"How will we go inside?" asked Marie.
Gilbert took out a few small stone tablets from his pocket. They all had unique symbols and writings on them.
They had some drawings and names written in common language on the back.
He tossed in a tablet marked with a circular symbol that curled inward like a wave. As soon as it hit the end of the stairs, it broke.
A gust of wind blew out from the underground stairs, carrying away the dust, cobwebs and insects. It contained the recording of basic wind magic, gust.
The path was clear for them, clear enough to walk in and not die coughing or by insect bites.
"I bought some from the magic store." said Gilbert.
He only knew basic fire and water magic, both of which were not only useless underground but also harmful to them.
As such he had prepared some basic magic tablets. He hoped to recover the cost with some of the loot.
"There is a magic store?" asked Marie with amazement.
"I'll show you once we're back."
The stairs were wide enough for two people to walk together. After a short discussion they decided on the party formation.
Basil cleared away the cobwebs that the tablet couldn't clear in the front while Marie walked alongside him. Krys and Gilbert followed behind closely.
Marie was carrying a short-sword with both of her hands that she borrowed from Basil.
Gilbert held three stone tablets in his breast pocket and two in his left hand. They held basic light magic illumination and basic wind magic gust.
Basil held an illumination tablet which was glowing in his left hand while clearing away cobwebs with a thick stick.
As the tablet illuminated the area, they found many drawings and writings on the walls. Basil stared at the walls with fascination, stopping every few seconds to take it all in.
Marie and Gilbert had similar reactions to a lesser extent. Still their eyes had a shine in them.
Krys was the only one with a different reaction. He couldn't understand the writings but they looked very familiar to him.
He moved his eyes to the party, he was prepared to protect them with all he had. The only issue was the low ceiling which stopped him from jumping to the front.
He held his sword in a reverse grip to avoid hurting someone accidentally. Gilbert was too into the walls to notice Krys's dilemma.
After walking straight down for 5 minutes, they saw another door in sight. This one looked in an even worse condition than the first one.
Gilbert didn't need to help Basil and Marie with opening the door. It was jammed but they somehow did it.
Marie looked at her biceps with fascination. With only a week of training, she had become much stronger than before. But it didn't appear on her body.
"Let's see the haul."
As soon as the door was opened halfway, a disgusting smell came from inside. The only person acquainted with that scent, now held his properly and prepared for the worst.
Looking inside, they found a huge room… full of horned-rabbits and their children. The sight of small animal offsprings would be cute… if they weren't feasting on the dead.
In the room was a broken and rotted study table in one corner. It looked like it would break with just a touch, the rabbits stayed away from it.
All around the room were the same engravings as the walls, these ones even covered the ceilings.
Many broken glass bottles and vials had their contents spilled over other already broken tables and on the floor.
The room was filled with horned-rabbits with golden eyes. They looked crazy as they feasted on the remains of their dead families. Even the children.
Finally, in the middle of the room was a coffin, the lid of which was opened. Inside was the remains of a dead person, whose flesh was completely eaten up by these rabbits. Even the bones were left chewed and incomplete.
Watching this disturbing sight, three of the party members almost puked, while one noticed a strange anomaly happening with one of his possessions.
He looked down at his neck. From the fold of his shirt, he saw his amulet glow faintly.
At the same time, the rabbits noticed them and stopped moving.
xxx
Selira and Jared followed a small bird through the forest. It led them to an unexplored part of the forest.
A dozen men followed behind them, each carrying weapons.
During their journey, they found the non native species of rabbits around the forest behaving strangely, as if crazed.
After climbing a huge rock, the bird sat down near a broken tree. Reaching the tree, they saw an opened ancient door on the ground.
Dozens of horned-rabbits gathered around them and slowly walked down the stairs into the path.
They had foam coming out of their mouth and wore crazed looks. They marched in a strange symphony together as if being controlled.
Taking a look at each other, they found this situation dangerous.
They ordered their men to stand on guard and kill the crazed rabbits. But not a single rabbit turned back to fight, they all just kept marching downward, as if summoned.