Light at the end of the Tunnel

*Knock* *Knock*

"This gate...again!" Kai remarked as he stood in front of the gate, thankfully there was no ruinic goop--they had already checked.

"Yeah, this is strange, I have never heard of these gates popping up in the pathways earlier," Gerald said looking at the same circular gate blocking their path forward.

Fred also looked at the gate strangely.

Kai surveyed his surroundings and found a rectangular box with intricate carvings, embedded in the mottled grey wall beside the gate.

Strangely it had a hole in the middle, which for some reason was perfect for a human to pass their hand through it.

"Hey, both of you, see this box in front of me" Kai called out to both of them.

Gerald and Fred both turned their heads towards him and glanced at the box.

"It looks very inconspicuous in this dark hallway" Both of them echoed.

"Yeah, but then, what is its use?"

"Maybe it's a place they used to keep the key of the gate," Kai said and moved his hand into the hole in the box.

"Wait, we don't know if that's true or not..." Fred's eyes widened as he saw Kai putting his left hand in the hole.

When suddenly a clicking sound rang and Kai screamed at the top of his lungs.

*Click*

"Aghh... it's stuck, my hand's stuck!, both of you come here and help me!!" Kai yelled.

Gerald and Fred were alarmed by this and quickly rushed towards him.

They attempted to free him, but his hand would not come out of the box, it was as if something had latched onto his hand.

Abruptly the smell of flesh being burned came out and Kai shrieked like a banshee after that.

"Arghhh.... My hand!! Something is piercing and burning my hand...arghhh"

"W-We are doing our best, try to hold on a little longer," Gerald said fumbling.

Gerald and Fred were both unable to do anything to the plight of Kai.

It was only after 10 seconds that Kai's hand was released and the moment it got free, he lost consciousness and only saw two blurry silhouettes rushing to pick him up.

*Smack*

"Ughh.." Kai groaned and woke up.

"See, it always works," Fred said with a proud expression.

"You you...hit me again! Damn you!" Kai suddenly stood up from the ground and glared at Fred.

But then suddenly recalled what had transpired and remembered the burning and piercing pain he experienced.

Kai then glanced at his left hand and saw that there was a semi-spherical metal object protruding out of the back of his hand with a horizontal seam across the middle of it, also it had 4 little legs piercing into his flesh.

There were also runic patterns singed on the area around the protruding object with a very prominent illustration of a snake eating its own tail.

"...Uhh, what the hell is this...metallic object and why is Ouroboros here?" Kai remarked confusedly.

"...You know this tattoo of a snake eating its tail?" Fred asked curiously.

"But leaving that aside are you ok?, I told you to wait damn it and you didn't listen to me... See what has happened!, you could have died, thank the gods, you are alright or else..." Fred quickly noticed that something was amiss when he glanced at Kai and Gerald's expression. There was a dumbfounded look on their faces.

Fred quickly realised that he had said something he shouldn't have said and abruptly changed his sentence.

"or else...How can he scout ahead for us?, won't bringing him in this ruin would be a waste of time, hmph" Fred said indifferently and snorted at the end.

"...Right" Kai was still in shock.

But Gerald was still standing in a stunned stupor.

"I am okay, but I still feel a little bit of pain in my left hand and a strange feeling permeated in it but overall I am alright and yeah, I should have listened to you" Kai smiled and felt genuine happiness.

"Y-You better do it next time...hmph" Fred was still embarrassed.

"So...now, how do we cross this gate?" Kai wondered then put his left hand on the gate when suddenly a monotonous voice rang out.

[Access Granted]

[Temporary access granted to user 07, all facilities in the Horizon Voyager will now be accessible]

With that, the gate made a screeching sound as it slid open and opened the hallway.

"Huh...?, Was that an AI, but why here...?, wait, the name Horizon Voyager...it sounds like a spaceship..." Kai's mind raced as he thought about this.

Gerald and Fred looked at Kai with curiosity as he muttered.

"Okay let's move on, Now that this...ruin has been opened to us, our harvest will not be bad and most of all, the threat of it significantly reduced" Gerald controlled his

"Hmm" Fred hummed in response.

"Yeah let's move forward and peruse through all the facilities here," Kai said with a greedy look as he heard Gerald.

***

"We have been walking for more than half a day in the same winding pathways and I am sick of these monotonous grey walls" Kai glanced at the mottled grey walls and complained.

"One thing that I have learnt while exploring Ruins is that you have to wait patiently to get the best rewards..."

"Yes, Sage Gerald comes back with his infinite wisdom on life and philosophy" Kai mocked.

"Okay, if you are so wise why don't you tell me why we can use Ichor to strengthen ourselves and what is its relation to the world, if we already have powers unique to everybody yet the need to use Ichors?" Kai asked slyly.

"Hahaha...that's the easiest thing you could have asked me!" Gerald replied leisurely with a confident grin.

"Hmm, both of your questions have a correlating answer as Ichor's were not always available for use, we can only use them when the world is going to welcome a catastrophic disaster and despite having these unique powers it helps us survive the apocalyptic event"

By the end of his speech Gerald's enthusiastic expression grew solemn and then they saw another gate...but it was open and there was light coming from there.

"Finally!!" Although Kai was still shocked by the truth revealed by Gerald he was nonetheless happy for a change in scenery.