The Last Primal

Not counting the entrance Aiden was standing at, the map that the system has drawn, thanks to the pulses generated by his empowered [Dark Sense] ability revealed two other tunnel-like halls leading to new, unexplored sections of this underground cavern system.

The system marked the entrance Aiden was still standing at the western side of the chamber, with one of the tunnels being at the far end, the northeastern side leading further below, and the other one, much closer at the center of the southern wall.

Thinking about it for only a brief moment, Aiden turned towards the southern side, taking a longer glance at it.

His eyes shining in their full-powered golden luster, he himself was the singular light source in the dark and damp convoluted chamber. He looked wondrously at the multicolored stalagmites hanging from the ceiling and protruding from the stony ground. Their layered colors were one-of-a-kind, a literal wonder made by nature over the hundreds if not thousands of years developing undisturbed by civilization. Layers of orange, purple, pink, light green, and even amethyst blue made quite an eye candy for the young boy.

If he would have the time, he would have loved to spend more time in this place, just taking in the wonders at a much slower pace, but sadly, he had to push on, he had to put an end to this life-threatening quest, the System assigned to him. 

With that thought in mind, he forcefully pushed on, leaving the wondrous sight behind, and approached the exit at the southern side.

Arriving at the entrance, he could immediately feel that instead of stepping into a long tunnel or hall, he would be stepping into another chamber, but unlike the previous one, this would be much larger.

Pausing in the archway, he waited for the energy pulses to return and for his System to generate a picture for him to use. 

Unlike before, this one was much bigger, much more grandiose than before. In comparison it made the previous room look like a simple antechamber that's sole purpose was to greet the new arrivals and lead them to this grander one.

The first thing he noticed even with his limited, achromatopsiatic, black and white vision was a set of pillars stretching to all the directions he could see. As the map was gradually being generated, he could see countless carved, circular pillars stretching to as far as the pulses could travel. 

This change in scenery gave a more hallowed feel to this mysterious place, also promptly humbling Aiden in front of this giant, majestic hall.

'Well… this is unexpected… Should I just go this way, or…' Seeing the royalty of this next room, made Aiden question his first thought. Should he continue this way, or should he first check out what lay in wait further below towards the northeastern end? Thinking about it, he hesitated, turning his head to the side and glancing in the direction of the other exit.

'I probably should have just initiated the skill upgrade instead of pushing it back. It may have helped…' He grumbled. The system gave him the notification before when he got the Dark Essence Source absorbed that he could use it to transform his skill to something new at the cost of a small inability to access the aforementioned skill. As the skill was his most important ability when traversing unfamiliar grounds, he didn't want to lose access to it even for a single minute much less for a full hour. In retrospect, however, he regretted his decision as it probably would have been incredibly handy.

'Eh, whatever, I will just trust my instincts…' In the end Aiden decided against going the other way and to trust his own senses. Spending years in the Pocket World, Lily and himself had to rely on their instincts, and senses to survive and overcome all the obstacles that Master and Granny made for them. He had to learn through blood, sweat, and tears to trust his senses and body in situations like this, rather than his hesitating mind.

Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, Aiden stepped through the stone archway, arriving into the ornate and majestic hallway.

As soon as his feet stepped into the glossy, smooth pavement a light breeze blew, arriving from seemingly nowhere and vanishing just as abruptly. In its path however faint light green colored light lit up on each of the passed pillars, enhancing the darkness with an obscure illumination, revealing even further details of the carefully carved craftsmanship of the countless pillars that were now basked in this hallowed, otherworldly light.

Aiden stood in silence for a brief moment as he took in the strange event. Where did this breeze come from? Was it a mechanism? Did he trigger a trap maybe? If so, why can't he feel any threat?

He glanced at the closest glowing pillar, approaching it to take a closer look at the carefully carved pictogram carved into its surface.

It was a scene showing a tall, humanoid figure looking over from atop a higher elevation to the endless world below his feet. Behind him, an entire army of similar-looking figures stood in an array. The depiction was like a rough sketch, resembling more of a hieroglyph than a drawing, yet the humanoid figures looked strange. They were all drawn with elongated thin limbs. The man standing above the others, looking like a leader of sorts were even stranger: He had a pair of wings even taller than himself stretching from his back. A thick tail rested behind him on the ground, looking roughly half his size.

Even though the picture was just a rough sketch, the particular details on the leader figure and his army of brethren behind him hit familiar notes in Aiden's mind. The distinctive features, the dragonlike tail, and even wings… Could this be a picture of a Primal? If so, what are those behind him?

'[Venture deeper, follow the scenes Aiden. Trust your feelings, they will reveal the truth to you. The truth that they tried to erase from the history, but yet still managed to leave a small remainder to live through the ages.]' Enya's melancholic voice resounded in Aiden's mind abruptly.

Her reminder caused Aiden to come back from his thoughts and shift his attention to the next pillar. Stepping closer to it, he took a closer look at the second scene.

In this one, the scene did not change that much. The same draconoid-like leader stood in front of his army of brethren. There were no faces drawn, yet just from their body posture, it was clear that the leader was giving some sort of speech, addressing the large army. 

It made one wonder what was the story behind the picture. Why did such a large army gather? Was this a story of a conquest? Were they the invaders or were they trying to defend their lands?

Even without understanding the context, Aiden could feel a tinge of sadness spread inside his heart as he looked at the scene. For some reason that he was unable to understand, he felt a strange sense of familiarity with these hieroglyphs. He wasn't sure of the reason, but as he looked at this vague scene, he felt as if his heartstrings were being pulled, his fists were clenched even tighter than before.

Unable to understand the reaction and emotions he was experiencing, Aiden heaved a sigh. Shaking his head to clear his head from these bothersome emotions, he looked at the next, third pillar in sequence.

In the third pillar, he could see the very same army lead by the winged Dragonoid leader staring at the distance where another army was rapidly advancing at their location. The army was drawn as a large cloud of dust with only a few horned heads peeking out from it. For the first time, there was some color used in the picture, the sky was painted blood red above them, giving this scene an ominous feel.

The faceless army was stoically standing atop a small hill, looking towards the approaching threat. Still, the picture was vague, however, when taking the previous two into account, the scene the pictures were slowly painted, began to clear out. This was a clash between two armies. One was the army of these faceless figures and the other was that cloud of the angry mob that was charging towards them from the distance. The way the pictures were made didn't give away too much emotion, yet Aiden could feel the pain in his heart more and more clearly as he continued onwards.

He took another short breather before steeling his resolve and shifting his head towards the fourth pillar, the second to the last in this sequence that seemed to draw out the same event.

He slowly approached the fourth pillar with tightly clenched fists and, unbeknownst to him, with hazy, watering eyes. Whatever was depicted in these, seemed to have a deep impact on his heart.