Chapter 104: The Descending Path to Mystery

The next day, guided by Chiyo’s directions on how to reach the valley below, Dion, Mei, Cleo, Luna, Sheila, and Aria hiked up the hill near Chiyo’s inn to cross over the peak and head down the other side.

"Kyuu... kyuu!"

Gina flew cheerfully ahead of everyone, looking like a little dragon freed from a long captivity. She spotted a butterfly and chased it, fluttering in circles up front.

"Hey... don’t wander off too far, Gina!" Sheila called out.

"Oh, let her be. She just wants to connect with nature and have some fun. She’s been on edge with us this whole time. Besides, the scenery here is wow... so gorgeous, and the air is crisp and refreshing," Luna said, taking in her surroundings.

"By the way, Mei, how come you didn’t know there were ruins down there? Isn’t this place owned by your acquaintance?" Aria asked.

"I... never really paid attention to it before, and more importantly, I didn’t feel anything strange. Besides, whenever I came here to visit, I never thought about work because I felt so relaxed," Mei answered.

"Hmm... that makes sense. The air here really is nice and perfect for a vacation, so it’s understandable if you didn’t notice the ruins down below, especially since, looking from the bath yesterday, they’re tucked right in the middle of the mountain," Cleo agreed.

"Hey... there are two Shadow Hand members following us. Are they the same ones from yesterday?" Sheila asked, glancing into the bushes along the path.

"Yeah... just leave them be. Their only job is to keep an eye on us and protect us, just like I explained yesterday," Mei assured her.

"Good thing they’re here then. We can report to them if anything happens," Aria added.

"Oh, by the way... where’s Dion?" Luna asked, looking around.

Sheila, Cleo, Mei, and Aria all pointed back over their shoulders with their thumbs. Luna turned to see Dion staggering up the hill behind them. He looked completely exhausted, sweat pouring down his face, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.

"Hah... hah... I hate hills. I seriously hate them," Dion huffed between breaths.

Luna stopped and walked over to Dion, pacing beside him while the others kept moving ahead. Dion looked over at Luna, who was smiling at him.

"What?" Dion asked, wiping sweat from his chin.

"Why don’t you use your power... persona... or whatever it’s called?" Luna asked with a giggle.

"Uh... persona isn’t meant for mountain climbing," Dion snapped back.

"Oh... is that so? Well then, want me to help you?" Luna asked again.

"No need... go on ahead, I’ll catch up later," Dion replied.

"Hmm... nope, I’m staying with you," Luna said cheerfully.

"Suit yourself," Dion muttered.

They continued their climb up the mountain. Reaching the peak about an hour later, they stumbled upon a small sacrificial altar laden with fruit and burning incense, seemingly left by the locals. But when they looked at the statue set inside it, everyone gasped in shock. The statue depicted a mighty-looking man standing tall with a sword planted in the ground before him, both hands resting on the hilt. His face was human, but there was something odd about his head, he had long, pointed ears and wore a luxurious, elegant kimono-style robe.

"Hmm... his ears are strange," Sheila murmured, leaning down to inspect the statue and touching its ears.

"Hey... don’t go touching things recklessly in a place like this, especially a statue like that! It’s disrespectful to local traditions," Luna scolded, lightly slapping the base of Sheila’s arm.

"Oh... right, sorry... my bad," Sheila apologized.

"Hmm... is this a statue of a god? Is there actually a god like this?" Aria asked, examining the figure.

"What is this statue, Mei?" Cleo asked.

"It’s the guardian of the Tree of Life. Legend says that on this mountain stood a tree so tall it surpassed the mountain itself, worshipped as the World Tree. But that’s all just folklore... there’s no way a tree that massive actually exists here," Mei explained.

"Hmm... the guardian of the Tree of Life, huh... interesting," Cleo murmured to herself.

Then Dion looked closely at the statue. As a fan of fantasy stories in his past life, looking at the statue and its features immediately brought something to mind.

"Oh... a Legolas statue... an elf," he muttered under his breath.

Hearing Dion’s words, Luna, Cleo, Sheila, Aria, and Mei all whipped their heads toward him so fast that Dion flinched at their intense stares.

"What now?" Dion asked defensively.

"What did you just say? Legolas? Elf? What’s that?" Cleo interrogated first.

"Oh... it’s just a story I read a long time ago, don’t worry about it," Dion said, waving his hand dismissively. "Ah man... why do I keep letting things slip? That statue really looks like Legolas from the LOTR movies. It was just a reflex, and it’s not like I can explain that I watched that movie in my past life... I’m so dumb," Dion thought to himself.

"Hmm... suspicious," Cleo said, stepping forward to examine Dion’s face so closely their noses almost touched.

"Gah... nothing suspicious! I just slipped up because I actually wanted to write a fiction story and make a book. Now get back... personal space," Dion groaned, pushing Cleo away.

"Enough, let me lead the way again. Otherwise, it’ll be afternoon before we know it," Luna said.

"Yeah, let me help, come on Cleo," Sheila called out.

"Fine... okay," Cleo grumbled, letting go of Dion and turning around.

They then continued their journey down the other side of the hill, where a rather steep set of stone stairs led straight into the ravine below. Dion’s face turned pale at the sight of the towering staircase.

"Uh... stairs," Dion groaned.

"Going down shouldn’t be tiring, right?" Aria asked beside him.

"Right, going down isn’t tiring. I’m thinking about the way back, we have to climb UP," Dion answered grimly.

"You overthink too much. If you get tired, you can just ride Gina or I’ll carry you, right Gina?" Mei said, holding Gina in her arms.

"Yes, Mama Mei," a little girl’s voice chimed in their heads.

"Then why didn’t we just ride Gina from the start?" Dion asked.

"No, we walk. It’s exercise," Mei, Aria, Luna, and Sheila said in unison.

Cleo walked up to Dion, linking her arm with his and smiling up at him in a way that made him shiver.

"Don’t worry, I don’t like stairs either. On the way back, let’s ride Gina together, just the two of us, and let the others walk," Cleo whispered persuasively.

"Hey... don’t talk nonsense!" Aria, Luna, Mei, and especially Sheila yelled.

Finally, after five minutes of arguing, they began making their way down the stairs. Dion glanced left and right at the surrounding forest, noting the sparsely scattered trees. He could see the two Shadow Hand members leaping from tree to tree in the distance. But besides that, he noticed something strange, several rocks jutted out from the soil in unnatural shapes, looking like a terrace buried under dirt and grass.

"No way..." he thought, feeling a wave of confusion and doubt.

He kept descending after the others, trying to forget what he had just seen, though he still glanced back occasionally at the rock formation now far above them.

They continued down, helping one another as the steps grew steeper toward the bottom. After about half an hour, they reached the floor of the forest, where the trees were sparse and only a narrow trail lay before them. Dion turned to Mei, who appeared lost in thought.

"Do you know this path, Mei?" Dion asked.

"No... that’s the thing, I had no idea there was a path here. I knew about the hill above and the small altar up there, but I had no clue there was a trail below these stairs because I’ve never climbed down them before," Mei replied, looking back up at the staircase.

"Let’s move, we’ll just follow the trail," Aria urged.

They resumed walking, following the narrow path deeper into the forest toward the ruins ahead. The trail wound back and forth, narrowing so much that they were forced to walk in a single-file line. Just as they began to see clusters of oddly arranged stones ahead, the path suddenly vanished into thin air. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"Hmm... those stones ahead, aren’t they the ones we saw last night?" Luna asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yep... no doubt about it. Those weird stones that looked like building ruins when viewed from above," Cleo confirmed.

"So what now? There’s no path forward. Should we just force our way through?" Sheila asked.

"Okay... I have an axe and a machete to cut through the trees, give me a second," Aria offered, opening her dimensional storage.

"Wait, Aria, don’t do that yet... for some reason, I have a bad feeling about whatever is up ahead," Dion warned.

"Honestly... me too. I’ve never walked this far into the valley, and if the path stops here, I don’t think the locals have ever reached this far either. Maybe we should just turn back?" Mei suggested.

"Huh... that’s a waste! We already made it all the way here," Sheila protested.

"Kyuuu!"

Suddenly, Gina broke free from Mei’s hands and flew straight ahead into the forest and then, plop, she vanished completely. "Gasp!" Dion, Mei, Luna, Cleo, Sheila, and Aria gasped in shock as they watched Gina fly toward the ruins only to disappear right in the middle of the woods.

The faces of Dion, Mei, Luna, Cleo, Aria, and Sheila instantly turned ghost-white upon seeing Gina vanish.

"I have a bad feeling about this... a really bad feeling," Dion thought to himself, still frozen in shock as he stared at the spot where Gina had disappeared among the trees.