The Belvuch Mountains were already so close that they blocked the entire view to the north, even though it would still take a few hours to reach the foothills.
For the first time since leaving Fordurn, the group encountered a considerable number of people traveling on the roads, most of them were merchants transporting their goods in wagons.
Because of this, Shiina and Sariel had to maintain a constant illusion to alter their appearance, as they had exposed themselves too much on the journey so far.
After a while, the group arrived at a fork in the road. There were three paths, one leading to the left, with the sign 'Silver Mountains'; another to the right, with the sign 'Eribur'; and the last one leading directly to the foot of the mountain range, with the sign 'Belvuch Mines,' which was the most damaged and unused road.
"Shall we go left?" asked Raymond.
"No, let's go to the Belvuch Mines," replied Aegreon.
Without waiting for a response, the Pillar guided his horse toward the mountain range, while the other travelers cast curious glances at the group.
"Are you sure? We won't be able to climb the mountains; there are no roads for horses." Raymond followed Aegreon.
"The direct route to the Silver Mountains has a large Vigil presence because it is busy and takes you to where one of the Pillars lives. That's why we'll go through the mines. Besides, this route is faster to the Silver Mountains and avoids the Vigil."
So, the group followed the rough road toward the mines, with vegetation considerably obstructing the way.
"Why is the road so poorly maintained when it's a mine?" asked Luna. "There should be a lot of traffic."
"The Belvuch mines were closed about ten years ago," explained Sariel. "Despite being the largest mine in the world, there were many disappearances of anyone who ventured too deep into them, even in large groups with guards. Eventually, the upper levels were completely depleted, and since there would only be more in the deeper, dangerous parts, they had to close them."
"But didn't the Vigil try to do anything? Abandoning such a rich mine would be a waste."
"In previous meetings, the Council has been discussing investigating the mines, but we have bigger problems right now."
"It doesn't seem like a very inviting place for us," said Luna. "Are you sure it's a good idea?"
"So, the little princess is afraid of the dark?"
"Relax, whatever is there can't be more dangerous than what we've already faced," said Sariel. "But do you happen to know which way to go, Aegreon?"
Upon hearing that question, the Pillar snorted. "There's probably a map in the houses of the former residents."
"So, we'll just have to rely on luck, huh?"
After that conversation, everyone focused on the road ahead as the mountain range slowly drew closer.
*****
After about an hour, the terrain began to steepen when the group came across abandoned houses. Decades ago, thousands of workers lived there with their families, but with the end of mining activities, it was now just a ghost town.
Taverns where workers would drink after long hours of work were completely silent, forges where equipment was restored had cold furnaces, and the carts that transported raw materials from the mine were empty.
Before heading to the nearest entrance to the mine, the group searched in some buildings for any maps or information about the tunnels, finding some old maps that would help them on their journey.
After that, they took a short break to rest and eat, and then finally entered the mines.
As soon as they approached, the horses began to get agitated, but Sariel and Luna calmed them down without any problems.
As expected, it was pitch black, but both Sariel and Luna were able to use Alteration magic to create a small sphere of light that would illuminate the path. Fortunately, the corridors were wide enough for horses to pass through.
"According to the map and this sign, we should take the path on the right," said the traveler as he studied the map.
Following his directions, the group walked through the wide tunnels for hours, and soon Luna lost all sense of time and depth, not knowing whether they were going up or down, or if it had already gotten dark.
All along the way, the princess felt as if she were being watched, looking back every time she felt it, but finding nothing.
Eventually they stopped sleeping, as night had fallen. Luna couldn't even tell how Sariel and Aegreon were able to distinguish this, but it wasn't so absurd considering their abilities.
Luna closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but the feeling of being watched became more intense, causing her growing discomfort.
Eventually, the feeling became so strong that she couldn't help but feel that something terrible was about to happen.
Unable to ignore this discomfort any longer, she opened her eyes and looked around, seeing only darkness.
The feeling of being watched gradually subsided until it disappeared, giving her the opportunity to try to sleep again.
She closed her eyes, but the feeling returned shortly after, although it did not grow as it had the last time.
Luna waited several minutes to make sure that feeling would not grow, and since it did not increase, she fell asleep after a long time.
While she slept, the feeling of being watched began to grow again, until she felt that something was about to attack, causing her to wake up in a jump.
As soon as she looked around, she noticed Sariel sitting calmly while playing with his light.
However, the horses seemed slightly nervous.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
"Ah... I felt something strange... Did you feel it too?"
"Yes, but don't worry, I'm on guard."
"Okay..."
Once again, the princess fell asleep, and this time the feeling did not return.
In the morning, or what was probably morning, Luna was awakened, and everyone had a quick breakfast and set off.
Eventually, the group arrived at a path blocked by rocks.
"Tsk! We'll have to take the long way around," complained Shiina.
"Yes, we'll have to go down..." said Sariel.
"How deep will we go?" asked Luna.
"It's still within the mapped levels, but deeper than that will take us to the areas where the disappearances probably began."
Remaining alert, the group began to descend, and the feeling of being watched grew stronger the deeper they went. The horses also began to get nervous.
Luna was the first to sense this and kept glancing back, which caught Shiina attention, who asked if she was really that afraid of the dark, but eventually even she began to glance cautiously behind her.
This time, everyone began to feel the same thing, although Sariel and Aegreon remained calm and indifferent.
As they walked, Shiina suddenly turned around and threw a small sphere of wind into the darkness, the sound of the wind echoed through the corridors until it collided with a wall and reverberated.
"What's the matter?" Luna asked in a mischievous tone she had never used before. "Are you afraid of the dark?"
"I'm not... That was..." she stuttered, caught off guard by the princess's provocation. It even reminded her of Sariel's behavior, perhaps because she had spent so much time with him that she had begun to acquire some of his annoying personality.
When the traveler heard this, he just laughed.
"So, you felt it too?" asked Raymond.
"What's going on?"
Everyone remained silent, waiting for whatever it was to approach again, when Sariel suddenly dashed forward into the darkness and grabbed something in the air.
However, even though he was using enough strength to make it impossible to escape, the creature slipped through his hand as if it were made of liquid and disappeared.
Noticing this movement, the princess's eyes flashed brown as she searched for her opponent's aura, spotting a faint, flickering purple blur in the darkness.
Before the creature could get away, the traveler created another sphere of light that emitted a flash bright enough to illuminate the corridor for dozens of meters.
And what they saw was something... strange.
The creature that attacked them was a shadow.
It was not a camouflage made by Illusion magic, nor was its body naturally dark. The creature was humanoid in shape and literally made of darkness, as if a person had lost their own shadow.
There were no shapes indicating limbs, facial features, or anything else, just a pair of bright purple dots floating on the dark silhouette.
The moment it was hit by Sariel's light, the creature began to melt and wither away.
Realizing this, the traveler increased the power of his light.
As its silhouette became increasingly liquid, its body diluted and reduced to a dark puddle on the ground, which eventually evaporated.
Not even a cry of pain was emitted by that creature.
"What the fuck was that thing?" asked Sariel. "It was as if I grabbed something that didn't exist."
"Have you never seen anything like this before?"
"No... but I'm impressed by how weak it was..."
"Maybe it's a low-threat creature," Raymond replied. "It seems weaker than a human since a simple light killed it, so it must ambush its victims in the dark."
"Could this thing be the reason for the disappearances?" Luna asked.
"Only if there are thousands of these things here."
"What are we going to do?" asked Shiina.
"Let's continue on our way," replied the Pillar. "Even if there are many of them, they are weak and die in the light, so they pose no danger to us."
Continuing their exploration with renewed caution, the group descended deeper and deeper into the mines. As expected, they were attacked several times by the shadows, but a small flash of light was enough to kill them.
When they finally reached the place where they would climb back up, they found another collapsed corridor.
"Are you kidding me?" complained Shiina. "Now what?"
"Hmm... anywhere from here leads deeper, to an uncharted area of the map," said Sariel. "We can't go back since all the other routes are blocked, so should we go down?"
"Why don't we just break these rocks once and for all?" asked the assassin.
"Risky," replied Aegreon. "We could cause another collapse. Let's go down."
So, the group was forced to go deeper and deeper.
Along the way, they were attacked by more and more groups of shadows, but Sariel's light killed them instantly.
After a few hours, they arrived at a large circular open area, almost as wide as the pyramid of Scorched Mountain.
Looking around, there was a circular marble platform on the floor with drawings of angels flying around the circle, all pointing to the center, where there was a kind of a white cylindrical altar.
In addition, there were three large statues of angels about fifteen meters tall, with eyes made of some reflective brown material and in an attentive stance, holding stone spears and looking at the altar.
In addition, there were dozens of other angel statues about two meters tall wielding steel weapons and located on the floor, walls, and even the ceiling.
There were also statues of what appeared to be dragon cubs, with bodies larger than a rhinoceros, but without wings.
As soon as the group saw that place, they were sure they had found a sanctuary of angels, an entrance at least, and that it was definitely special.