Burning Soul

A halo that spoke?

In the Dungeon, two shadows were speedily running through the caves. 

From the outside, it looked like a normal cave.

The sturdy ruins spoke for the entrance but it was just an entrance, inside the Dungeon wasn’t lined with stone walls but was kept rather raw. As they went further inside, they came to understand that it was by no means any ordinary Dungeon. 

It was dark and cold inside, and the walls were moist. The wall was lined with crystals and they shone vibrantly in a dazzling way, but that shine wasn’t a lot to guide anyone through. 

They also encountered various traps, then there was a complex maze-like formation with drywalls and also had a relatively high temperature. 

.

After walking for about an hour and a half they came across a giant door. 

"What next kid, is there any way in? 

Damn, I'm running low on my supplies as well." 

Aeneas complained to which he answered with an irritated look, "I can't just run through the doors right? 

Maybe there's a way but, we have to look around for that, 

and what's the big deal about berries?" 

"No, 

I can't continue without my beloved berries, without them I'm incomplete." Aeneas replied with a puppy face. 

Theodore was dumbstruck by his answer. 'Looks like I bumped into a failure of a human,’ he could only complain to himself while continuing to observe the door as Aeneas kept drooling over his berries.

.

.

…

After looking closely enough, he came to know that the door had a rather interesting lock. 

It had a key to which was a riddle that the challenging one had to solve. 

On the left side of the door, there was a small hand-engraved in crystal. A groove where one could place his palm. 

It was written in the ancient human language, 

“To access the right to open the door, one must place his hands here to be acknowledged.” 

Before placing his life in danger he thought it would be better to have someone's suggestions, thus he turned around to look at Aeneas but lost all hopes as he saw him sleeping carelessly. 

"Hey! 

Can you not help me here?" He screamed at him with an irritated look. 

To which Aeneas just threw a glance and said in a low voice, "Hurry up and open the door.

The more time you waste, the more time it'll take me to get back my berries." 

That person being unreasonable Theodore decided to go on his own and after hesitating a bit he finally placed his palm in the mould. 

Just as he placed his palm, a bright radiance was emitted from the crystal crypt, the halo that was being emitted surrounded both Theodore and Aeneas. 

"Gross, what is it? 

It doesn't look beautiful enough for me." Aeneas complained to which Theodore gave a blind look,

.

In an instant the halo allowed them to push the door and enter. 

Just as they entered, the door behind them closed. 

"No, 

let me go. 

I have so much to do, so many things to eat, so many girls…

Ahem…

people to meet.” 

Theo glared at him, ‘He just corrected himself!’ 

“I can't die here. Let me go'' seeing him cry out loud Theodore simply couldn't believe that he was the same guy from before. 

"Well, 

we have no choice but to go further, right?" Theodore pointed towards the pathway. 

It was lit with lamps on the wall as if someone was there. 

Theodore had never experienced something like this! 

He had travelled to a lot of ruins, but this was a dungeon full of surprises even to him, he was quite curious to see what lies at the end, yet the company he had was somehow not really into it. 

To him that didn't even matter, the only thing that worried him was the lamps. 

He wasn’t a wizard to figure out magic traces so he could only think.

After walking down the pathway for a while and listening to Aeneas's cries, they finally arrived at the centre of the Dungeon. 

The core location was right in front of them. 

To his surprise, there wasn't anything weird, like traps or hidden monsters or poisonous gas leaks. The only thing he saw there was a tomb. 

As they found nothing else, Theodore took a step and wiped the dusty surface of the tomb to read the context of it. 

There were some texts written in ancient god language which he definitely wasn't proficient in. 

'Damn, I should really have brought her. 

Now how do I know if it's cursed or not or if it has anything in it or not.' He thought to himself standing still next to the tomb. 

.

"The one who seeks what's inside, 

Surrender your desires as what lies beyond the door might tear them apart." 

.

Aeneas casually read the written text with stuffed berries in his mouth. 

Theodore's face turned pale as he heard him,

'he was able to understand it? 

Ancient god language for god sake? 

Even Vivi would have been able to decipher only a few words. 

Just who is this guy?' Many questions aroused in his mind.

"You can understand it?" he asked somehow hesitantly. 

"Umm, 

I can. 

It isn't a big deal. But what danger it speaks.” He spoke with a stuffed mouth.

“Hey, I almost forgot to tell you about another grave danger we are facing." 

This made Theodore a bit worried, 

'What danger he thought'. 

He looked at him and hinted to tell him about the danger, 

"This is a very big problem kid, and we can’t keep going like this." 

His words made Theodore worried. 

"What is it?" he asked with a worried look. 

.

"My…

My berries…" his cry literally gave Theodore a sudden heart attack,

"Can you not be serious for a while" He yelled at him in anger, of course, he got angry as the danger tomb spoke about was out of his calculations. 

"Oh, and it also says that this is not a tomb, it's a door,

See it’s written here" Aeneas told him. 

'A door?' he thought for a while 

“How you open it?” He asked Aeneas 

“Like this!” He swiftly pushed the lid with his leg

He stood with a smug look on his face. 

.

.

…

As he pushed the heavy lid over the 'door', a burst of energy pushed them back a step. "You really want to go?" Aeneas asked in a somewhat serious tone. 

He had no other options as well so he nodded and jumped in, 

Aeneas followed him in. 

Inside the tombstone, there were stairs that led even deeper into the Dungeon. 

The deeper they went, the more pressure they could feel, as they were many stories below the surface, it was quite normal in such places.

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They both walked a while and reached the end of the stairway only to find a throne. 

They were puzzled, 'What's a throne doing here? 

And whose throne is this?' 

As he approached, suddenly Aeneas grabbed his hand and pulled him back, 

"What are you doing? 

Look." 

He pointed toward a halo suddenly appearing on the throne. It materialized in a while and as it did Theodore went pale. 

"It's been a while since I came here in the Dungeon." 

As the halo spoke both Theodore and Aeneas cursed at the same time, "All that we went through was for You?"