Finding my Parents in Another World-Chapter 46: (Zoe) Holder

Zoe stopped in her tracks.

Surely I have misheard.

"Can you repeat that please?"

"Surely. The Holder of the Spear is a human being, former resident of the Kingdom of Anasuril."

Zoe stared at the cloud, dumbfounded. She couldn’t know if AD was joking, if that were even possible, because of the blank face and that only unnerved her more.

"How is this possible? Isn’t the Treasure of the Goddess supposed to be lost for a thousand years?"

"Affirmative. The Spear of the Goddess was last used in the Great War. Since then it was presumed ’lost’, but the actual location of the Spear was in these Caves."

"Guarded by a human?"

"Affirmative."

"You are saying that a human has been guarding this Spear for a thousand years?"

"Negative."

Zoe looked in exasperation at the robot cloud.

"Will you please explain clearly?"

AD tilted her head, almost disapprovingly, as if Zoe had asked about something which was already clear as water.

"There is a human guarding the Spear. However the human has not been guarding the Spear for a thousand years. Please clarify what about this statement is unclear to you."

Great, a sassy robot without a face

"Who has been guarding the Spear before the human then?" Zoe asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Another human."

"What about before them?"

"Another human."

"Where are all these humans coming from?"

"From the entrance of the Cave."

"No. I mean where are they actually from."

"Apologies. This information is not present in my database."

Zoe sighed. It was clear this line of questioning was leading nowhere. She decided to modify her approach instead.

"Why are the humans guarding the Spear?"

AD paused here, again tilting her head as if searching for some information.

"The humans guard the Spear, because the Spear compels them to do so."

The Spear compels them?

No one has made it out of the Cave

Famina’s words came back to Zoe, spoken so long ago now it seemed. And with those words, came a chilling realization.

"Since when has the current Holder been guarding the Spear?"

"Two years."

"And what was the Holder’s profession before they began guarding it?"

"He was an Adventurer."

Zoe cursed silently. Of course it made sense now. People didn’t come out of the Caves, not because they couldn’t beat the enemies inside or the final monster inside, it’s because they couldn’t beat the treasure inside. Something about the Treasure of the Goddess hidden in the Cave caused them, turned them into these Holders cursed to protect it until the next Adventurer came through.

So that may be the fate in store for me too....?

No, no it should be, had to be, different for her. She was not from this world. Whatever magik, whatever obsession, whatever devotion compeled the men and women of this world to protect the Spear, should have no effect on her, should it?

You don’t know that, a small voice whispered back. Zoe struggled to silence it, think optimistically, but no matter how hard she tried she wasn’t able to completely shut it out.

"Will that be all?" AD asked, almost making Zoe jump. She had not expected the robot cloud woman to take the initiative to speak.

"Yes, yes that wi-"

A sudden thought, a flash of inspiration struck Zoe like a bolt of lightning. She turned quickly towards AD. Once more as she examined her, the artificial being created by the Goddess looked more like a cloud than a woman even though her body clearly resembled the latter. Zoe focused on her legs and verified that indeed they seemed to be affixed to the floor of the cavern they were now in.

"AD."

"Yes, traveller."

"Will you be able to assist me in the upcoming fight?"

Silence. An uncomfortably long one. Zoe had the distinct feeling that if AD had a face, it would be wide in surprise by now.

Eventually the robot cloud bobbed it’s head up and down.

"Affirmative. If the traveller requires my help, I am bound to provide it as per instructions of the Goddess."

"How will you reach the room of the Holder? It’s behind the coffin right? And you are affixed to the floor there?"

"Negative. My current avatar is affixed to the floor, but I can create a new one anywhere and thus am free to move anywhere within the bounds of this Cave."

As if to demonstrate her point, her current body began to glow and then without warning became limp. Almost immediately another one rose up from the floor, this time closer to Zoe, causing her to jump back in shock. As she watched, the previous body slowly crumpled down to the ground and then turned to dust.

"Like so." The new body of AD declared, and Zoe thought she heard a tone of triumph in the voice of the robot cloud.

"Please don’t do that without warning again."

"I will try to keep that in my database. However I must warn you that if you want me to assist during combat then this functionality is necessary."

Zoe sighed.

"Of course AD, during the fight please use whatever you feel is necessary to help me win."

AD bobbed her head, imitating a nod of agreement.

.XX.

The coffin behind which AD had said lay the door to the Holder was at the very end of the cavern, past all the other scores of coffins. Zoe felt an involuntary shudder pass through her as she walked past rows and rows of coffins stacked on top of each other, remembering their brutal history as AD had just told her. It seemed she could still hear the screams of the people buried alive in there, hear their scratches as they tried to pry open the door of their coffin, all in vain. Zoe felt utter revulsion for the man called Bloodfell, wondering how it was possible that a Cave could be named after someone so brutal. But then again, AD had mentioned this information was restricted so maybe the general populace had no idea behind the truth of his legend.

After what felt like hours, Zoe finally reached the final coffin. Almost relieved, she went around to the back, where there was a small area in front of the wall. Cautiously Zoe felt the wall with her hands and then slowly pushed forward.

At first nothing happened, but then Zoe heard a click. In an instant the wall in front of her vanished, revealing a long, dark corridor in front of her.

Not another claustrophobically narrow corridor, Zoe thought with an internal groan.

She looked back one at AD. The robot was very far now, at the other end of the cavern. It seemed she nodded at her, as if to assure Zoe that she would assist in the fight as she had requested. Zoe had her doubts regarding that, but anyway she turned back towards the corridor and started forward.

Fortunately this corridor was much shorter. After just a few minutes, Zoe came across the end of the corridor.

In front of a huge golden door.

Zoe stared at awe at the door. It was not just made completely out of gold, but rather there were diamonds and other precious metals studded all along the length of it. There were murals depicting several incidents, though Zoe couldn’t make much sense of what it was depicting. One mural had a man facing what looked to be a bear. Another had two rivers snaking on either side of a tall hut. In another were huge trees surrounding some kind of creature with wings. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Zoe went forward and touched the door. It was cold. Cold and damp.

Slowly she pushed it. Surprisingly, it opened rather easily, the last part of the door almost opening automatically. Once the door was fully open, Zoe stepped into the room beyond.

Unlike the previous part of the cave, the room beyond the door was bright. There were bright, yellow lamps all over the ceiling and walls, and there were no dark regions at all. There were intricate embroidery decorating the walls, although again Zoe couldn’t read what was written on them.

And right in the middle of the room was a wooden chair.

And sitting in the wooden chair was a sole man.

Or rather what used to be a man.

For certainly the thing sitting there right now couldn’t be considered human. He looked human sure, but no human had eyes like that. Dead, not just dead but rather a hollow emptiness that seemed to swallow any light that came near. The pupils were black holes, voids of nothingness, and the skin, though pale, appeared unnaturally smooth, almost rubbery. He was wearing what appeared to be a royal golden armor. There was some crest drawn on his chest, but again Zoe could neither place whose it was nor read the small letters dotting the crest. It looked like a faded image of an eagle and a shield.

But the most striking feature about him was neither his dead eyes nor his pale, white as a ghost, skin. No, it was the spear in his hands.

As Famina had said, Zoe instantly recognized it as one of the Treasures of the Goddess. There was not much special about the design of the Spear itself. Like everything in the room, the Spear was gold too. Not just the shaft, but the blade and even the tip was pure gold, shining brilliantly in the light of the lamp. There were some letters enscribed on the Spear, travelling along it’s entire length from the tip right down to the handle. In terms of length, it was almost as long as the Holder himself.

But none of those features were enough to tell anyone what it actually was. To confirm it as a Treasure of the Goddess.

No there was something else.

The Spear was talking to her.