34 34-Down to the Void Pt.3

"Yes! Let's wait for him." Lord Prestonheim confirmed.

"Him?" Servus 132-X whispered to himself.

The sun's heat felt like a mother's warm embrace, in contrast to the cold breeze that prickled his skin earlier. Servus 132-X welcomed its rays of light like a glimmer of hope in the darkness of his despair. The warmth calmed his cold hands and shivering nerves and at the very least has put his mind at ease.

"Servus 132-X, come forth." Lord Prestonheim commanded.

He turned around and walked towards the commander.

Lord Prestonheim sounded like a proper commander compared to that jovial old man that had a booming laugh inside the tent. Servus 132-X thought of it as his façade towards his other men who still despised the idea of a slave doing their job for them.

Servus 132-X would be more than happy to swap places with them. If some of these knights wanted it so bad for their own gain, they were more than welcome to oppose. However, they're afraid to do so. It's a combination of fear from entering the dark unknown and the wrath of their beloved commander that's stopping them.

The Commander might have the biggest smile one could possibly see from a general, but as every general goes, there was a hint of ferocity in his eyes—something you don't want to unleash no matter what.

Servus 132-X knew about that. He's met a lot of Lord Prestonheim's in his lifetime. The battle-hardened old man who jests a lot but kills just as much while wearing the same grin on his face. He confirmed that when the old Commander just let out a crippling energy pressure the night prior. It was something else for Servus 132-X. It felt like the old commander could easily kill down a xedecima unit if he wanted to.

Lord Prestonheim mumbled something from his breath while Tristam handed him a sharp dagger. Servus 132-X flinched at the sight of it. The surrounding men suddenly grabbed their swords in retaliation from the jittery slave.

"STAND DOWN!" The Commander enraged by his men's action. "Knights should be calm no matter the situation! CALM YOUR NERVES!" Lord Prestonheim scolded his men before drawing his attention back to Servus 132-X.

"I didn't know you were that jittery." Lord Prestonheim joked albeit wearing a stern face.

"I'm sorry, my Lord." Servus 132-X bowed to show respect and to show the Commander's knights that he was sorry for his ignorant action. "I-I was surprised by the blade in your hand."

Lord Prestonheim smirked, trying to suppress a booming laughter. "I should have told you sooner." He pricked his finger with the sharp edge, letting a small droplet of blood out from the wound. "I need you to stay still while I adjust your collar." The commander dabbed his blood into the collar, writing something over the black cold metal.

After writing something on the metal, the collar began to glow. Servus 132-X cannot see it from its position, but he could see light emanating from his neck where his collar is. Suddenly his body felt a surge of energy flowing inside him. The warm feeling felt uncomfortable at first, as it travelled all over his body to the tips of his fingers.

His body pulsated, and his muscles twitched subtly as the energy began to settle down inside his body. The experience left him sweating and breathing heavily. He looked at Lord Prestonheim whose stoic face never batted an emotion throughout his entire ordeal.

Servus 132-X confused and amazed at the same time asked the Commander what just happened. "What was that? Why do I feel lighter than I was moments earlier?"

"I told you, I made adjustments with the collar." Lord Prestonheim answered monotonously, "That should release some of your exousia for you to utilize." He handed Servus 132-X a rune.

Servus 132-X looked at the rune. He recognized it as fire rune, the same one he had on his satchel. He looked at Lord Prestonheim with a confused look on his face. "My Lord, what am I to do with this?"

Lord Prestonheim looked at him and commanded, "Light it on fire using your exousia."

"H-how would I do that?"

Lord Prestonheim glanced at Tristam. The young knight understood this and proceeded to take one of his runes and show it to Servus 132-X.

"So, you basically make the rune light up by using some of your exousia. You need to make the exousia travel towards your fingertips and out into the rune. Like so…" Tristam held the rune in between his forefinger and thumb before rubbing it slightly. All the sudden, the rune was ablaze.

After putting out the fire, Tristam encouraged him to do it himself. "You try, Servus 132-X!"

Servus 132-X focused himself into the rune. He closed his eyes and felt the exousia flowing all over his body. He felt heat coursing over his veins racing towards the tip of his fingers. As he opened his eyes the rune began to feel warmer, then it ignited into a violent burst of flame.

The release surprised all the onlookers and even Servus 132-X who threw it into a puddle to extinguish it. He looked around him and saw all of them, including his comrades' mouth ajar in awe with what they saw.

"WHOA! THAT WAS—" Tristam exclaimed as his excitement was uncontainable.

"Amazing." Lord Prestonheim interrupted his knight as he regained his composure. "And all in one try. I commend you for that." The Commander nodded at Servus 132-X with the same stoic look on his face.

The slave bowed to him as he met the Commander's eyes. They were bursting with excitement and joy, but frustratingly unable to express it in front of his men.

Moments past and the commotion had finally died down and still there was no sign of that final item they were waiting for. The sun was already setting high up in the sky. It's already close to Midday and still no sign of it.

Lord Prestonheim grew impatient as time went by. Servus 132-X stood there silently as he waited for this item to arrive. He prayed in his mind that whatever that thing was, it should have arrived already. He was itching to get this over with.

The Commander finally lost his cool demeanor and ordered one of his men, "You there, good Ser! Check Servus 305-M and tell him to—"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Servus 305-M popped out from the crowd, pushing the soldiers out of his way. "Sorry I was late! I overslept."

It was obvious how annoyed the Commander was at the slave but decided to turn a blind eye, skip what was potentially a long litany and get the expedition going.

"Good that you're here! Where is it? Oh! Is that it?" Lord Prestonheim asked the red-haired slave while pointing at a cloth-wrapped object the slave brought with him.

Servus 305-M smirked and unwrapped it, revealing a pickaxe with a pale blue glow, like that of the Commander's blade.

"Here it is, my creation. This is no ordinary pickaxe." Servus 305-M bragged as he handed it over to Lord Prestonheim. "This pickaxe was made to mine adamantite, one of the hardest stones in the world. I tweaked it and put some aetherite on it to make—"

"Okay, that's enough." Lord Prestonheim grabbed the pickaxe from his hand and gave it to Servus 132-X. "So, basically this should be enough to break an Aetherium for mining. Take some samples of it for proof." The Commander explained.

Servus 132-X was about to reply to the Commander when the crazy red-haired slave interrupted him.

"H-hey you inter—" Servus 305-M tried to spat at Lord Prestonheim.

The annoyed Commander laid his hand into Servus 305-M's frail shoulder and glared at him, "You were late, and we will waste our precious time with your long bragging. We do not have time for that."

"B-But—"

"I don't want to hear your buts so move aside and do not interrupt!" Lord Prestonheim's eyes penetrated directly into Servus 305-M's soul. The red-haired slave slowly moved away back into the crowd; his shoulder slumped in disappointment.

After that short interlude, Lord Prestonheim went back to conversing with Servus 132-X for his final instructions.

"Servus 132-X, I, Lord Prestonheim of the 5th Batallion hereby order you to explore the burrow and obtain evidence of this rock you have spoke of! Do you have any objections?"

"Nay, my Lord!" Servus 132-X replied while bowing. "I shall deliver you an evidence of Aetherium, for the Principalia." He added that battle-cry at the end to make it appealing to the onlooking knights.

Servus 132-X reached out from his pocket and gave Lord Prestonheim the piece of Aetherium he had as a collateral. "My Lord, I offer you this, as my promise and collateral. I hope it serves you well."

Lord Prestonheim nodded, "It shall."

Servus 132-X approached the burrow where his comrades and some knights were waiting. The dwarf tied the rope securely to his waist. A knight checked it to make sure that it was firmly wrapped around him, to avoid unwarranted accidents. The knight nodded to Lord Prestonheim affirming its stability.

Before he was hoisted down to the burrows. He made a quick huddle with his comrades; some knights went on and listen just in case they were planning something diabolical.

"Lad, may the grace of the goddess give yah strength!" The dwarf patted his back.

"May the goddess Oyue, show her mercy to you! C-comeback alive!" The beastman said.

The elf handed him over a small bag. "It's food!" she relayed to the dwarf, "I made it with the blessing from the goddess. Comeback to us in one piece!" she signed.

Servus 132-X got overwhelmed by their kind words. He breath in deep, summoned his courage and said, "I will comeback, alive and well. I will comeback with your freedom on hand."

"My Lord, I am ready." He declared to the Commander.

"Hoist up!" Lord Prestonheim commanded.

Slowly, Servus 132-X is lifted from the ground with the help of his comrades and some knights who held him at the other end of the rope.

"Descend!" the Commander finally gave the order.

As they lowered him down to the darkness of the burrow. His sense of dread slowly returned. As he went deeper into the unknown, his despair gradually swallowed him inch by inch. Servus 132-X's fear surfaced and now, began to realize how foolish his plan was.

Cold sweat slowly dripped down from his palm and he started to panic.

"Have courage!" A familiar voice from his heard distracted him.

"W-what was that?" He looked around to only see the darkness as he goes further down.

"Oyue?!"