The Sunless Lands

"What are you talking about?" Alex asked. "We don't have much time."

"No, I truly cannot leave with you, young man," the old woman said. "Unless all 10 of us make the decision, I cannot leave the Southern Continent. That is an oath we spoke."

"What?" Alex was angered by this absurd oath. "Are you saying you can't go with me to the Sunless lands?"

"No," the old woman said with a saddened face.

"Fine," Alex said. "Then I will go on my own."

He was about to leave when he thought of something and turned towards the man that was on the floor. "Did Zhu Shaofan come here earlier?" he asked.

"I… I do not know who that is," the man said.

"Did anyone come to meet your patriarch?" Alex asked.

"Oh, yes. Someone did," the man said. 

"Where is that man?" Alex asked.

"I… I don't know. He was with the patriarch until he was not," the man said.