Purpose

They made it out. The screams of both souls and people reverberated across the ruins, but they didn't care to look back.

The rest of these ruins were as mazzy as the corridors they've left behind, but the team of three felt more hopeful out here. Sure the rooms and corridors were larger around here, and less characterized in comparison, but they still felt confident about finding their way out.

If they wanted to escape these ruins, they just had to float upwards, in any direction. This would eventually lead them out to the forest, even if they wound up on some dead-ends along the way.

"Okay, you can barely walk, but give us your ears at least. Tell us if there are any people around that we should avoid." Audera pressured.

They had to float down from a tall wall, in order to progress. There was the matter of navigating through the ruins too, so they needed all 'senses' on deck.

Bardeelus was cooperative, but he still teased. "Sure thing, but what could be more dangerous than the bunch of souls we just escaped from? We'll be fine."

"We could be fine, if we focus." She argued. 

All of a sudden, they stopped in place. An abrupt halt never felt like a good thing, but thankfully, they weren't in any trouble, but just struck a dead-end instead.

They didn't find the particular spot where all three of them were knocked out before, and it would be difficult to find it, which made their escape trickier now. These ruins were huge, and only the inhabitants knew them well.

"Did we even escape? This looks like another library." Erdeta complained. 

She wasn't the navigator, so naturally, she could pressure the rest of the team about this dead-end. There barely was a point to argue over, but it was still stressful to get stuck here, the enemies could be right behind them.

Bardeelus tried to lighten the mood up, so he cracked a joke. "Well, at least there's a bunch of scrolls here. We can swipe a scroll or two and sell them, they'll make us rich."

"Rich?" Audera emphasized, "Who could we possibly sell these too? Most of them are probably written in radinian three, lots of dots, and they're probably demonic too. Not to be an ass, but your idea is stupid."

"It was a joke, still, there is no shame in carrying an ancient scroll around." He said.

There was plenty to choose from as well. The dead-end they wound up on, wasn't as snug as one would imagine.

Much like any library, ancient ones were huge as well. This place was well-lit, which meant that it was visited often by anyone nearby.

The metallic handles that each scroll had, reflected light from the many torches. In a way, paired with the torches' contributions, it seemed as if hundreds of fire-flies were frozen in time around here!

This place seemed special, and considering that the library was about twenty meters wide, the knowledge stashed here could be greater than anything they saw before. They were surrounded by knowledge, regardless of how difficult it was to decipher, and this room was shaped a lot like a sphere too. 

Audera appreciated this find the most, but she was far too stressed to explore this place. She insisted on moving on.

"Grab something if you must, but we're getting out of here. No time to waste, I can hear all those souls screaming… or, their thoughts are as insane, at least." She said. 

"I'm sorry," A light, but fairly present tone sounded out behind them, it was feminine. "You just killed half of my friends and family, it's not easy to keep a calm mind after that."

The team of three almost snapped their necks while they turned around, their reaction was swift. It was fair to say that this lady, Driola, snuck up on them.

"How could you not hear her coming?" Audera slightly panicked, "She has a single, stupid heartbeat! How hard is it to confuse her with anything else?"

"Her heart's barely beating, I don't even know how she could've gotten down here." Bardeelus excused himself.

This was barely a problem, they could kill Driola right now and flee. However, since she managed to get down here so quickly, fleeing aimlessly might not be as effective as they thought it was. The team could get cornered in some bizarre way. 

For that matter, Bardeelus proposed. "How about we take her hostage? She'll show us out, and then we drop her near the exit."

"Way too risky, she'll trap us somewhere. Let's just kill her and go." Audera said.

Driola looked beyond tired, so she was barely responsive towards that threatening plan. Her black hair covered most of her face, and one of her eyes almost seemed beaten in ~ In some ways, Driola seemed demonic even.

Yet, her mind was sharp in comparison, she taunted. "You're actually lost? That's rich. I thought you came here for the map… you can't be that clueless, can you?"

"You underestimate me," Bardeelus argued, "I am far more clueless than that. The hell do we need a map for, if it's riddled in dots?"

"It's a map, doesn't have any dots… and it's drawn all over the ground. Just look down, you're stepping on a tainted tower's pin-point." Driola said. 

She was right, Bardeelus was actually stepping on something important. This had some humor of its own, because he could barely stand up, yet he stepped on some crucial information. 

This 'tainted tower' was marked with a blue dot, quite dark in shade. The whole floor here was painted even, and since the scrolls themselves were in the grey, hard-stone walls, the whole floor was like a canvas in its own way; Easy to read for those who tried to.

Whoever took the liberty to draw it out on the hard stone, did a great job. There were even carvings across the stone, which looked like mountains and oceans.

Audera was mesmerized, and when she noticed an island in this rocky map, she gasped. "All of this is… Arberus, our home, our beautiful island."  

"A big island, yes. We deciphered each scroll here, and the information about 'pure necromancers' almost slipped by us years ago. Today, with what I know, I can help give your life some meaning, a purpose." Driola slowly explained.

Her speech was disrupted by a nasty cough a couple of times, but she continued speaking.

She seemed almost dead, but still insisted. "That tower you stepped on, can lead us to some more scrolls. We'll find everything we need to know about 'pure necromancers', I'll help you as much as I can with that! But please, help me get out of here alive. I rejected the lord's influences, and therefore gave all of my powers away…"

The team had a hard time processing everything she said, but Driola didn't stop there. 

She emphasized, "Almost, I'm almost free of my dark powers. That demon can go fuck himself, I'll finally have some purpose in life."

Afterwards, she pulled a dagger out, and ran it across one of her wrists, which was ironic now after her whole speech was considered. 

This decision seemed random too, but considering how indulged her cult was in the concept of blood, the meaning behind her actions was far from being metaphorical!