No Way Back

[Do you wish to enter the Tomb of Allevia? Recommended Level: 3]

Colt read the notification in his mind as quickly as possible as soon as he touched the doors. He ground his teeth and accepted to enter since they had no other real choices right now. The doors suddenly became transparent instead of opening, causing Colt to stumble as he was pressing against it.

He slid through the blue barrier and turned to see Donna and Beans rushing after him, closely pursued by the Lost Souls. Colt braced himself to intercept the mobs if they followed the women beyond the barrier. His muscles tensed up as Donna and Beans crossed the threshold!

The Lost Souls slammed on the barrier! Unable to continue the chase. Colt sighed in relief as the women collapsed to the ground to catch a breather. The mobs growled at them from the other side as if they were furious that their prey had escaped them. Colt shook his head as he walked away from them, and the barrier turned solid again.

He paused to look at the area they had entered, which featured smooth white walls, ceiling and floor. Blue orbs of light ran along the ceiling allowing the group to see clearly. 'This should be a safe zone.' Colt glanced around before activating his Bonfire spell.

His flaming orb that appeared gave the trio a feeling of warmth as their HP regenerated. Colt recovered to full health, which was to be expected since he had taken very little damage. However, the women barely touched on 75%, according to his senses. To be fair, they had not fully recovered earlier in Valheim, so this was a good result.

"Ugh, I really need to start investing in Authority!" Beans complained as she appreciated her healthy-looking HP bar. "I wonder what spells I can get?"

Colt glanced at her for a moment. If he were to be truthful, he really wanted to know what Divinity's they held. However, he felt it would be rude to ask. Beans seemed to realise this as she smiled at him.

"I'm the Goddess of Fishing." Beans said as if she were ashamed. "Donna's is better. She's the Goddess of the Harvest."

Beans completed the last part over the shouts of Donna, who was trying to get her to shut up. Although they were working together, she did not want Colt to know too much about them. After all, they might end up as enemies in the future. Seeing her discomfort, Colt decided to tell them that he was the God of the Hearth. Which he had left out during his explanation on Authority and Divine Spells.

"Yours seems pretty handy, though. It can be used for healing all the way out here." Beans excitedly said with a glint in her eyes. "Do you think ours will do the same?"

"How should I know?" Colt chuckled as he looked at the two of them. They seemed to be pondering over what kind of spells they could gain. "Let's move on. We can't wait here forever."

Their group slowly proceeded through the long hallway with Colt in the lead. However, a few minutes passed before they ran into a dead end. 'What the hell?' Colt ran his hand over the wall blocking the way forward. 'What's up with this?'

Beans and Donna seemed just as confused as he was. They looked around and even walked back up the hallway, searching for anything they might have missed. But it was just one straight hallway with a dead end and the blue barrier.

"Did we find an area that isn't open during the Beta?" Donna asked as they returned to the door.

"I wouldn't have thought so. They usually wouldn't put Quests into the game that can lead to those places during a Beta Test." Colt felt frustrated, but they had agreed to quit their exploration. Maybe they needed something else to press forward or to meet a hidden requirement.

The trio prepped themselves to fight through the Lost Souls that should still be waiting on the other side. However, when the barrier turned translucent, they were met with the sight of a new hallway that branched off in three different directions.

"Where's the way back!" Beans suddenly shouted in a panic.

"I don't think there is a way back. Only forward." Colt sighed. He hated it when developers played mind games. The answer was in front of them the whole time. The corridor was just a way to make them waste their time.

"So what way do we go then?" Donna asked as she looked at each branching tunnel in turn.

Colt frowned while trying to decide. Truth be told, he was unsure. There might only be one answer, all of them might be right, or maybe they were supposed to separate. 'I'd rather stick together.'

"Let's try the centre path first." Colt walked off as soon as he gave his decision.

However, just like before, they met a dead end. They wasted time checking the other two branches first, but they were just the same. The trio sighed as they walked back to the door. Playing this trick once was fine. But twice? That was too much. When they placed their hands on the door, nothing happened.

"Damn it!" Colt cursed as he glared at the blue door. "We have to separate. One for each path."

"Oh, hell no!" Donna replied. "What are we going to do if we run into mobs? We barely survived those Lost Souls from before. You might be fine, but we definitely won't be! Or is that your plan? So you can steal our stats?"

Colt looked taken aback by her words, even if they did make some kind of twisted sense. "You really think I like this? We have no idea what we'll be facing further inside. And besides, we don't exactly have any other options."

"Donna, I don't want to do this either, but Exile is right! We have to do this. There's no way back." Beans cut in before giving a slight smile.