Chapter 8 : The three shadowy galleries

New Quests

"Defeat the Scarlet King"

Reward: Ruby of the Flame

[Allows clan members to withstand extreme cold and increase the effects of weapons when in contact with heat.]

"Defeat the Eternal Jade Queen"

Reward: Regenerative Emerald

[Allows clan members to resist burns and increase the regenerative effects of food or healing items.]

"Please choose a quest from the options below. The others will no longer be available."

I stopped in the middle of the gallery.

Opaline, who was walking a few steps in front of me, also slowed down. The screen of my watch burned my fingers as I read the warning again. Once. Twice. Three times. The words remained unchanged, even when I stupidly brought the screen close to my face.

Ruby protected from the cold and strengthened weapons exposed to heat. The Emerald protected against burns and improved regeneration. Two useful rewards, but only one could be chosen.

Since the clan's inception, the word "chief" always seemed strange to me. Deciding under pressure was one thing; Choosing a reward for all, alone, was another. Especially now that this title, which I had never really asked for, seemed to be enough to entrust me with all the decisions.

"Kellan! Silas! »

My voice echoed in the gallery before getting lost in the distance. A few seconds later, two halos reappear between the rocks. Kellan came back first, Silas on his heels, his bag already propped up against his shoulder.

"What is it?" asked Kellan.

I showed them my watch. He immediately looked at hers, then his expression darkened slightly.

"Only the clan leader can choose. For us, everything is locked. »

Silas leaned over my shoulder, pulling up the shoulder strap of his bag as he came.

"Do you see the same thing as we do, chief?"

"Yes. Except I have a slider that lights up when I hover over each option. »

Silas narrowed his eyes at the screen. For a moment, I thought he was going to make a remark about the fact that the Bloc had just given me a new responsibility without anyone asking me to do so. Instead, his attention is clearly focused on the one detail that could, in his eyes, make the situation less worrying.

"Does that mean defeating one golem out of the two is enough? It's great! »

His enthusiasm was heard in the gallery with an almost insulting lightness. I looked at the screen again. He traveled there with good news; For my part, I saw it as a very elegant way to encourage us to choose which danger to face first.

"I don't think so," Kellan replied. "If one of them remains standing, the territory will probably not be liberated.404 told us that we had to defeat the enemy of the territory. Here, there are two of them. »

"So we'll have to destroy them both," I said, representing the descriptions. "The choice is only about the reward. Both quests exist because there are probably two golems. »

Silas frowned, less convinced by the explanation than by the injustice it seemed to conceal.

"In that case, why do we require you to choose a quest instead of a reward? They could have asked us to do both, and then let us choose what we want to receive next. »

"Victory may still require destroying both," Kellan suggests, "but we will only receive the reward attached to the one we choose."

"That's exactly what I just said," Silas said.

Kellan turns his head towards me.

"What do you mean?"

Silas' face flashes through several expressions before it freezes on indignation. He raised his arms, then took a few steps back, muttering that his ideas were being stolen from him. Even underground, with two golems somewhere under our feet, there was still a way to take offense at a simple reformulation.

Aria had designated me as the leader and the system had given me full control. I could have chosen, and then pretended to have done my best. In other circumstances, it might have been enough.

But Aria and Milo had already left for the north, and Opaline knew these golems better than we did. Being a leader doesn't mean deciding for others just because a screen gives me the right to do so.

"I'm not choosing anything at the moment."

Silas stopped mumbling.

"Have you been tempted?"

"No. That's precisely what bothers me. The system leaves me the choice alone, but the reward is for the whole clan. Aria and Milo have to give their opinion. »

I stayed in front of the screen for a few seconds. Two quests. Two awards. Two enemies who seem to be waiting for us to choose how the Bloc would reward us for surviving.

"In Mistmushroom," I continued, "Aria and I have been given a mission: to retrieve weapons. Then another: defeat Albert. Without the village, we would never have known who the enemy was or why we had to face him. The stages are presented as we make discoveries. »

"So what?" asked Kellan.

"Aria unlocked clan creation after Parazampi. Then, we agreed to help Taron and Opaline, and now we offer two rewards that are specific to clan members. Without everything that has happened before, they may never have been available. »

Silas finally stopped abusing the shoulder strap of his bag.

"So there could be other quests for other groups. Based on what they've done before. »

"Probability."

"And some of them, we'll never see them because we didn't meet the right person or do the right thing."

"That's possible too."

He remains silent for a moment. Judging by his expression, the idea did not please him. Neither did I.

"Then why do we only have these?" he demanded. "It's not going to make me rich."

"Because we know almost nothing about Argemira. They appeared after the clan was created and we met the two guardians. Others could be unlocked later. »

"But that's still just a theory on your part."

"Yes."

"So as we break up, each group could trigger something different," Kellan understood.

"Exactly."

Opaline had been listening to us since the beginning, her torch pointed low enough to illuminate the ground. The tips of his claws sometimes grazed the rock. She was kept silent, but something in our conversation seemed to silence her more surely than bad news.

"I don't understand," she finally says. "Why do you have this kind of mission?"

Silas turns his head towards her.

"That's a good point, indeed."

I looked for a way to explain the 404 error to him without the answer turning into a list of things we didn't understand ourselves. The problem was that the list was starting to grow.

"It was a certain 404 that set everything up," I explain. "He ordered us to explore the territories, to advance and to fight everything that blocked us. Our watches give us quests and reveal new functions as we go along. In principle, it's quite simple. But for the rest... »

"And this whole crime thing," Silas added, suddenly much less cheerful, "it's absurd. I don't remember anything. Even if I regained my memory, I know I would never have done what they claim. I'm not a saint, okay. But I have never laundered money. That, I'm sure. »

His hand had come to rest on the shoulder strap of his bag. He was no longer joking.

"Have you all lost your memory?" demanded Opaline.

"To celebrate. Station 404 accused us of being criminals before bringing us here by force. And to begin with, we don't even come from this world. »

Opaline does not seem surprised, however. Her expression barely changed, as if my answer only confirmed what she already suspected.

"So you are really strangers... from the world of the great sun," she concludes, lowering her torch. "My mother always told me the same story to put me to sleep. The story of a human from elsewhere who had built a large structure in Aurelmont. He said he lived in a different world from ours. His name was GoldBrown. You look like him. »

Gold-brown.

This name haunted me. Opaline had already mentioned this man, but until then, I had ranked him among all the other strange stories in this world. This time, she had just confirmed something much more concrete: her parents had really known someone from the same world as us. Others had crossed the Bloc before us.

Pure fantasy. The kind of revelation that I would have loved in a novel, and that I appreciate much less now that I'm stuck inside.

"That name doesn't mean anything to me," Kellan admits.

"My parents knew him personally, but it goes back almost a century. I only know about him what they told me. »

A century? It was not the first time that this period had been mentioned. Briana had told me about an old children's tale, about a man who stole their mineral to make himself a bronze armor. Opaline had also evoked a particularly greedy man in his parents' stories. I had no proof that it was all pointing to the same person, but the coincidences were starting to pile up. And above all, a detail came to strike me.

"Wait... Did your parents really know him in person almost a century ago? How old were they? »

Opaline turns her head slightly towards me. My question didn't seem to surprise her by its innuendo, but rather by the fact that I saw it as a problem.

"About your age. You can live for almost two centuries, so that's fine, if that's what worries you. »

Two centuries. I already knew that Opaline was in her thirties. She had told us that she was three years old when the golems destroyed Dolmaryth, nearly thirty years before. And yet, until then, this figure had not seemed particularly strange to me. Thirty years was thirty years. I had simply put it in the back of my mind without asking myself what it really meant to her.

With such a life expectancy, things took on another dimension. His parents could very well have met GoldBrown when they were still young, lived decades after his disappearance, and then had Opaline much later, without it seeming exceptional to them. This century, which seemed immense to me, perhaps represented only a part of their existence.

Kellan paused as well. From his expression, I understand that he would probably just make the same calculations.

The deeper we went into this world, the more our bearings lost their meaning: people could live twice as long as we did and talk about centuries-old events as memories passed down by their parents. What seemed to me to belong to a distant era was not necessarily so to them.

And suddenly, GoldBrown's story became much more concrete. He was no longer just a character whose name had survived in a legend. Opaline's parents had spoken to her. They had seen it. Someone, somewhere, had indeed crossed the Bloc long before us and left enough traces for him to still be talked about nearly a century later.

Opaline, for her part, seemed to have already forgotten that her answer might seem strange to us. She raised her torch again and went on naturally:

"We have to separate here. See you at the base in eighteen thousand seconds. »

She had announced it as one would give the time of an appointment, without realizing that around none of her worked like this. Silas blinked, tried for a moment to see a hidden meaning in the sentence, then gave up.

"How much does it cost?"

"That's our way of measuring time," she replied. "Sorry."

The calculation took care of itself in my head, almost before I even made the decision to do it. Three thousand six hundred seconds in an hour. The rest to follow effortlessly.

"Five o'clock."

Silas turned his head towards me, a little too quickly for someone who pretended to be interested in nothing.

"How did you find that?"

"Three thousand six hundred seconds in an hour," he recalls Kellan, in a tone that breaks open doors. "When it comes to money, you do that kind of calculation before all of us."

Silas opened his mouth, then closed it. He found nothing to answer. For once he was recognized for a competence related to numbers, he seems to hesitate between taking offense and accepting the compliment.

He and Kellan eventually took the Southwest Passage. A few meters away, Kellan checked one last time to make sure we were still there before disappearing with Silas between the walls. Their auras gradually diminished, and then darkness engulfed them.

Soon, there were only Opaline and me left in front of the west gallery.

Five o'clock.

More than enough for something to go wrong.

ARIA

Several galleries away, our lanterns struggled to dispel the darkness. Taron walked confidently, like someone who knows every corner. Milo crossed the passage without stopping, visibly unable to walk normally for more than ten seconds.

"Have you seen the new quests?" he asked.

"Yes. Only Casimir can decide, but he will certainly come and talk to me before deciding. Well... He could very well do it without me. I especially want to see if he will think about it. »

In the face of danger, Casimir didn't need to be told what to do. He decides quickly and, most of the time, accurately. On the other hand, when he had time, he preferred to listen to the opinions of others before making a decision. That's also why I gave him the role of leader.

And if this time he chose a quest without coming to talk to me, I would know how to remind him of some good habits when he returned.

Knowing that two such important rewards depended on a screen I didn't have access to would bother me though. I knew that he would probably wait for us to return, but I did not appreciate that the system reserved the final decision-making power for him.

"I wouldn't even know which one to choose," Milo admitted.

"Both would be helpful. Casimir would certainly want us all to discuss it together. »

"He's a good leader."

I had nothing to answer. Since Mistmushroom, I was used to having Casimir around. I always ended up hearing his voice, his footsteps, or a remark to someone. Even when we weren't talking, I usually knew where he was.

Several galleries now separated us, and he had left with Opaline.

Twice, I slowed down without realizing it, listening to the noises behind us, before reminding myself that he couldn't protest to be there. The second time annoyed me more than the first.

I started walking again without saying anything.

"We've reached our transportation," Taron says. "Sss-fff... »

Three tanks rested on rails that plunged directly into darkness. Metal still shone under our lanterns despite the years; Each one seemed big enough to accommodate two people.

"Tanks?" repeated Milo with an enthusiasm that immediately made me fear that he wanted to push them himself.

"Where do they lead?" I asked.

"To the north. A door to another territory is on the same road. Gniark... »

Another door. This brought to three the number of known passages to enter or leave Argemira. Our destination having already been chosen, this discovery did not change anything for the moment.

It's a shame. If we had known earlier, I would have gladly decided the rest of the route myself. Casimir had had the idea of point A before me, and now I was the one who was following the path he had suggested. Nothing serious, of course. Just a little annoying.

"So there is a third passage out of Argemira?"

"Yes. Mist Mushroom is located to the east. One road connects the south and another the north. »

Milo took in the information as if he had just received a gift, and continued on his way before Taron had even caught his breath.

"Why hasn't anyone told us about it?"

"It was strictly forbidden to approach it when we were children. Since the galleries have become dangerous, this ban has not been of much use. »

"Is it still dangerous?"

"I don't know. The door may have been reopened if someone defeated the entity from the neighboring territory. Hrrrh... »

A sound rose from the back of his throat, between a regulation and a warning. Milo didn't hear him.

"And why was it forbidden to go there?"

"Is it a tradition for you to ask a question after each of my sentences? Skreiii! »

Milo sat up with the deeply hurt look of someone whose only recognized quality had just been insulted.

"I have a curious mind. It's a gift. »

"It's a flaw."

Taron continued before Milo could come up with an argument to make his case.

"The mist that comes through this door makes those who venture into it disappear. They reappear elsewhere, in a territory chosen at random. Whoever enters it may never find his way back. Flop... flop... »

This fog immediately reminded me of that of the first day, the one that had dispersed us after the white room. Without him, I might never have met Casimir. In the end, I owed something to this damn fog. For once, he had made a wise choice.

"Do you even know the name of this place?" I asked.

"No."

"Or you know and you refuse to tell us," Milo suggests.

"We have not been allowed to learn that," Taron replied in a low voice.

"Perfect," Milo whispered after a few seconds. "It's exactly the kind of answer that makes you want to go and see."

Unfortunately, I shared his opinion. I was already imagining myself facing this fog with Casimir, he explained why it was a preposterous idea, while he was preparing, despite everything, what was necessary to attempt the crossing without finding himself completely destitute. He would probably protest a little, as he does every time I imposed something on him that he only half liked, before finally giving in.

These little exchanges started to please me more than I wanted to admit. Especially when he resisted just enough to make his cooperation interesting.

"I hope you don't intend to take us there today."

"Were you afraid to take the plunge?" joked Milo.

"No. Because I prefer to go with Casimir. »

Milo looked knowing. I let him have fun; the idea of discovering a new place without Casimir sincerely displeased me.

"This door is not our destination," Taron interjected. "An old outpost is on the way. To reach it, you have to activate a mechanism that is out of reach. That's why I chose you. »

My bow was therefore intended for the mechanism, set too high for it to reach. At least his reason was clear.

Opaline's was much less so.

If Taron had chosen me for the photo shoot, she must have had a reason to want Casimir with her. Maybe simply because the group had to be separated. And yet, I thought back to how she had observed him when she had told him about her mother's outfit.

This irritated me more than it should have.

The worst thing is that I didn't say anything when the bands were announced. Not even an objection. I had accepted and let Casimir go with her as if the question did not concern me. It's only now, after several galleries, that I realize how stupid I am.

For a plate, boots, or any other quarrel, I could give him an order without hesitation. On the other hand, as soon as I really wanted him to stay with me, the words seemed much more difficult to pronounce.

It was pathetic.

In front of us, Taron continued walking while Milo was already asking him another question. Neither of them had turned around. So much the better.

"I understand."

Milo seemed about to take the opportunity to ask another question, but Taron had already reached the tanks. I take a seat with him in the first one, while Milo sits alone in the back one.

Taron pulled a lever. The metal smiled with such violence that, for a moment, I thought that the whole machine was going to give way under our weight. My fingers instinctively gripped the edge. And yet, the wheels began to turn, slowly at first, before finding an almost reassuring regularity.

For nearly half an hour, the parishes paraded around us. Veins of minerals glittered under the light of the lanterns; longer still, the carcasses of tanks and abandoned tools littered the rails. In several places, the railway bypassed old landslides thanks to reconstructed sections. The line had therefore continued to be maintained after the appearance of the golems.

"Who fixed all this?"

Taron took so long to answer that I thought he was going to ignore me. His gloves rested on his knees despite the vibrations of the cart.

"Our commander, Quérel. For the first few years, he was convinced that golems could be destroyed. He had also prepared alternative escape routes for Dolmaryth in case of failure. He did a lot of unnecessary things during that time. »

"Useless?"

"He died before he could use them."

Behind us, Milo's humming stops. Even he had understood that it was better to keep quiet.

"I'm sorry."

"That was a long time ago."

His voice had barely changed. I knew this way of interrupting a memory as soon as it became too personal. I did the same thing when people told me about my father. A few words, then something else. It was simpler that way.

I don't insist. My gaze rests again on his hands, still motionless on his gauntlets. Quérel had long since died, but Taron continued to borrow the passages he had prepared. I wondered how many times he had made this journey thinking of himself.

The chariot finally emerged into a large hall. Our lanterns did not light high enough to see the ceiling. Against the back wall, several meters above us, an ancient outpost of wood and metal overhung the tracks.

The beams had been reinforced, the cables were still resting on the platforms and an access had been built from below. Despite the years, the whole thing has still held firm.

Quérel had really prepared everything. He just didn't plan to die first.

The ladder that had once provided access to the outpost was gone; only a few broken fastenings remained, still sunk into the rock like the last teeth of a jaw. Higher up, well above these remains, a large metal lever protruded from a mechanism covered in dust.

I had spotted him even before the tank stopped.

"Do you see the target?" asked Taron.

"Since we arrived."

I drew my bow and notched an arrow. The distance didn't really worry me. The angle, on the other hand, much less so. I had to pull the lever low enough and with enough force to tip it over, otherwise the arrow would ricochet off in the darkness and I would have to start again in front of a man who didn't seem to enjoy the wait.

Born had me repeat this movement dozens of times. Respirator. Relax the shoulders. Stop thinking about the arrow once the rope is tightened.

I lost.

The arrow sliced through the air and hit the lever head-on.

A cracking of retention above us. The whole room began to vibrate as a gangway slowly detached from the outpost. Years of dust settled with it before its tip touched the ground.

"Bravo!" exclaimed Milo as he applauded. "What a talent!"

"I know."

"Good. Now we're climbing," Taron concludes after checking the mechanism. "Click... »

This simple "good" made me happier than Milo's applause.

SILAS

The southwest gallery narrowed as we advanced. At times, an icy current of air rose from the tunnel and seeped under my clothes, as if something was breathing in the depths. I lit up the walls with my lantern, watching for cracks under the rock, but none were accessible enough to warrant a stop.

The last gem I had tried to retrieve had nearly cost me my life. I had learned my lesson.

What I had especially remembered was that you had to check the ceiling before touching anything. To give up completely would have been silly; In a gallery like this, everything on the ground belonged to the one who stooped first.

"What are we supposed to find around here?" I asked.

Kellan let a few meters pass before answering. Since we left, his hand kept coming back to his jacket, as if he were checking something through the fabric.

"I wanted to talk to you about something. I've already told Casimir, but you and Milo must know too. »

The seriousness of his voice did not augur well.

"Wait... You're a millionaire and all this was just a test to check my loyalty?"

He let out a brief laugh.

"Don't be ridiculous. I have to find someone."

"A friend?"

"My little sister. It's somewhere in the neighborhood. »

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Kellan took two more steps before noticing that I was no longer following him. He then takes out of his jacket a small polished metal compass. A faint glow illuminated its dial, crossed by a hand that obstinately pointed to the northeast. Exactly the opposite of our direction.

"I found it among my belongings after Casimir and Aria pulled us out of the landslide," the tendon explained to me. "They took almost everything we own, but they left that."

I took the compass. The metal was warm in my palm and, despite the rocks around us, the needle did not move. Normally, faced with such an object, I would have already tried to estimate its value or to calculate what I could get out of it. The idea crossed my mind, then disappeared almost immediately.

This time, it wasn't really a compass that I was holding. It was the only bond that united Kellan to his sister.

I am the needle of the gaze. Somewhere, beyond all these galleries, she may have been pointing to a young girl who had been alone since day one. For once, the value of the object doesn't matter to me.

"Does this really show the way your sister is going?"

"I don't remember how I got them, but they were supposed to face each other. My sister must have the other. If this one is still working here, then it must be somewhere in that direction. »

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

Kellan took up the compass and clutched it almost immediately between his fingers. He keeps it in his hand for a moment before putting it back in his jacket.

"She's fifteen years old and she's alone somewhere in this hell."

Reflexively, I searched my pockets. Still no phone. They had left me my bag, but had taken the only object that could have allowed me to contact someone.

"And they left you that compass when they took my phone... »

"You just thought about it?"

"I had other priorities."

I pointed my chin at his jacket.

"If she still has hers, she should also be able to see your direction. Maybe she's already trying to reach you. »

"It's possible. But the signal points to the northeast and no passage from Argemira leads directly to this place. Casimir told me that the territory after Mistmushroom was too dangerous. As soon as we reach a territory with a road that goes north, I will go and look for it. »

He had just said that he would go, not that we would go. I immediately disliked it.

"Milo and I are coming with you."

"Casimir wants us all to bet together," Kellan replied. "But I don't intend to drag the whole clan into a search that could last months."

"So you plan to go alone despite what he told you."

"He doesn't agree with me. I have not yet succeeded in changing his mind. »

I waited a second, convinced that he was joking.

"It is you with whom we woke up. You're part of our group, so don't talk like you can disappear on your own when you feel like it. »

My voice echoed on the walls louder than I had intended. Kellan kept his composure, which was seriously starting to annoy me.

"We will all go back to point A. Then I will accompany you to the next territory from which a road to the north starts. If the search becomes too dangerous or too long, I will continue on my own and come back as soon as possible. »

"What if something happens to you? No one will be there to help you. »

"I won't leave without preparing. Casimir and Aria have already given me their Mushroom Balm, and I'll take the time to gather the rest. »

A laugh without any trace of amusement escaped me. Of course. Casimir had already thought about healing objects. He was always thinking about this kind of thing before I even had time to understand that something had to be planned.

"Of course. Casimir plans everything, we pledge allegiance to Aria, and Milo and I stay behind because we're useless. »

"Of course not."

"And yet that's what I hear."

Kellan was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, all traces of irritation had disappeared from his voice.

"Casimir and Aria survived Mistmroom on their own. They know how to fight and make decisions when everything goes wrong. I'll be more relaxed if you stay with them. »

It didn't really improve things. He had simply found a more polite way of saying that they knew what to do in case of danger.

"It doesn't give you the right to choose for us."

He did not try to argue. He just kept walking, and I did the same. After a few meters, he resumed in a much calmer tone:

"Do you remember the first day? We were not alone at the beginning. »

I searched my memory. Those first hours remained confused, between waking up, the headache and the urge to understand why I had ended up there.

"The guy with the glasses?"

"He spent his time screaming. He looked like an employee in the middle of a nervous breakdown because of his payslip. »

Kellan did not point this out. He had to conclude that the comparison was not very helpful in moving things forward.

"And he tried to go after us as soon as he realized we didn't know anything."

I saw again his crooked glasses, his hands stretched out in front of him, and the way he demanded answers from those who had no more than he did. At the time, I found it mostly exhausting.

His name finally came back to me.

"Aaron. I knocked him down in two seconds, then he left, swearing that we would regret him. Why do you talk about him again? »

"Because you understood before Milo and I that he was going to become dangerous. You look at his hands, how far away he kept from us, and everything he could use as a weapon. »

I hadn't thought about all this at the time. Aaron had simply seemed dangerous to me, like an unnecessary expense that would increase in cost if no one took care of it.

"Milo remembers almost everything he sees," Kellan continues. "He notices what people are trying to hide. Casimir will need that by his side. »

"If you tell me all this to convince me to let you go, it doesn't work."

"I'm telling you this because it's true."

"It's still convenient that it's true just when you need it."

Kellan didn't respond right away. He slows down until he is at my level, then puts a hand on my shoulder. From his expression, I understand that the discussion was not going to end as I had hoped.

"Silas, rest with them. To me."

I looked at it for a few seconds. He could have given me another reason, told me that it was more or that Casimir needed us. Instead, he was just asking me to do it for him. It's hard to keep complaining after that.

"If you don't come back, I'll go and get you myself. Even if it means crossing all the territories of the world. »

"I could very well imagine you saying that if I took two or three fragments with me."

We got back on track. I mechanically checked the closure of my bag and mentally reviewed its contents: healing items, a few tools, the mineral we had picked up since our arrival. Not much, at first glance. But it was enough to really need something to regret not having kept it.

His sister was fifteen years old. Somewhere in the Bloc, she was perhaps moving forward with no other reference point than a direction to follow and the hope that Kellan was still at the end.

He might well pretend that he was preparing everything before he left; I knew him well enough to know that he would try not to ask us anything. So much the worse for him. I would set aside medicine, food, and anything else that could save him from running out of supplies on the way. For once, I could keep things for someone other than myself.

And if he took too long to come back, he wouldn't even need to ask. I'd go and get him.

CASIMIR

The uneven ground crunched under my boots as our footsteps echoed in the west gallery. Opaline moved with a disconcerting confidence, able to detect differences in the rock that I couldn't even see.

"I never imagined that a world like yours could exist," she whispered.

"It was a luxury, when I think about it. Every morning, a glass of orange juice and a brioche. A movie at noon, sometimes a game, before going back to work. I also program on my computer from time to time, just to pass the time. »

I heard myself say all this and I realized that it wouldn't really be a lifetime. More like a loop. I had been going around in circles for so long that I didn't even know if it was a routine or a very effective way to avoid thinking.

"I didn't understand a word of what you just said," she admits after a silence. "But do you miss it?"

I had to think about it longer than I expected.

"In celebration, yes. But I'm bored. Here, at least, I discover something new every day. »

It was true. It was also the easiest answer. I almost regretted saying it when I heard the word come out of my mouth. "Here" meant golems, collapsed galleries, an entire civilization wiped off the map, dozens of deaths, and a counter that kept tumbling while we slept.

And yet, a part of me wanted to know what lay beyond the next gallery. That was what worried me most.

Opaline just nodded and continued on her way, her torch raised in front of her.

"And you're very attached to Aria."

I missed a step.

"Where does this come from?"

"Do you think I didn't observe you both? She leads you by the nose and you seem perfectly contained to let her do it. »

"It's not that simple."

"Of course."

She didn't add anything. Of course. Opaline had this annoying habit of letting go of a remark and then leaving me alone with it.

I am looking for a convincing objection. Aria liked to decide and watch me obey just enough to have fun. I could say no to him; The problem was the number of times I didn't want to.

"I made him a promise without really thinking about it," I continued. "I told her I was protecting her. Then Albert attacked her twice and, each time, I intervened before I even understood what I was doing. »

The light of the Opaline torch glides in front of us. I review Aria, frozen in front of Albert, then against me after the fight. At first, the protégé seemed logical. After that, it wasn't just that.

"That's when I realized she really mattered to me."

"It's adorable," Opaline whispered.

"Whatever you do, don't repeat that in front of her."

"Too late. I'll save it for when it's most embarrassing. »

"Please, no."

She laughs softly. We moved a few metres forward before another question came to mind.

"The other day you said that you and Taron wanted to retake Dolmaryth and secure the roads before leaving. But after that... do you really plan to leave Argemira? »

Opaline took a few seconds before answering.

"Yes. I've wanted to do it for a long time. »

"Where to go?"

"I don't know yet. My parents reached the castle through point A. When they are income we seek, the golems immediately to wake up. They never had time to take us with them. »

His voice had remained calm, but I understood better why the idea of leaving was not foreign to him. His parents already knew what lay beyond Argemira. She had grown up with their stories without ever being able to follow them.

"Would you like to find the castle?"

"Maybe. Or just to see what they've seen. But I won't leave until the roads are safe. If travelers start crossing Argemira again, someone will have to make sure they don't end up in the sealed tunnels or under Dolmaryth. »

This time, I didn't try to dissuade her. She had already explained to me what this city meant to her. What I wanted to know most was if there would be a sequel.

"And when it's over?"

"Then I'll leave."

One detail came back to me. Since Albert's death, the Mushroom-Mist Passage was operational again. Argemira was therefore already less isolated than when we arrived.

"Can the people of Mushroom come here now?"

"Yes. The door is open in both directions: for the first time in almost thirty years, a direct route connects Argemira and Mushroom again. »

I thought back to the village, to Briana and the others. Until then, I had always considered each territory as a separate stage from the next. And yet, as we moved forward, the roads behind us were also starting to reopen. People who had lived for decades without ever being able to meet will now find the same paths as us.

Opaline gave a small smile.

"Do you realize? We have lived almost all our lives cut off from the rest of the world. You and Aria changed that in a matter of weeks. »

"Above all, we were very lucky."

"It's what people say when they've done something good and they don't know what to make of the compliments."

I preferred not to argue.

"If the roads become passable again, will the territories end up being connected as before?"

"To celebrate. Several gates became inaccessible during the invasions. Aurelmont is said to have been one of the first isolated territories. »

"The one where GoldBrown built its structure?"

"Yes. No one knows what is happening there today. Our commander was already talking about his isolation when my mother was still living in the castle. It goes back more than sixty years. »

Sixty years.

I put the facts back in order. Albert had only been infected three years earlier. The golems had woken up about thirty years before we arrived. Aurelmont and the Frost Prison seemed to have been isolated for even longer. The dates did not match.

"Briana thought Albert's infection had nothing to do with the closure of Mushroom passages."

"She was probably right," Opaline replied. "The gap is too big."

"So the parasite didn't necessarily close them."

"No. In Argemira, golems appeared long before he arrived. The Frost Prison was already isolated as well. These events do not belong to the same period. »

Opaline let a few steps pass before continuing:

"What I don't understand is why the death of the parasite was enough to reopen the Mushroom Passages."

The system expected may simply be the defeat of the enemy linked to the territory. After the quests that appeared shortly before, the idea was not absurd, but it remained a hypothesis.

"Briana told us about Frost Prison. She said that this territory leads nowhere else. »

"That's right. His only passage rests Mushroom in Mist. From Argemira, the other two roads are to the south and north. »

A detail had crept into his answer almost as if nothing had happened.

"What do you mean by north? Is there a door there? »

"Yes. And I advise you not to take it. »

Of course. To hear them tell it, every territory seemed to have an excellent reason never to set foot there. Mushroom almost seemed like a haven of peace in comparison, and even there, we had almost been run over by Albert.

"We have to go south to get to point A anyway."

"Point A is not exactly what you think," Opaline corrected me. "It's a relay between two territories, an area developed to allow passage. In the past, leaders used a nearby space called point B for their meetings. »

"So there is a point C?"

"No."

'Point A shall designate the transit zone. Point B is the second part of the relay, reserved for meetings between peoples. It is accessed through an interior corridor, not through another door. It was the only neutral place where their representatives could meet before everything was isolated. »

The clean room when we arrived came back to me: the rows of seats, the huge screen, the counter and the voice of the 404. I had always believed that it had been built for us. If Opaline was telling the truth, she existed long before we arrived.

Why had car 404 gathered us there before dispersing us? And where was that corridor?

"Have you ever been?"

"No. My parents borrowed it. They had to cross it to reach the castle. It was the only way to travel between certain territories without taking the road to the north. »

"I'm sorry."

"No need."

She had answered without resistance, but quickly enough for me to understand that there was nothing to add. We continued on our way for a while longer, our solitary steps against the rock, before it broke the silence.

"I'm going to change the subject. In fact, there's another reason why Taron sent me with you. »

"So it wasn't just because you know the galleries."

"No."

She stops. I did the same. My hand goes almost instinctively to the handle of my dagger, without my having made the slightest decision.

"I chose you far from the others, Casimir."

She didn't look away. The same strange intensity that I had noticed from the moment we met was still present, except that she no longer tried to hide it. From the beginning, I had attributed this look to the curiosity, or mistrust that deserved strangers who had fallen from the sky. I was beginning to understand that I had made a mistake.

"Why?"

Opaline inhales slowly.

"I want to fight against you."