Some time later, they left behind the remains of the giant sea monster and moved west, intending to assess the wasteland that stretched between them and the Ashen Barrow.
At first, they had no intention of approaching the strange island. However, once they entered the wasteland, things began to feel… off. The Stargaze urged them onward, pulling them toward it. Until now, it had kept them safe, so Caspian and Alice chose to trust it—though Nephis and Sunny remained wary of following a glowing arrow without question.
Grey sand crunched beneath their feet, while dead coral walls loomed around them. The group advanced cautiously, ready for anything. From atop the leviathan's spine, they had seen no movement in this region—but none of them, except perhaps Cassie, truly believed it would remain that way.
In the labyrinth, they had learned one simple truth: everything was either deadly… or hiding something that was.
And yet—
This time, their instincts proved wrong.
The wasteland was silent. Empty. Devoid of life.
Instead of reassurance, that absence only deepened Caspian's unease.
It felt wrong.
Unnatural.
If even the monsters avoided this place…
Then what were they doing, walking deeper into it of their own will?
Were they fools not to turn back?
Soon, the labyrinth walls gave way entirely, crumbling into dust. Before them stretched a vast, open expanse of grey sand, leading to a distant hill crowned by a massive tree.
Nothing could hide there.
But neither could they.
Sunny glanced at Caspian and Nephis.
"Are we really doing this?"
Caspian met his gaze, then looked to Nephis. She gave a small nod.
"…It's time."
—
They walked.
As they crossed the desolation, unease settled over them. Something was wrong.
No Nightmare Creatures.
Why?
What could make even them avoid this place?
—
Caspian led the group.
Nephis walked beside him, watching the sides.
Sunny followed close behind her.
Alice moved alongside him, mounted on her insectoid mount.
Sunny's Echo lingered at the rear— while Cassie rested at the back of it.
—
"I don't like this." Sunny muttered.
"Yeah… me neither. Nowhere to hide…""Alice replied.
"Stay sharp" Nephis said calmly.
—
They followed the guide of the Stargaze, it looked like it was trully a safe route guide.
—
Velpam moved with them.
Or rather—
Around them.
Now ahead.
Now behind.
Now… nowhere at all.
—
"This place…" Velpam murmured, his voice echoing faintly in Caspian's mind.
"…it doesn't feel dead."
A pause.
"It feels emptied."
—
Caspian thought about it.
"Isn't it the same?" Caspian said mentally, for him, that words had the same meaning."If something is emptied, it's dead right?"
"Not exactly murderer, remember the hollows? They are empty but they are still alive, this is more...like when you drank the blood of the humans of the citadel of the stars, the work of something else, not a normal death."
Velpam said with a smile, making Caspian remember that.
—
After several minutes, he raised a hand.
The group froze instantly.
He turned slightly toward Sunny.
"Your shadow. Anything?"
Sunny shook his head.
"No movement. Just uneven terrain—small knolls, shallow dips. Otherwise… nothing. Flat. Lifeless."
—
Caspian nodded.
"Stay quiet."
He closed his eyes.
Focused.
Listened.
At first—
Nothing at all, emptiness.
Then—
—
Thump.
—
A faint beat in the distance.
—
His eyes snapped open.
"I—wait."
—
Silence.
Then again—
—
Thump.
—
"There's something far away" he said quietly. "I can't tell what… but if it heartbeat reach me here, it's strong."
Nephis inclined her head slightly.
"You can hear heartbeats? Good. That will be useful."
—
After walking for a bit, since it didn't seemed like there was danger on their surroundings.
She adjusted their course.
Toward one of the knolls Sunny had mentioned.
—
By the time they neared it—
The sun stood high above.
Their shadows reduced to faint stains beneath them.
—
Then—
The Stargaze shifted.
Insistent.
Pointing—
Not to the nearest knoll.
But to another.
Further away from their position.
A far larger knoll.
—
"We should check that one instead" Caspian said. "It feels… safer."
They trusted it, if they had survive that long, it means it worked.
And moved to it.
—
Halfway there—
Caspian's expression changed.
—
"Hurry. Something's coming."
—
Sunny stiffened.
"Move! We need cover!"
—
Everything happened at once.
Sunny and Alice dismissed their summons, suddenly losing her mount, Cassie flung her hands up and fell.
Catching her in the princess carry, Sunny darted toward the knoll and lowered himself to the ground, placing the blind girl between himself and crouching Nephis.
Thanks to the Stargaze, they were near that big knoll, if whatever danger aproached them on the other, smaller knoll, they wouldn't have enough space for everyone.
Because the small knoll had enough space to cover three of them at most.
—
Nephis crouched, at her left side, Sunny and Cassie, at her right, Caspian and Alice.
Alice slipped in between them, her face being pressed by two cold metal plates.
—
They remained still and silent.
—
"Danger?" Nephis whispered.
—
"…Yeah" Caspian replied. "A Centurion. i remember their heartbeats."
—
Above them—
Velpam sat atop the knoll.
Exposed.
Unbothered.
—
Already some distance away, the dead walls of the labyrinth rose from the grey sand.
Suddenly, one of them collapsed, knocked over by a massive figure.
Surrounded by the cloud of ashen sand, the figure moved forward, stepping onto the flat surface of the wasteland.
Eight legs, two terrifying bone scythes, black and crimson carapace that looked like ancient armor that had been splattered with blood… another centurion indeed.
Caspian thought he heared Sunny cursing silently.
In total, the new group have fought five times againts those creatures, and won every time.
However, that was because each battlefield had been carefully prepared to stack advantages in their favor.
For Caspian and Alice it was jumping them under a coral arc, or Caspian fighting it during a storm at night, when he was at his strongest.
—
"We could kill it." Caspian whispered. "But we don't need to, not right now."
—
His gaze shifted to Sunny.
"What's it doing?"
—
Sunny focused.
Then exhaled.
"…Heading toward the Ashen Barrow. If we stay hidden, it shouldn't notice us."
—
Nephis nodded.
"Keep watching."
—
Above—
Velpam leaned forward slightly.
Watching.
Interested in what was unfolding infront of his eyes.
—
Cautiously held between the centurion's scythes, a beautiful crystal was gleaming with hypnotic inner light. It was bright and strangely alluring.
A transcendent soul shard.
"It have a trascendent soul shard..."
"Our first encounter with them was when we tried to take 2 of those away from them and kill them." Caspian explained, keeping his voice a whisper. "But at the end, we only managed to get one...but we got to kill both of them..."
"So this is where they take those..."
Sunny said with a low voice, whispering.
—
Velpam glanced at the magnificent tree standing atop the Ashen Barrow. With its onyx branches and vibrant scarlet leaves, it looked striking and majestic.
Like something holy hidden in the depths of hell.
The centurion passed dangerously close to the knoll they were abot to investigate, luckily the Stargaze helped them.
"It's walking toward the Barrow."
Sunny explained, to what both Caspian and Nephis told him.
"Follow it."
Sunny nodded, like he was a bit in a hurry after having the two main fighters telling him what to do at the same time.
A moment later, his shadow slid from behind the knoll, sneakily pursuing the Nightmare Creature.
The centurion crossed the wasteland with the transcended shard clasped tightly between its scythes.
Its bearing was somewhat strange, seeming almost… pious. It looked like a pilgrim walking toward a mysterious, sacred site.
Soon, it approached the Ashen Barrow and suddenly stopped, as though afraid to cross some invisible line.
Then the centurion carefully placed the shard on the sand and backed away from it, its eyes turned to the ground.
After distancing itself from the gleaming crystal, the massive creature… kneeled.
"It have kneeled..."
Velpam said, and Caspian heared it.
Sunny had to rub his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things through his shadow.
He wasn't. The carapace centurion bent its eight legs and lowered itself to the ground, submissively placing its terrifying scythes in front of its bowing torso.
—
"Wait." Caspian hurried, closing his eyes to sharpen his hearing.
"Something's coming." Caspian warned. "From below."
—
The heartbeat Caspian heared before, it was closing in...from below —
It became closer now.
Stronger.
—
At this moment, Sunny's shadow, which was safely hidden some distance away from the kneeling monster, noticed a slight change on the surface of the Ashen Barrow.
The bright glimmer they had seen from the top of the leviathan's spine was back.
Only this time, it was even more blinding.
The glimmer rose into the air from the shadows cast by the branches of the towering tree and moved, slowly approaching the footsteps of the hill.
When Sunny was finally able to discern the source of the shining, his eyes widened.
Feeling a cold shiver running down his spine, he forgot to breathe.
And Caspian did not liked the implications of that reaction.
Moving through the ashen sand and piles of fallen leaves, a giant monster was coming down the hill.
Sunny gulped, his expression turning dark.
The creature was as large as a house, with its eight segmented legs resembling tall pillars.
Its form was similar to that of scavengers and centurions, comprised of a crab-like carapace and a protruding, somewhat humanoid torso.
However, this was where the similarities between them ended.
Instead of chitin, the behemoth's shell was seemingly made out of polished, lustrous metal.
It was as though its whole body had been once submerged into a crucible of molten steel, emerging from it encased in an impenetrable suit of shining armor.
—
Velpam laughted a bit seeing such a behemoht.
—
Beams of sunlight were reflecting from the chrome surface of the carapace, creating the bright glimmer they had noticed before.
Massive but strangely elegant, the steel monster resembled a giant knight.
Sunny was ready to swear that he had noticed the shapes of seven stars carved into its chest.
However, that knight was corrupted and evil.
It radiated a sinister aura, like a demon summoned from hell to sow death and slaughter.
The polished armor of the creature was covered with long, jagged spikes.
Its humanoid torso had four mighty arms, two ending with powerful pincers, the other two — with razor-sharp, terrifying scythes.
The demon's head was more pronounced than that of a scavenger and crowned with several tall, sharp horns.
Its metal face was almost human-like, but simultaneously repulsively monstrous and bestial.
Just looking at it made Sunny's skin crawl.
Whatever that creature was, its rank within the carapace legion was clearly higher than that of a centurion, not to mention of a lowly scavenger.
It was the next step in their evolution. A general or a commander, perhaps. What were they called… legates? Praetorians?
—
Holding his breath, Sunny watched as the Carapace Demon descended from the Ashen Barrow.
Stopping in front of the transcendent soul shard, it looked briefly at the kneeling centurion.
The deadly awakened monster shrank under its gaze, as if terrified of the larger Nightmare Creature.
Not paying the centurion any attention, the Carapace Demon picked up the gleaming crystal and turned around.
Like a king accepting tribute.
Then, it unhurriedly returned to the shade of the giant tree's branches.
Sunny slowly exhaled.
"Sunny? What is happening?"
He looked at Cassie, whose face was full of worry and curiosity. After hesitating for a little while, he said:
"There's a new threat. Stay quiet a bit longer, I'll explain later."
Then they waited, a good way of knowing what Sunny was seeing was through his expressions, now it looked like he just saw something he would have never guessed.
—
Caspian could hear the Carapace Centurion retreating, while the giant Carapace demon was at the top of the hill.
"It's safe to come out now."
Sunny said, allowing all of them to stand up.
"That was quite a big creature, first we will return to the bone ridge, as you call it? Fitting indeed, then Sunny can explain what he saw".
"Since you won't tell me right?"
Caspian said mentally, only to be answered with Velpam's playfull voice.
"Nope, find your own way, murderer"
—
Alice summoned her mount and looked at it with a smile.
Sunny summoned the Echo, tied the golden rope around its torso, placed Cassie's makeshift saddle back on its carapace and helped the blind girl climb to her seat.
Picking up the saddlebags, he fixed them back onto the scavenger and took a step away. They were ready to go.
Before that, however, the Wilderness Survival class had one more thing to do. Coming close to the knoll, Sunny used his hands to brush the sand off its surface, under the gaze of Caspian and Alice.
Soon, the onyx black surface was revealed beneath. It was the same exact color as the bark of the colossal tree growing from the center of the Ashen Barrow.
The knoll was, in fact, just a small portion of one of the tree's giant roots, raised slightly above the ground in this part of the wasteland.
Caspian looked around, trying to calculate the size of this sea of ash. Finally, he was starting to understand what had drained all life from the giant patch of the crimson labyrinth.
"That's what he meant by emptied..."
Caspian thought about his earlier conversation with Velpam, understanding it now.
"Professor Julius would be extatic to know this"
Alice said, investigating the roots with Sunny.
Right before they decided to go back to the Bone Ridge.