Intersection

The black haired girl stared at him with wide eyes, as he played with the stone on his hand.

"Who are you?" Edana asked Zane with a doubtful look on her face.

Zane walked towards her and knelt down.

"Do you kno-" Edana was speaking when Zane slapped her across the face.

"Don't speak unless I tell you to." Zane spoke with a cold voice.

"Now tell me, where is your base?" he asked.

Clenching her teeth, Edana snapped, "Fucker! I'm not a cultist you asshole! I really am a knight from Nox Sacred Order!"

A vein could be seen on Zane's forehead, "You're still going on about that huh. The other one I met yesterday was also like that. Now his heart is in my bag."

"I really am a knight..." Edana was about to cry.

"Haah..." Zane sighed. "Fine. Since you came here, there must be something in this cabin. I found it strange too, a random cabin deep in the woods. And since the walls are not attached to anything outside, it could only be in one place."

Edana could only watch him, her words not reaching him at all, as Zane stood up and started walking around the cabin with heavy footsteps. He walked towards the kitchen first, then he walked towards the bed and looked under it, knocking the floor with his hand.

*Dum Dum.* Zane frowned.

It sounded normal. Then Zane walked towards the middle of the cabin and looked at the round table. He moved it to the side and kicked the floor.

*Boom Boom*

The floor underneath the table sounded hollow, like there was nothing below the floor. He kicked the floor with his boots several times before it started cracking. After a few times more, the floor finally collapsed.

"Jackpot." Zane grinned with his teeth and headed towards Edana.

"Come Miss "Knight", Let's go and catch your friends." Zane cut the rope from Edana's legs and propped her up.

Edana looked back towards Zane, anger visible in her eyes. Zane looked at her right in the eyes and smiled. "After you." He pointed towards the newly formed hole on the floor with his chin.

Edana walked towards the hole and looked down. It was pitch black so she summoned the blue flames in her eyes. Then she could see that the hole was at an angle. "Haah" She sighed and jumped down the hole, sliding all the way until she hit the ground.

Zane followed her soon after and landed behind her.

He squinted his eyes but could barely see anything.

"Oi you. You better not have ran away." Zane shouted.

"I'm right here." She spoke from right in front of him.

"Good. You lead the way, let me just grab the end of the rope." Zane reached for the rope from below, but his hand grabbed something soft instead.

"Fucker! Watch where you're grabbing!" Edana back-kicked Zane, right on his stomach.

"Ouch!" Zane staggered 2 steps back. "It's not my fault you bitch! I can't see anything here!"

"Just stay there! I'll give you the rope myself!" Edana looked back at Zane with her eye burning with a faint blue flame.

Zane saw the flickering flame on her eye and remarked, "Wow~ That's handy. So that's how you guys traverse through these tunnels."

Edana rolled her eyes and flicked the end of the rope on his hands. Zane grabbed the rope and spoke once again, "Okay, now lead the way." He also grabbed his hunting knife with his other hand, ready for Edana, if she tried something funny.

Edana scoffed and started moving forward, towards the only path.

---

The two walked together in complete silence for quite a long time.

Edana's throat was itchy with a question she wanted to ask, but she didn't want to speak even a word with the bastard anymore.

"How much longer do we have to go?" Zane broke the silence.

"Tch. I don't know." Edana replied coldly.

"Does the God of Mayhem take your brains in exchange for gifts or what? The one before forgot his hideout and you don't know how long it takes to reach your own hideout." Zane replied in a sarcastic tone.

Edana could only sigh in silence as she already understood that words could not reach the stubborn buffoon.

"Looks like I hit the mark Heahahahah" He laughed like a beast which pissed her off further.

She fastened her pace which made Zane stagger as the rope extended. "Hey hey! Slow down."

---

"Hey... Did you hear that!?" Valentina, who was leading the group looked back and asked her teammates. "Sounded like a beast..."

Cadell was right beside her in the middle, with a flame-lit torch on his hand. "Yeah, I heard it too.. Let's be careful."

Ouida and Odis were right behind them. Ouida nodded while Odis was looking down on the ground, his face filled with complex emotions. He had been like that ever since they started walking.

Valentina looked ahead and started walking again. "Okay, let's go."

After walking for a while, they finally reached the end of the tunnel.

Cadell hurriedly extinguished his torch and whispered, "There's light beyond the exit. Be careful, there may be something there..."

Valentina nodded and they all tip-toed towards the exit. After coming out of the tunnel, they found themselves in an intersection with flaming torches on the wall.

The intersection was round and there were three ways, one they came from, the one right opposite and one on the left.

"Oh, It's an intersection. Where should we go now?" Valentina asked the group.

Cadell glanced behind him towards the siblings and looked forward again, "Let's just go with your instincts."

Ouida nodded, "Yes, let's do that."

Valentina pouted, "The last time we did that, I led you guys straight towards a beast." She then looked towards the two paths. "Also, I don't feel anything right now either. So strange."

"Just pick a tunnel Val! We trust you!" Ouida smiled.

"Yeah, go on Val." Cadell added.

"Hmm.. let's go towards the left then!" Valentina smiled.

"Tch." Odis expressed his displeasure.

"You got something to say?" Valentina stared at him.

"You're an idiot you commoner!" He stared back at her. "Think about it logically, according to where we came in from, if we keep on moving straight, we're likely to come out near Lastwind. If we go left, we'll just be going deeper into the forest."

"Last- what?" Valentina tilted her head.

"Didn't you even research where we were coming before the trip? This is why I say commoner's have no brain."

"You! Shut up! It's you and your friend's fault that we're even in here right now!" Valentina shouted.

Odis frowned and was about to say something when Cadell intervened.

"Shh! Listen!"

As everyone became silent, they heard footsteps from the tunnel straight towards them.

"It's two people, they're approaching fast. Ready yourselves." Cadell whispered.

As they all readied their weapons, two silhouettes appeared from the tunnel.

Valentina widened her eyes and ran towards the person in the front.

"Sister Edana!" She gave her a warm hug.

"Val? What are you doing here?" Edana asked in surprise.

"Oh! We-" As Valentina was speaking, she heard something metallic drop on the floor behind Edana.

*Clatter*

She looked down towards the ground to see what made the sound and widened her eyes. She saw something very familiar. It was a hunting knife, similar to the one that her town's blacksmith gifted her brother.

She slowly raised her head towards the person behind Edana and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"B-Brother?"