The sound of something heavy hitting the rubble from the other side echoed throughout the cave, waking Layla and Orion up. Gorrak was nowhere to be seen.
Orion rubbed his eyes, turning his head to look at the rubble at which Layla was already staring. "What's going on?" He muttered under his nose.
"Oh... that must be the rescue team! We should yell!" She said, a wide smile spreading on her face.
Orion looked around, noticing that Gorrak wasn't around. "Where is he? He will be killed if they find him..." He wondered.
"We are here!" Layla yelled as loud as she could.
The cave trembled as the rubble was struck again.
On the other side, there was a whole team of adventurers who were trying to remove the rubble.
Maeryn pushed them aside. "Oh please," She rolled her eyes. "Just do it like that!" She kicked the rubble. The sheer force of the kick was so strong that all the rubble blew away deeper into the cave, finally opening the path.
Orion and Layla both stared at her, their eyes wide in surprise. "So strong!" Orion said with amazement.
Maeryn looked at them and smirked, laughing softly. "You two look like a horde of bulls ran you over~!" She said, but then her smirk faded away. "But now seriously," She looked at the adventurers behind her. "Get those kids to safety." She said firmly.
The adventurers looked at each other and walked up to Orion and Layla.
Orion slowly got on his feet, waving his hands in front of them. "I am alright," He pointed at Layla. "She needs help more than anyone else!" He said.
Before Layla could say anything, the adventurers picked her up, carrying her towards the entrance.
"Hey! Orion! Wait! No!" She yelled in frustration, kicking the adventurer softly.
Other adventurers went to check the end of the tunnel.
Maeryn jumped off the rubble, looking at the goblin champion's corpse. "What the hell?" Her eyes widened. "That's impossible! This cave was cleared two days ago! How could there be a grown-up goblin champion here?!"
She then walked up to Orion, pinning him to the wall. "What in the great heavens happened here, kid?!"
Orion's heart was beating so fast that he couldn't focus on saying anything. The relief from earlier turned into fear. "I-I don't know..." He uttered, looking down at the ground.
She grabbed his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes. "LOOK ME INTO THE EYES WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU AND ANSWER MY QUESTION!" She screamed at him. "What the hell happened here?!"
He swallowed hard. "We came here to clean up all the goblin mess, just like you told us... We picked up the limbs, organs, and everything else... but then something growled, and before we could leave this cave," he looked at the rubble. "The ceiling collapsed, blocking the way..." He teared up. "And then Layla fought the monster... and killed it... while... while I ran away like a little bitch!" He said with grief and self-disappointment.
Seeing all the emotions on his face, she sighed and released him, softly patting his head. "Shit... I'm sorry... I went too hard on you," She said softly, pausing for a moment. "But you see... There shouldn't be any monsters around here right now... someone must've planned all that..."
She looked at the goblin champion's corpse and then back at Orion. "Did you see anything suspicious? Or something unusual?" She asked softly.
Orion immediately thought about Gorrak. "No... it can't be him, he helped us... I won't snitch..." He shook his head. "No... There was nothing weird, only the goblins."
Two adventurers were examining the goblin champion's corpse, one of them yelled. "Tempest! You need to see this!"
Maeryn looked at them and nodded.
Orion looked at her in surprise. "Tempest? That's her Nickname?! It's so cool!"
She walked up to them and looked down at the corpse. "What's wrong?" She asked firmly.
One of the adventurers used a knife to reopen a wound that was on the chest. "The heart is gone..." He said firmly.
Maeryn's eyes widened in surprise. "That's," she paused, shaking her head in disbelief. "Impossible!"
"Tempest! I found something!" Yelled another adventurer, who was checking the dispatched head a couple of steps away.
The it's skull was open, making the brain visible. The adventurer took something out of the brain. It was a weird-looking crimson gem.
Maeryn walked up to him, looking down at the object. "Isn't that..."
"The Gem Of Dominion." The adventurer said, his eyes wide in terror.
Orion watched everything, and he slowly walked up to them, still struggling to walk, each step bringing him a lot of pain. "The Gem Of Dominion?" He asked curiously, staring at the crimson gem.
"Go to the Guild as fast as possible, alarm the finest adventurer, and send at least one of them to look after the girl who was carried away a moment a,o," Maeryn said firmly.
The adventurer nodded. "Yes, boss." He then ran off.
Orion was getting frustrated by her ignorance of him. "Can you tell me what the hell is going on?! Why does Layla need protection?! And what's that gem!?" He snapped. "I think that I have the right to know! After all, we were the people who almost died here because of your oversight, leading you to send us on a dangerous mission!"
Maeryn looked at him, surprised. "Oh? I guess you have it in you," She smirked. "Deep inside, but you do."
He looked into her eyes, furious. "Don't beat around the damn bush! I want answers! Are we in danger or something?!"
Maeryn grabbed his wrist. "You'll come with me, we need to talk to someone." She said firmly.
"The hell you mean we?!" He asked, frustrated.
She sighed and looked at him with a serious expression. "Listen, I know you're new and everything... but you need to memorize one thing in your little head," She poked his forehead a couple of times. "My orders are absolute. In the Guild, I am the second, right after the Guildmaster."
At first Orion wanted to stand up to her, tho the sheer thought of her being able to break him in a split second intimidated him out of his mind. And after a moment of hesitation. "Fine..." He muttered under his nose.
"That's what I thought." She smirked.