The Room Beyond the Dust

Chapter 78

Roy heard someone cough on the other side of the smokescreen, and he ran toward the sound. Letho was leaning against the corner, his leather armor blown to smithereens. His arms, chest, and legs were scraped by the debris and charred by the flames, his face black with soot. He's a mess, but at least he's still alive. Their stock of potions had been used up, but Roy had three marigold potions left. Perfect. "How do you feel, Letho? Where are you hurt?"

Letho rested for a while, staring at the smokescreen with fear. "It's nothing. I think I broke a rib and some bones in my right leg. Damn. I never would've thought I'd almost die from my own sign."

Roy was astonished that Letho managed to live when he himself was injured from that distance. "You were really close to the explosion. Any other guy would've been blown to bits."

"If not for Quen, I'd be dead by now." Then he asked, "Wait, you're fine?"

"Yeah, because I was standing far away." Roy wiped some blood from his ear and showed it to Letho. "But I'm not unscathed. My whole face is bleeding, see."

"Yeah, I've never seen anyone still go around like it's nothing after sustaining that kind of injury."

Okay then.

The duo rested until the dust settled, but the cavern they were in had changed. The explosion hadn't affected the path ahead though. Instead, the left wall had caved in, revealing a weird room behind it. "Whoa, a blessing in disguise, huh?" Roy helped the limping witcher into the room. It was the same size as a single room in an inn, but the walls were smooth, obviously renovated by someone or something. There wasn't any bed or furniture within, so there shouldn't have been anyone living there. But even if there was someone in there, the wall would've been blocked in the first place. In other words, there was no exit, making the room a death trap.

"Which dumbass built this empty room in this tunnel?" Roy was disappointed. He thought they'd come across a treasure or something.

"It's probably a sorcerer's abode," Letho said. "Only those who can teleport can come and go as they please."

Roy helped Letho to the big, gleaming wall facing the entrance, and his necklace started humming the moment he touched it. Instead of the weak hum he'd felt when they'd fought the nekkers, the hum felt strong and invigorating.

"Something wrong with this wall?" Roy brushed his hand against it like Letho had, but all he felt was a hard wall.

"We have to find out no matter what. A sorcerer put a spell on this, but luckily, I have some dimeritium powder left." Letho rummaged through his satchel and pulled out a handful of grey powder. It was the enemy of sorcerers and the material for dimeritium bombs — dimeritium powder.

Letho sprinkled the dust onto the wall, and then the wall, not unlike soaked paper, turned a darker shade. The duo looked at each other for a moment before making their move. When it was fully soaked in dimeritium, ripples appeared in the center and spread out, revealing the mystery behind it, just like how a theater would raise its curtains.

The duo observed the mural on the wall in silence. On the left, an elf with a crown was standing before his throne on the podium with his arms spread, welcoming his subjects that were kneeling before him.

The mural felt cool to the touch, and then a ripple coming from it coursed through Roy. He trembled for a moment, and then, as if by magic, he found himself among the kneeling crowd in the image he'd seen. Roy looked up at the noble king above, who felt like an infinite ocean and an insurmountable mountain. Roy felt like he was just an insignificant bystander in the presence of the king.

***

He snapped out of it a moment later and turned his eyes to the second mural. The elf king was in there too, but this time, he was swinging a crimson sword at a group of snarling invaders, while his sea of soldiers stood behind him.

"Those are humans, aren't they?" Roy frowned. The invaders were built like humans, but they were depicted as snarling, repulsive creatures. What came next was a land drenched with blood and lit ablaze by the flames of war. The once glorious empire was reduced to rubbles, elf corpses strewn across the land, while the human executioners stood on top of the rubble, pointing their swords at the elf king's throat.

The last mural depicted the elf king who'd lost his crown, and he abandoned his sword and shot an arrow at the sun above. The sun, injured by the elf's shot, rained blood on the land. It seeped into the ground, and mysterious plants broke through the soil and grew toward the sky.

Roy fell into a long silence after he was done looking at the murals. Vivid depictions of war in all its cruelty popped up within his mind, as if by magic. Eventually, his eyes turned crimson, his breathing turned heavy, and he clenched his fists in hysteria.

Letho gave him a tight slap, and Roy yelped. He rubbed his face that was starting to swell, and his eyes were clear again. "You could have been gentler, Letho."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Letho gasped as his wound started to tear. "You might have killed yourself if I slapped you even a moment later."

"So is this mural real?" Roy knew about the world's truth, but he wanted to hear what Letho had to say about it.

"The murals tell of the history of the humans and elves," Letho said. "The legends say the humans aren't the natives of this land. They'd come from the lands of yore and killed most of the ancient races here, including the elves. In the end, they finally conquered the world, but legends were just that. Legends. The humans have lived here for many generations, so maybe they've changed how history was written to hide the truth from everyone. It's hard to say who's right and who's wrong. Most humans don't think they've invaded the lands of the ancient races though."

"What do you think then?" Roy asked.

"Me?" Letho scratched his chin. "Witchers aren't bound by their race. Most Cat School witchers were elves, you know? All we have to do is keep to our creed, no matter the history."

Letho might not have known it, but Roy did. He knew that humans did come from other continents, and most of the human settlements like Vizima and Novigrad were built upon the ruins of elven civilization. However, elves, or to be precise, Aen Seidhe, were also beings of another world. They came to the present land and killed the natives and ruled the land for a long time.

If they wanted to be more precise, the dwarves and gnomes were the real natives of the land, but they were forced to hide in a remote corner of a mountain range. Oh, the Mahakams used to be a part of the elves' kingdom too. I can see why an elven hidden room would show up here. Roy guessed, "Maybe an elven sorcerer with a grudge made this room to keep the historical records to make sure everyone who came later would know about the evil humans had done."

Letho nodded, but then shook his head. "That's not all there is to it. This sorcerer's goal isn't to keep history intact. Look here." Letho pushed himself up and knocked on the wall, and then he pushed his hand against it and murmured. A moment later, the winds howled in the room.

Roy looked closely and saw the mural destroyed by Aard, and when the dust had settled, something hidden was revealed.