Chapter 14

After dealing with the elite goblins, the twins set their eyes on the room they were in.

The room was very large, the ceiling itself had to be 20m tall. Isla noticed the bones littering only the beginning of the room closest to the large stone door, then looking at the giant laying in the middle of the room, she understood.

"The giant must have been attacked many times. The bones here differ in colour" Isla said approaching Sila, who was rummaging through the piles.

"Yeah, the items from some of these groups have long since succumbed to time" Sila spoke, a melancholy expression adorning her face.

"pfft.. Aren't you just sad that you can't take these things?" Isla chuckled.

Sila blushed after being exposed by her sister. "I'm lamenting that time is ruthless, that's all" she said trying to earn back some face.

"Right, right. Well when you're done 'lamenting' can we see what was so precious for the giant over there to protect?" Isla asked sarcastically.

The two walked towards the deepest part of the room, remaining vigilant as they passed the mechanical giant. However it seems their worries were meaningless. The giant's joints had fallen apart due to the damage from the last battle and the ever growing corrosion.

Progressing in further, the two saw many treasures such as jewels, ingots of various metals, but mainly weapons. Dwarves are known for their superior talent in blacksmithing, unfortunately the weapons were unfit for Isla and Sila's style of fighting. The two still packed everything up, there's no reason to leave behind such valuable items, but they weren't very satisfied with their finds.

Are simple treasures really worthy of placing an automaton to protect it? The twins continued to search through the area but after many more searches they still came up with nothing.

"Is it really just that? Some rare weapons and pretty jewels were enough for all of these people to sacrifice their lives? I don't believe it" Sila vented unwillingly.

"I agree. Maybe the goblins came for those treasures, but from the clothing of those skeletons, they didn't look to be short of money. How peculiar" Isla said.

"Maybe someone's already taken it? Someone that could sneak past the giant. We've looked everywhere else" Sila guessed.

"The giant..." Isla wondered.

The twins looked at one another, their eyes brightening. Rushing over to the mechanical colossus, they inspected every part they could see.

The two were investigating the parts, when Sila let out an excited gasp, "Isla there seems to be a compartment on its head".

Isla hurried to Sila's side, following where her sister was pointing. A square groove that didn't match the rest of the colossus appeared in front of her eyes.

The twins poked and prodded around the area, but nothing happened. Isla thought about it, took out a dwarven dagger and stabbed it into the groove, then bent the handle towards herself. Under the straining sound of the blade, a gap was made, from which poured out a dazzling glow strong enough to force the two to cover their eyes.

"What the fuck is that? It's so bright?" Isla cursed.

Sila was busy trying to calm herself down from the shocking light, but heard her sister "Well, well, well; a cold day in hell it must be since you were forced to swear" she said snickering.

Isla ignored her sisters goading, trying to acclimate herself to the light, but the best she could do was not look directly at it. After prying off the panel from the giants head, she jammed her hand into its head and ripped out the cause of the brightness.

When the object left the giants head, it seemed to have lost its purpose, dimming at the blink of an eye. However it didn't dim completely. In the darkened room, Isla opened her hand and the twins finally saw what was causing such a commotion.

A perfectly round stone sat in Isla's hand. A full spectrum of colours could be seen flowing inside the transparent crystal-like stone, as if they were liquid. Isla and Sila had never witnessed such a mesmerising phenomenon.

The colours swam around as if sentient, interacting with each other inside the stone. The beauty of it all had left the twins dazed for a period of time.

When they finally snapped out of it, Isla quickly put it away before saying.

"I don't even know what that stone is and I'd be willing to fight that giant for it".

"Whatever it is, seeing that it was connected to the giant, it was probably powering it." Sila hypothesised.

Isla agreed with what Sila said. Remembering the brightness after she opened the panel, Isla guessed that the stone still had more than enough power, but the giants body had deteriorated so much it could no longer use it.

The two hurried to leave the area, following the long path to where the horde was. Knowing that the goblin king and the elites were dead, the two weren't as cautious going back.

After being in darkness for a long time, the two had grown tired and hungry, but there was still things they needed to do first. When they finally got back to the large open cavern, it was still as quiet as when they had left. No sign of any ambush, the two began to cut off the goblins ears.

Just as they were about to finish up, they heard a weak call for help. The twins looked at each other and made their way towards the sound.

The voice came intermittently, sounding hoarse and scratchy. It was obviously a woman's voice, which shocked the twins. The task page was so old, they didn't expect any of the kidnapped women to survive.

They followed the tunnel until they reached a rotten wooden door. The two opened the door and were met with a terribly musty and sour odour.

When they walked in what they saw was worse than they thought. Not only did not just one woman survive. Countless women with hollow eyes lay in their own filth, chained to the cave walls. The opening of the door didn't make them raise their eyes, they just slowly opened their legs, expressionlessly awaiting what was expected to come.