Chapter 43: Crumbling Ruins


    Abel''s vision was still hazy as he pushed himself up from the pool of green goo. His limbs felt heavy, almost as if they didn''t belong to him anymore. A strange tingling sensation coursed through his veins, a subtle reminder of the transformation that had occurred. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but he knew he was different now—changed in some fundamental way. His robe, drenched in the strange liquid, began to clean itself as if the green goo was being absorbed and washed away by the fabric.


    Sena groaned beside him, trying to shake off the disorientation. Abel caught his eye, and both recruits exchanged a look of exhaustion and uncertainty. They were alive, but they had no idea what had just been done to them.


    “Get it together!” Nando’s voice cut through the confusion, sharp and urgent. He was already gathering anything useful he could find, stuffing papers, books, and strange artifacts into his pack. The room was shaking violently now, dust and debris falling from the ceiling with each tremor. “This place is coming down! Grab everything you can, but hurry!”


    Abel blinked, snapping back to the present moment. The walls groaned under the weight of the crumbling ruin, and bits of the ceiling began to collapse around them. He forced himself to his feet, the strange tingling still dancing under his skin as he moved. His instincts took over as he began to grab anything that seemed useful— due to his disorientation, he was unable to grab as much as he wanted grabbing a few things instead..


    Despite the panic rising in his chest, Abel couldn’t shake the feeling that something was fundamentally wrong inside him. The green goo had seeped into him, leaving behind a residue of power that both intrigued and terrified him. What had that deranged man done to them? And what had Abel become?


    The ruins shook harder, large chunks of stone falling from above and smashing into the floor with deafening crashes. The dark whispers that had once filled the room were now silent, but the oppressive energy lingered in the air, suffocating and heavy.


    “Let’s go!” Nando urged, his eyes darting around the room as he made his way toward the exit. “I know a way out, but we need to move. Now!”


    Abel stumbled toward Nando, clutching his last handful of papers as the room shook violently. Sena followed closely behind, looking just as rattled as Abel felt. The ceiling was beginning to collapse in earnest now, each tremor bringing more of the ancient ruin crashing down around them. There was no time left.


    Together, they rushed through the crumbling corridors of the ruin, following Nando as he led them deeper into the labyrinth of the underground. The walls were slick with moss and grime, and the floor trembled beneath their feet with every step they took. The strange tingling sensation within Abel’s body grew stronger as they moved, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Survival was all that mattered now.


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    Finally, they reached a room where a large hole had been blown into the wall, revealing the night sky outside. Vines stretched down from the broken wall, leading toward a well overgrown with thick foliage.


    “There! We climb out through there!” Nando shouted, his voice barely audible over the sound of the collapsing ruin behind them. Without hesitation, he grabbed onto one of the vines and began to scale it, his movements quick and fluid despite the chaos.


    Abel and Sena exchanged a glance before following, gripping the vines tightly as they climbed toward the surface. The vines were slick and rough, but they held fast as the recruits pulled themselves up, their muscles aching with effort. Behind them, the ruin continued to collapse, the sound of stone crumbling filling the air like distant thunder.


    After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the top of the well, pulling themselves out onto the grass of the Stony Forest. Abel collapsed onto the ground, his chest heaving as he gulped down the cool night air. The relief of being back on solid ground was overwhelming, and for a brief moment, all he could do was lie there, staring up at the sky.


    The forest around them was dark and foreboding, the tall, twisted trees casting long shadows in the moonlight. Strange noises echoed in the distance—rustling leaves, far-off growls—but for now, the recruits were safe. The danger had passed.


    Sena lay beside Abel, his breath ragged as he tried to regain his composure. “We... we owe you, Nando,” he muttered, still dazed from the ordeal. “You saved us.”


    Nando, who was standing a few paces away, only shrugged, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “Don’t mention it,” he said, his tone casual despite the gravity of what had just happened. “I got what I wanted, too.”


    Abel turned his head to look at Nando, noticing the bulging pack slung over his shoulder. “What... were you even doing down there?” he asked, still struggling to piece everything together.


    Nando grinned, clearly pleased with himself. “I’ve been looking into the history of the Black Alchemists. I figured there might be some treasure or knowledge buried in their ruins, and when I saw that deranged guy leading you all down there, I figured I’d follow and see what I could find.”


    “So you saved us for... treasure?” Sena asked, his voice laced with disbelief.


    “Well, I wasn’t just going to let him complete whatever twisted experiment he was doing,” Nando said with a smirk. “But yeah, I found what I was looking for. And then some.”


    Abel couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief. “You’re insane.”


    Nando just laughed, adjusting the strap of his pack. “Maybe. But it worked out, didn’t it?”


    As the three of them sat in the grass, catching their breath, the weight of what had just happened began to sink in. The dark ruins, the twisted experiments, the strange changes they had undergone—it was all too much to process. But they couldn’t stay there forever. Night had fallen, and the forest around them was alive with danger.


    “We should get back,” Nando said, breaking the silence. “It’s too dark out here, and who knows what else is lurking in these woods.”


    Abel and Sena nodded in agreement, slowly pushing themselves to their feet. Their bodies ached, their minds were still reeling, but they had survived. And now, they had to make it back to the Stone Tower, whatever changes had taken hold of them in that dark ruin left to unravel in time.


    They began the long trek back through the forest, the weight of their strange new reality hanging over them like a shadow.