Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

The team passed the trees behind the village and entered the plain once again. After walking for a while, they could see some weird shapes in the distance, unrecognizable in the dark night.

"Those people didn't know what the reason was, and they didn't care. They found a river, followed it, and found a hill. They looked around and found animals and vegetables. They ate, drank, and enjoyed the peace. 'Wow! Such a great place we've found. It's like we are in heaven.' they thought. After spending some time and enjoying their new lives was when they started thinking 'Why are there no monsters around here?'."

Crunch

Tap

The group stepped on something. Once looked down, they could see small and big pieces of stone scattered under their feet.

"They started to wander around the plain, looking for the reason. They walked around and found a lake. Walked more and found a ruin in the middle of the plain. They kept walking and searching, till they found this place."

The old man stopped walking. He raised his cane and pointed forward.

Darren raised the flashlight in his hand in the direction that the old man was pointing. Once they saw it, everyone's jaw dropped.

"The remnants of a long lost civilization."

What lay in front of them was a huge, destroyed city. 

Behind the trees past the lake, in a little bit of distance from the ruin, hidden behind the village and the hill, there was a big city.

No.

There used to be a big city.

The buildings were crumbled and the roads were blocked by the debris. The city was devastated but it was still clear that this place was where people used to live.

"What is this place..."

They all looked around with amazement and surprise.

'Shouldn't such a place be labeled as a historical site and become a tourist spot or something?'

The city was destroyed, but they still could see how beautiful it used to be only by looking at its remnants.

'It would surely become a tourist spot if it was on the Earth...'

For some reason, people in this world weren't interested in historical sites or things related to them. There were too many beautiful buildings and ruins here and there but no one paid enough attention to them.

As much as Kairen knew, this continent had a long history of war and slaughter. The battles were said to be too intense that each one had great casualties. People with unique powers of controlling this and that were the ones who were involved in them so it was no surprise to call any single battle a 'calamity'. 

Maybe that was the reason why these people didn't pay much attention to such things as the ruins or the ancient buildings. There were just too many of them. 

"After searching the whole place they found an empty, destroyed city. This place wasn't as destroyed as it is now back then. Those people were really amazed at the sight of such a big and empty city. They walked in and searched everywhere, but there was not a single human being in the city."

The group of people continued to walk in the city. After a few minutes, the old man stopped in front of a building that had a fairly better condition than the others. It was a little bit less damaged than the others.

"This place was the least damaged place. It was in here that they first found out about the mysterious ruin. In a book hidden deep inside the building, written in an old version of their language."

Team leader Dains looked inside the building as he asked.

"A book? Do you have it now?"

The old man shook his head.

"No. The book was lost alongside the notes written in it. We don't exactly know what was written in there, but whatever it was, it made our ancestors believe that the ruin in the center of the plain is special."

"You don't know what its contents were but still believe in it?"

The old man thought for a moment.

"Well, there is a single phrase of the book that had passed down to us generation from generation. That's the only thing that we know about the book."

The old man said that and looked at the sky. He paused for a moment as if trying to remember something, then opened his mouth with a slight smile.

"Three red stars thundered in the dark sky, striking the living, gathering the dead, bringing upon and warding off the end."

"...."

"...."

"...."

The group looked blankly at the old man that was saying weird things nonstop. 

'What was that supposed to mean?' 

The old man didn't notice the others' gaze and looked at the sky with a deep gaze with a nostalgic smile on his lips.

'I'm sure he himself doesn't get what he is saying.'

To Kairen, what the old man said just now only seemed like what you would find in a videogame when the main character punk is casting a super-strong spell using weird methods. Or maybe what the bad guy in a movie would shout out loud before starting his plans to destroy the world.

The phrase sounded cool but meaningless.

The whole group was having such thoughts. They all stared at the old man silently. 

"Ahem!"

The old man coughed awkwardly after realizing their gaze and avoided their eyes.

"I know it may sound meaningless but there is nothing I can do about it. I just told you what I've heard from my grandfather when I was a kid, and that he had also heard it from his grandfather as a kid and his grandfather had also heard it from his grandfather when he was young and he also had heard it from his grandfather's father before the old man's death."

"...."

"...."

'Too many grandfathers.'

The old man's answer reminded Kairen of a certain old woman that he had met a few hours ago. She also had a lot of grandmothers in her words.

'Is this some kind of a trait here? Like, name all your ancestors if you want your words to sound reasonable...'

The old man coughed again and continued to tell the story.

"Anyway, there isn't much left from the story. Those people certainly didn't believe the contents of the book at first. They thought they were only some nonsense and didn't think about them much. They created a village near the city as the plain was safe and fertile and lived here. They lived and lived for years."

The old man walked towards the building and sat down on a stone that was in front of its door.

"However, the more they lived here, the more strange this place seemed to them. It didn't take long for them to go back and read the book again and again. As much as we know, the book had information about the ruin in the center of the plain, monsters, unique powers, and their connection. Then they thought 'If the book is telling the truth, why don't we test it once to make sure of it?' "

The others also sat down on a piece of rock, listening to the old man.

"I don't know what they did. No one knows. The only thing that we know is that what they decided to do led to one of those people's death. The cause of death was also related to the ruin as well. They said the ruin punished him, or something like that. Since then, it was prohibited to get close to the ruin for years. People feared it. The people in the village started to believe that the ruin had a mysterious power and began to kinda worship it."

The old man then shrugged.

"To those people, this plain was heaven. A place that they had found to live after so much struggle. No one knows what they did or how that person was killed. No one knows what made them act like that, or what was written in the book, but no one here blames them either. We have a good life here, so no one really minds if they call a ruin 'blessed domain' or whatever else."

The old man finished talking and turned to the team leader.

"I've told you the full story. Are you satisfied now?"

The story wasn't really accurate. There were a lot of missing pieces in it and it wasn't convincing enough. 

'It isn't surprising though as it's only a folks tale...'

You couldn't know the whole truth behind an old story that had passed down to people from generation to generation. There will surely be a lot of missing parts and a lot of extra parts, added by people later on.

Team leader Dains thought for a moment. He looked around the city once before answering the old man.

"It was indeed a strange story, but there is one more thing I'm curious about."

"Hmm?"

The old man tilted his head.

"While listening to the villagers' conversation, I heard some people talking about a painting. Can you tell us about that as well?"