Chapter 1348
I knew that my free access in and out of dungeons was situational. There were instances were a strong enough force or a large enough distance could make Portal impossible. The blessings that kept my slave bonds from being broken could also be bypassed with a bit of cleverness. Nothing was all-powerful, even the dungeon blessings. Yet, the idea something could just mess with my mind like that left me feeling extremely worried.
Had that rock not fallen on my head, I wouldn’t have snapped out of it. What would have happened if I reached the door? It was closed at the moment. Wouldn’t I have just run into the door? Wait, was there a door. I kneeled and picked up the stone that had hit my head. It was weird that it fell randomly at this exact moment. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t a rock at all. It was another imager.
I picked it up, and then shared a glanced with Sapphire. I took a few steps away from the palace but kept a side-eye on it. Then, I activated the imager. An image was displayed, and when I saw the two familiar girls on it, my heart twisted into knots. This was a recording of the girl’s journey, the one that had made it to the surface. This wasn’t just a recording… it was the same recording.
The last time I had seen the imager it had been in my soul world. Allegedly, King Diorite had seen it. If that was so, why was it here? More importantly, why did it no longer show the signs of the damage that it had before?
“We made it. This is my home city, Argathea!” Garnet declared.
“It’s really dark.” Terra frowned.
“We’re in the Deep, Terra, everything is dark.”
“No… it’s just something else. I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Ahh… well, we won’t stay long. Just enough time to get the metals I need! I’ve already managed to collect several rare metals, enough to help Master build several magic weapons.”
“It’s too bad Master couldn’t give us any more inventory rings.”
“Ah… well… we sort of have a bad habit of getting them destroyed.” Terra coughed.
“D-destroyed! Inventory rings are notoriously hard to destroy! What have you guys been doing?”
“Things come up!” Terra cried, and then noticed Garnet looking off, a frown on her face. “What is it?”
“There is something wrong.” Garnet frowned. “This has been far too quiet.”
I realized this was the full recording from a fragment I had gotten before. I could find out more about what happened. I leaned forward, listening carefully.
“Well, the city has been abandoned.”
“No, you don’t get it. This cavern was built in a very particular way. The Deep Dwarves weren’t just good with Earth, they were also prolific singers.”
“Singers? Are you trying to compete with Celeste now?”
“That’s not what I mean! This entire cavern moves sound in a very particular way. Not just sound, but light. During the day cycle, a rainbow of colors would float in the sky above. The sounds of people would create a cacophony echoing off the walls which would bounce back and forth until it created a sweet melody. It was a beautiful place.”
“Garnet, you’re saying that like you’ve been here.”
Garnet stiffened for a second, looking back at Terra. “Right.”
“You told Master that you’ve never been to the Deep. You said you were brought up on the surface.”
Garnet lowered her head. “That’s right… I did.”
“Garnet…”
“Terra, I want you to keep a secret.”
“What?”
“This stays between you and me. I don’t want to… I don’t want Master to know.”
“Garnet… this…”
“Please, promise me.”
“O-okay, I promise.
“Turn off the recording. This stays between us.”
“R-right.”
The image flickered out.