Mia says, gathering their attention, “I’ve found a cave on the other side of this ridge.” They walk towards her, the cave coming into view. “It might be a great place to set up camp and to recover our energy,” Mia suggests as she observes Eric with a concerned expression. “Let’s go,” Eric instantly agrees, the promise of shade tempting him.

“That’s a great idea,” Emily agrees, finding Mia’s suggestion reasonable. “Eric takes the lead. Everyone get into formation, I highly doubt the cave is unoccupied,” Cale orders. In formation, they march towards the cave entrance. The cave mouth and tunnel reach ten meters in height and width. The cave mouth is embedded into the side of a hundred-meter tall cliff. Strangely, it looks unnatural; it is perfectly circular, seemingly hand-carved, yet showing no evidence that tools were used.

They walk inside. The cave walls are perfectly smooth, showing no sign of erosion. A hundred meters in, the tunnel widens into a small room. Inside, twenty goblins stare with hostility; each of them is armed with rusted weapons and wearing mismatched pieces of armour—an incomprehensible shout echoes from the largest goblin, the rest charge in response. At a mere one meter tall, the goblins are akin to a pack of feral children.

The heroes, surprised by the goblins’ sudden charge, defend without hesitation. Before they can reach the group, Emily rapidly fires four arrows, killing a goblin with each one. Mia finishes her chant, a holy light, condensing on Eric’s shield. With practised precision, Eric embeds the shield’s bottom rim into the ground. With the shield as its centre, the holy light expands into a wide wall, reaching both sides of the room.

The goblin horde crashes into the holy shield, but Eric remains firm. Inch by inch, he’s forced back, but he doesn’t falter. Holy chants continuously flow from Mia’s lips, repairing the crack in the holy shield. “A hobgoblin is commanding them, we need to take him out first,” Emily says, observing the large goblin at the back. She’s rapidly firing arrows at the goblins, but they deflect each one.

“I’m on it,” Cale says, dashing out behind the shield. Moving at full speed, he dashes past the wall of goblins. Catching the hobgoblin off guard, he strikes its neck. The hobgoblin screams in pain, but it doesn’t die. A goblin turns towards the hobgoblin in shock, Emily seizes the opportunity, impaling its head with an arrow. “We’ll hold them off, just kill the hobgoblin,” Emily reassures, Cale nodding in response.

Blood flows from the deep cut in the hobgoblin’s neck, its actions becoming sluggish with each second that passes. Cale nimbly strikes at its ligaments, weakening it further. It roars in a rage, but Cale dodges its club. Its screams of pain distract two more goblins; their fate sealed as they turn their heads. Both Eric and Mia’s breath become heavy, the extended fight draining their energy.

“End this quickly, we’re reaching our limit over here,” Mia pleads, managing to kill another goblin. The hobgoblin is barely still standing. With his dagger in hand, Cale rushes at it. Sidestepping its club, he lands the killing blow, piercing its heart. The hobgoblin falls to the ground, a final scream escaping its lips.

The scream distracts the remaining goblins, providing Emily with an opportunity to finish them off quickly. An arrow pierces the final goblin’s heart, ending the fight. The bodies of dead goblins line the cavern room. The group searches the surroundings, scrounging up a handful of silvers, but nothing else worth any value. “Make sure to cut off every goblin’s ears, the guild has a standing bounty on each one we collect,” Cale says, instructing the group.

Inside the room, observing the group, Centum shakes his head in disappointment. He closes the leather book, turning his attention towards the cavern room. “The walls are covered with intricate markings, they’ve seemed to have faded from the passing of countless years,” he observes, walking closer towards the most intact carvings.

“This language isn’t native to this planet. I only recall a single book in the Library covering this language. Librarian Tribus, the second of his name, discovered the book in the ruins of a dilapidated temple located in wastes of a dried-up seabed. He managed to decipher the language, but its contents were nonsensical; it was filled with ramblings of doomsday prophecy, but it failed to mention any details,” Centum contemplates.

“Let’s see, the text is disjointed, and I can only make out a few words. It reads, ‘disaster’, ‘portals’, ‘conquer’ and ‘last’. I’ll make a note of this, it might be useful to my successor,” Centum decides, returning his attention towards the group of heroes.

The group cleans up the room, moving the goblin corpses to one side of the room. “Let’s camp out by the cave entrance, I’d rather not sleep next to pools of blood,” Eric suggests, his face scrunched up in disgust. Observing the pools of green goblin blood painting the floors, Cale reluctantly agrees, “Alright, we’ll camp at the entrance. It is much easier to defend it anyway. We still have a couple of hours of sunlight left, so we’ll scout the mountains until sunset.”

Having mapped out a decent portion of the mountain range, the group returns to the cave. “The cave went deeper than just that one room, shouldn’t we explore further?” Emily asks. “I wanted to, but the second I walked in deeper, past the goblin room, a cold feeling gripped my heart. Whatever’s down there, we should leave it alone. Besides, our mission is up here, not down there,” Cale says, denying her request.

The sunlight fades over the horizon. Just outside the cave, they make a campfire, its light casting ominous shadows on their surroundings. Just inside the cave mouth, the group makes themselves comfortable for the night. Behind them, Centum sits just a bit deeper, his white, metal tome open, meticulously recording his findings.

Hours pass, the night growing deeper. A freezing wind rushes from the cave’s depths, rousing everyone to their feet and blowing out their campfire. “What was that?!” Eric asks in concern, but no one answers his question. Centum also comes to his feet, an ominous feeling rising in his heart. “Something’s emerging from the cave depths, I can’t determine its strength,” Centum realises, his grip tightening on his metal tome. A strange feeling grips his entire body as he senses the being’s energy.

The heroes focus their attention on the impenetrable wall of darkness, hiding the cave’s depths; they can barely feel the presence of something emerging. The seconds pass like hours. From the depths, a translucent figure casting off a soft, ethereal light, emerges into their view. The figure, standing five meters tall, is blurry, making it almost impossible to identify its exact features. Robust muscles line its translucent body, but further observations are impossible.

“The heroes aren’t ready to fight this thing,” Centum realises, conflicting emotions forming in his mind. The figure comes to a stop, a mere five meters away from Centum. It ignores the heroes, its gaze focusing solely on Centum. “What is it looking at?” Eric asks with concern, the being’s powerful energy frightening him. “I have no idea, it’s just staring at a wall,” Cale replies, tightly gripping his dagger.

The figure beckons Centum to follow, but he remains locked in place. “It feels familiar, but I’ve never seen or met it before. I won’t follow it. I can’t abandon my duty,” Centum decides, shaking his head in response. The ethereal figure seems disappointed, its glow dimming. Without ceremony, the figure dissipates into the air, leaving the heroes confused. Centum’s thoughts are a mess as a multitude of question surface in succession.

Shaken by the event, the heroes struggle to sleep. At the break of dawn with bags under his eyes, Cale commands, “I want to finish our scouting today, I’d rather not spend another night here.” The rest nod in confirmation, a cold sweat forming on their backs as they recall the haunting figure and the suffocating power it radiated.

Throughout the morning, they navigate the mountain range, encountering a few beasts that are easily slain. With Emily’s expert navigation, they swiftly scout the entire region. “We did skim on a few parts, but this should be more enough to satisfy the quest requirements,” Cale says, studying the rough map, they drew of the mountain range.

His eyes focus on the setting sun, a sigh escaping his lips, “Unfortunately, we’ll be staying another night. It’s suicide trying to descend the mountain in the dark. We’ll camp outside the cave; hopefully, that thing doesn’t return.” The rest reluctantly follow, setting up camp outside the cave entrance.

Centum takes a seat at the cave mouth, his gaze seemingly penetrating the cave depths, “I can’t detect any sign of it, but I’m sure it’s down there.” He remains there the entire night, but the figure doesn’t return. Dawn breaks on the end of an uneventful night.

“Let’s go, we have a reward waiting to be collected,” Cale says, packing up his camping equipment. The rest follow suit, and within ten minutes, they’re ready to depart. Having gained some mountaineering experience, the group quickly descends the mountain. In half an hour, they reach the bottom of the mountain range. “I’m glad that’s done, mountains really aren’t my type of thing. Maybe, we should just go and kill all the demonic beasts and end this. After we’re done saving everyone, I’ll retire with my harem of princesses,” Eric comments, his thoughts wandering.

At the back, Emily snorts in response, slightly offended, “First, you don’t like mountains, and now you’re already thinking about retirement. If you don’t like this, then why did you even agree to the Goddesses summons?!” Unaffected by the insult, Eric replies simply, “I was stuck in a dead-end job with no way to pay off my student loans. Compared to that, this place is much better; at least in the way it was described to me.”

“Enough,” Cale reprimands, “Why you came here doesn’t matter, only the fact that you are here. Eric, if you don’t fix your attitude, you’ll lead us to an early grave.” The atmosphere sours as the group begins their three-day march back to Avalon. Centum follows behind them. His thoughts still stuck on the ethereal figure and its unknown purpose.