Abandoned Mine

Wedan observed his surroundings for a short while before confidently choosing a direction and starting to walk again. I wanted to ask him if he had found the right path. "Why are we going that way?" I asked.

"The rail line seems to come from there," Wedan replied. "If we find the beginning, we'll find the entrance."

It made sense to follow the path, but I wondered why he hadn't used his ice power to get us out of here. "We survived the crevice," I said. "Can't you just use your ice power to get us out of here?"

"There are too many wooden pillars in the mine," Wedan replied. "That means the mine is weak. If I use my power…"

"The mine will collapse on us," I finished.

"Besides," Wedan added, "we don't know how far away our winged friend is. Let's keep a low profile for now, shall we?"

"Sounds like you made a bad choice for a friend," I said.

"He's not my friend," Wedan replied. "Like I said, we worked together once. That's all."

"It's hard to believe someone like you would work with them," I said.

"Yeah, I'm too good-looking to be bad," Wedan joked. "Unfortunately."

"Then why did you do it?" I asked.

I thought Wedan wouldn't answer my question, but he knew I was persistent, so he went straight to the point.

"It was a mistake I made in the past," he said. "I thought they would be the solution to my problem, but all I did was get my hands dirty. When Furon asked me to be his elite soldier, that's when I realized that I had become one of them. That's not what my sister wanted for me."

"I didn't know you had a sister," I said.

"They killed her when I was young," Wedan replied.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said.

"She was given an execution mission. She was supposed to kill an innocent person, but she didn't want to do it. It wasn't in her nature to kill innocent people, so they eliminated her."

"Who would do such a thing?" I asked.

"Someone who wants to throw the world into chaos. Someone who only wants to see death," Wedan replied.

"So you know who it is?" I asked.

"I can only guess," Wedan said. "But I knew the person who was to be executed in the mission my sister was given. That person was the queen of the sea. That person was your mother."

Wedan knew who I was and I could ask him who gave the order to kill my mother. "Who asked him to do it?" I asked.

"Like I said, it's hard to say anything yet, but the mission came from my lineage - the Apocalypse lineage," he replied.

"Are you a descendant of the Apocalypse?" I asked. "After my sister died, I stopped serving my lineage. I'm on my own now," he said. "Even if your sister didn't do it, they still killed my mother," I said. "I know. Whoever gave the order has incredible power and control over almost all the clans," he replied. "So whoever killed my mother also killed your sister," I said. "It seems so," he replied. "What are you going to do when you find out who did it?" I asked.

"I don't like revenge, but it's customary to get even. I'll make whoever did this pay," he said.

I nodded in agreement with Wedan's words. The grief for my mother had been with me for a long time, and I was determined to find the one responsible for her death. I wanted to make them pay for their actions. However, it seemed that our search would not be easy, as our target was skilled in both power and stealth.

Wedan's white hair betrayed his heritage as a descendant of the Apocalypse. I had never spoken to one before.

"So you're a descendant of the Apocalypse," I said. "Does everyone in your lineage possess the power of ice?"

"Every bloodline is unique," Wedan replied. "We are all born with different powers and abilities, which makes us different from each other."

As we were about to continue our conversation, the silence and darkness surrounding us became even more oppressive, and I began to feel a sense of dread.

Wedan suddenly stopped and focused his gaze into the darkness. I followed his gaze and saw a skinless human skeleton propped against the wall. It was strange that we had only encountered one skeleton in the entire mine, and this one had a note clutched in its hand.

The presence of the note indicated that the person had been here for a long time. Wedan leaned down to read it.

"Every time I hear his voice, he gets closer," the note read. "I'm tired of hearing my friends scream every day. It's like he's hunting us one by one. We've been trapped here since the mine closed. If anyone reads this letter, run without looking back or he will hunt you down."

Wedan stood up abruptly and turned to me. "I know this mine," he said urgently. "We have to get out of here before we're caught by the creature or we'll end up like them."

"Creature?" I asked.

"No time to explain," Wedan said. "Let's go."

Just then, a loud noise echoed through the mine. It sounded like something was coming towards us at great speed.

The wooden supports and the ground beneath us shook as the creature approached. We couldn't see it through the darkness, but we could sense that it was moving quickly towards us. The strange smell grew stronger with each passing moment. My heart pounded in my chest as the creature drew nearer.

How could we hope to fight a creature we had never seen before in such a confined space? Wedan seemed to have come to the same conclusion. He turned calmly in the opposite direction of the approaching sound and began to plot a course in his mind to escape the creature.