Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

Walking through the place was different than just floating about. 

The last time I was here, I was here as a spirit of sorts. 

Now though, I was here in flesh and blood.

And it was frigging midday. 

So yeah, blood boiling. 

Sweat dripping. 

And though the pond had water, the water wasn't drinkable. Reason being, glittery stuff. 

I remember Lianne mentioning that places like this which had clear water also had undead mermaids. 

Yeah, I didn't want to bother with those things. And I certainly didn't want to drink their water and fall asleep here. No sir!

Anyway, I walked on. 

Just past the lake-sized pond, there was an abundance of trees. Trees, I'd never seen before. 

I'd traveled quite a lot in this world. I'd seen all kinds of things. 

But these trees were really tall and weirdly different. Their barks were thin but the tops were awfully bulky. The leaves were that of a date tree, thorns here and there. But more importantly, the fruits were about the size of my head. And no, they weren't coconuts. They were dates. And they even smelled nice. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't here to eat. 

Sure, didn't stop me from putting two whole ripe ones in my ring though. 

Onwards!

I passed houses. They were in ruins, but most of them were still standing. The houses were mostly made of yellow stone of some kind. Very durable stuff. Just like the ruin I'd seen before, there wasn't anything here. 

I had a bad feeling about that. After all, the last ruin didn't quite give me great memories. 

Then again, this was a desert, so it was possible the desert had swallowed everything. 

The castle was still ways off. 

And the temperature was killing me. 

Eating raw ducks and birds wasn't doing anything. I needed fresh blood. 

And I needed it now.

Sirgh! 

"IT's just up ahead," The spirit finally said. 

All this time she awfully quiet. She was actually connected to my shadow and didn't go any further than a meter from me. 

I could see the castle in the distance, so I knew just how 'up ahead' it really was. 

But yeah, I had to commend the spirit for trying to cheer me up. 

But I needed a rest. 

And so, I searched for a tree and found one just across two houses. 

Another large weird date tree. It had plenty of ripe dates beneath the tree. All the size of coconuts. 

I went there, sat down, chomped on a date, and drank duck blood. 

The fruit was excruciatingly sweet; big, fat, and juicy! And weirdly empowered me. I could think a bit clearer too. 

'This stuff has mana infused with it?'

Change of plans, I began stashing all the stuff immediately. 

And once I was done… 'Wait, I could taste it!'

Ever since I woke up in this state, I couldn't taste normal food. I couldn't even taste fruits. 

I could only drink meat and blood. 

But now. 

Now I could taste this fruit!?

"Whenever you find another tree, just tell me. We're taking it all!" I said. 

The spirit let out a giggle. "Let's not forget our goal, now."

Oh yeah. 

The goddess. 

Anyway, I ate another date and another duck. Neira had hunted like five and I finished them all. 

Maybe I should have at least thanked her. 

Anyway, to the castle. 

We stopped about eight times before reaching it eventually….

***

The castle wasn't empty. 

The last time I was here, there was just one large floor and nothing on it. 

But this time, there were rooms, stairs, and even a frigging chandelier. The place was maybe five stories tall?

It was holding pretty well. 

So far, no sign of anything being sealed. 

"Where do you think she might be?"

"My best guess would be the underground floor, in the vault?"

Wait, there was an underground floor?

And a vault?

I looked around and I only saw floors leading up. 

"Would breaking this place really be that bad?" I said, looking down on the marble floor. It was rather shiny. 

The spirit remained quiet but stared disapprovingly. I guess that was a yes. 

Anyway, I searched around the room. 

It was kind of cool in here, so I didn't need to worry about the heat, at the very least.

Bookshelves were here, but there were no books, just dust, and sand. 

I didn't encounter any snakes or anything like that in there either. I thought they'd be here since it was cool and all still nothing. No monsters, no animals. 

The walls didn't quite have any markings or anything either. In my dream, I saw some scribbles but so far, nothing. 

There weren't any hidden rooms either. I tried knocking all the walls but none of them were hollow. 

"This leaves us no choice but to break the floor."

The spirit still remained quiet. 

Anyway, I imbued my sword and shoved it straight at the floor. Even I knew when to not use brute strength. 

The sword went through, and I started slowly carving a hole. A hole I could fit in. 

It took me exactly a minute but, the hole was done. 

The floor was maybe about a foot thick. But the sheer rigidity of this thing was anything but commendable. 'Is this really marble?' I had my doubts. This stuff was a lot, lot more durable. 

I looked past the hole, but it was pretty dark down there. 

I threw a ball of light and it went about three seconds deep. 

I couldn't see much but there was definitely stuff down there. 

"How will we get up?"

"Once we found the goddess. We can ask her to give us a ride up," she said. 

"And if she refuses?"

I didn't get an answer. 

I'd found a good source of food after coming here and I was content with that. 

But I'd come with a goal in mind and just because there was a chance of failure didn't mean I could give up now. 

Running was no longer an option. 

"HERE GOES!"

I jumped.