Riven dried his eyes and lowered his hand from his chest. He opened his palm, stared at the pendant, and said quietly.
"This proves everything…"
The stone inside the pendant was called the binding stone. Once someone drops blood on the binding stone, it starts to glow faintly for as long as the person is alive.
He clearly remembered his dad bringing them the binding stone — not as jewelry but as a tool to know if they were safe in this cruel world.
But his sister loved the stone's glow so much that, after pouring blood on it, she set it into a pendant and wore it as jewelry, never letting anyone keep it to confirm whether it was safe.
However now it served its purpose of letting the keeper know that she was still alive and safe.
But a question arose in his head.
"But where is she?"
He had no idea where she was. As far as he knew, every single human that was alive was taken to Vrekhar base to work as slaves.
However, he had spent months there carefully observing everything so if she was there, he would certainly know.
She wasn't there, that was sure but it was the only place he knew of to gather information.
Riven stood up, put the pendant inside his pockets, and mumbled.
"I guess it's time to leave then."
*****
Riven walked across the riverbank and as he did, he came across human bones. His expression remained unchanged as he walked past them.
He glanced at the river, as the orange sunlight of the setting sun hit the water, the water looked even more crimson red. And at the bottom of the river, he saw the countless skeletons of humans resting on the river floor.
Then he ignored it and continued walking. When he was just a few dozen away from the waterfall, he saw Null, Gravitor and Forest Princess near the waterfall.
Null was staring directly at the entrance of the tunnel while Gravitor tried to start up a conversation with Forest Princess who just smiled at him.
And when they noticed him, no one spoke immediately except Forest Princess — who got up and started to wave at him.
"What took you so long? If you were just a little more late, I was going to find you, which obviously won't end well for you."
Riven didn't reply, instead he walked past all of them, then he jumped straight towards the towering walls of the mountain and grabbed onto it.
Then he said loudly, his voice echoing through everyone's ears who was present.
"Let's go… I have no time to waste."
Then Null's voice resounded through his ears.
"Stop… what are you doing?"
Riven turned around, halted climbing, and said.
"I am going to the entrance of the tunnel… this is what you guys wanted right? Help you navigate the Vrekhar base."
Null nodded his head slightly and said.
"You seem very eager to visit — but a few hours ago you had no desire to help us. You were only doing it because we forced you."
Riven replied in a flat tone.
"Well, things have changed completely for me."
Null didn't speak immediately. A heartbeat later, he said.
"You should have waited a bit — there is a much safer and faster way to reach the tunnel."
Riven raised his eyebrows and asked.
"And what might that be?"
Null turned towards Gravitor who was sitting near the Forest Princess, and said.
"You know what to do? Right, Gravitor."
Gravitor got up, then the aura started to leak out from his body completely engulfing Gravitor from top to bottom.
Then he touched four boulders near him and his aura swept deep into them. They began to float and one of them rushed towards Riven.
Null, Forest Princess, and Gravitor stepped onto the boulder and began to ascend. Within seconds they were above him.
When it drew within inches, Null's voice came from above.
"Step on it."
Riven said nothing. He released the mountain wall and landed on the boulder as it continued upward. As he stood on the floating piece of rock which was ascending higher and higher. Gravitor asked from above him.
"Where is your wolf kid?"
He turned towards Gravitor and said.
"I have sent him to a safe place."
Gravitor glared at him and said.
"You fool that wolf could have been so useful in our mission."
Riven fell silent — he could summon the wolf and Archer back at any time but of course they didn't need to know that. It was best to keep it a secret.
Riven kept staring at the entrance of the tunnel as he got closer. Then Null's voice echoed through his ears.
"How did you get to know about this tunnel?"
Riven didn't immediately reply. A few seconds later, he said.
"Dozens of Vrekhar soldiers had used this exact path to invade our town."
Null's voice became grim as he said.
"So that means the Vrekhars know about it."
Riven didn't panic; instead, he calmly said.
"They found out that the tunnel is the nest of a powerful Awakened beast. So no one resides in the tunnel."
Null fell completely silent while Gravitor glared at him intensely and said.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
Riven shrugged and said.
"Well I thought that since you guys are so powerful, it would be easy for you to kill it"
Null added a heartbeat later.
"Before everyone enters, we need to confirm the initial premise is safe to enter. Who is going?"
Riven turned his face around, he had no intention of being used as bait so he remained silent and didn't even face them.
Just then, he heard Forest Princess's enthusiastic voice.
"Me! Me! Me! I want to see that beast and rip out its brains."
Null turned towards Gravitor and said.
"First lift her to the entrance."
Gravitor nodded then all the rocks that they were standing on froze mid-air while Forest Princess continued ascending towards the entrance.
When the rock was at the same level as the entrance, she jumped inside. Then they waited under the darkness of the night and the sound of water falling into the river.
A few minutes later, Riven saw Forest Princess waving at them and shouting.
"The tunnel is safe to enter."
Then Null signaled Gravitor to lift them. Immediately, they started to ascend, stopping when they were at the same level as the entrance.
Riven jumped onto a ledge along with everyone else. Immediately, the rock fell and slammed into the river with a loud splashing sound.
He stared into the entrance. He couldn't see anything due to how dark it was inside.
"How the hell did she even navigate inside?"
And before they could even enter the tunnel, a low sound rolled through the air too deep to be a growl, yet too jagged to be anything natural.
It didn't echo. It clung to the surroundings, vibrating through the ground and crawling up his spine.