I Can See Evolution Paths

Arthur slowly stood and followed the disturbed trail with his eyes. It disappeared between the rows of ancient weapon racks, vanishing into the deeper darkness of the armory.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

There were too many empty pedestals.

Whatever had happened here, someone hadn’t simply wandered through and taken a random weapon. They had come into this place with a purpose.

Arthur glanced at the remaining displays before looking toward the darkness. "And they didn’t take everything."

Sun looked across the empty pedestals. "That’s supposed to make me feel better?"

Arthur shook his head. "No." He pointed toward the weapons that had been left behind. "It makes me wonder why they left these ones."

Luna hesitated before looking toward the trail. "Y-You think it was Rokkaku?"

Arthur’s mouth curved into a faint smile. "Maybe."

Sun sighed. "That doesn’t sound like a good thing."

Mithra glanced at Arthur. "You don’t look disappointed."

"I’m not."

Arthur looked toward Dusk, then at the Frostheart Bow safely secured at his side. "We already found two Awakened Relics."

Sun stared at him.

Arthur calmly added, "So even if someone took the best weapons, we didn’t exactly leave empty-handed."

Sun looked at the empty displays again. "So we came all the way into this ancient mountain expecting an armory, only to discover that someone may have already taken most of the good stuff."

Arthur nodded. "That’s one way to look at it."

"Is there another way?"

Arthur raised Dusk slightly. "I got this." He glanced toward the Frostheart Bow. "And this."

Sun stared at him for several seconds before sighing. "Right. I forgot that your version of a bad outcome is getting two Awakened Relics instead of three."

Mithra laughed softly. "He’s got a point."

Eden flew around Arthur excitedly. "Arthur got two!"

Star bounced happily against Arthur’s arm.

Arthur looked down at the little Slime and smiled. "Apparently we’re doing pretty well."

Star wiggled again, its tiny body shimmering faintly.

Mithra smiled. "I think Star agrees."

Arthur gently patted the Slime. "Then let’s see what else this place has hidden."

Athena immediately looked at him. "We are not spending the entire day searching every weapon rack."

Arthur paused. "I wasn’t going to."

Athena gave him a skeptical look.

Arthur smiled. "Probably."

Mithra laughed. "That means yes."

"It means maybe."

"That’s worse," Sun said.

Eden flew above them, watching Arthur carry Dusk. "Dusk looks different."

Arthur raised the spear slightly. "It feels different too."

Eden flew closer, examining the golden markings along its shaft. "It looks stronger."

"It is."

Star suddenly reached one tiny limb toward the spear.

Arthur looked down. "You want to touch it again?"

Star bounced eagerly.

Arthur carefully let the Slime touch the shaft. Star’s body shimmered for a moment as the concentrated mana flowed across its surface. It immediately settled against Arthur’s arm again, looking satisfied.

Mithra smiled. "I think Star likes the new Relics."

Sun glanced at the Slime. "Star likes anything with enough mana."

Eden shook her head. "That’s not true."

Sun looked at her. "What doesn’t Star like?"

Eden opened her mouth. Then stopped. "I’ll think about it."

Sun sighed. "Exactly."

Mithra laughed.

The group continued deeper into the armory, following the faint disturbance left behind in the frost. Arthur occasionally glanced toward the trail, but it gradually became harder to follow. Whoever had passed through here had eventually left the main path.

Athena stopped beside one of the walls. "Wait."

Arthur turned. "What is it?"

Athena brushed away a thin layer of frost, revealing another line of ancient writing.

Luna moved closer. "Can you read it?"

Athena studied the symbols for several moments. "Only part of it."

"What does it say?"

Athena frowned. "Something about the inner chambers being connected to a water system."

Sun looked ahead. "Water system?"

Mithra glanced around the frozen stone corridors. "Inside a mountain?"

"Apparently," Athena said.

Arthur looked deeper into the passage. "Then let’s follow it."

Athena looked at him. "You didn’t even ask where it leads."

Arthur smiled. "That’s why we’re following it."

The ancient altar behind them continued to glow faintly as they moved farther into the facility, the sound of their footsteps the only thing breaking the silence for several minutes.

Then Arthur slowed. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone stopped. A faint rushing sound echoed through the darkness.

Mithra tilted her head. "Water?"

Athena frowned. "There shouldn’t be a river this deep inside the mountain."

Sun looked toward the passage ahead. "That sentence alone makes me uncomfortable."

Arthur smiled. "Let’s take a look."

They continued deeper into the mountain, following the faint sound of rushing water. The farther they went, the louder it became.

At first, it sounded like a distant stream.

Then it became a river.

Sun looked ahead. "How is there enough water under here to make that much noise?"

Athena shook her head. "I don’t know."

Luna glanced toward the walls. "Maybe the mountain has an underground river."

"Maybe," Athena said. "But there shouldn’t be this much mana around it."

Arthur looked at her. "You can feel it?"

"Very clearly."

The passage finally opened into a massive cavern, and the group slowed as they took in the sight before them. A gigantic river stretched across the center of the chamber, far wider than any river they had encountered in the Everglades, its dark waters flowing between ancient stone walls before disappearing into enormous tunnels on either side. Broken bridges crossed portions of the river, while several half-collapsed platforms rose from the water, suggesting that this had once been part of the same enormous facility they had been exploring.

Luna stared across the cavern in disbelief. "There’s a river inside the mountain..."

Mithra looked toward the distant tunnels. "How was something this large built down here?"

Athena had already begun studying the river. She took several steps closer, her attention fixed on the water rather than the ancient structures surrounding it. "This isn’t simply a river."

Sun frowned. "What do you mean?"

Athena pointed toward the surface. "Watch."

The rushing water suddenly began to slow.

Arthur noticed it first. The current became weaker, the waves flattening until the entire river seemed to hold its breath. Then a thin layer of ice appeared across the surface.

It spread rapidly.

Within seconds, the freezing water had transformed the enormous river into a vast sheet of ice that stretched from one side of the cavern to the other.

Luna blinked in surprise. "It froze."

Sun stared at the frozen river. "I noticed."

Athena didn’t answer him. She remained focused on the ice, watching as faint traces of mana shimmered beneath its surface.

A few moments later, cracks began spreading across the frozen river. The ice fractured in several places before water suddenly burst through it, and the river began flowing again as though nothing had happened.

Luna took a cautious step forward. "It changed back."

Arthur looked toward Athena. "How long did that take?"

Athena watched the river for several seconds before answering. "About a minute."

They waited.

Almost exactly a minute later, the same phenomenon happened again. The current slowed, the surface froze, and the entire river became solid once more.

Sun folded his arms as he watched the ice spread across the chamber. "That’s unsettling."

Mithra nodded. "Very."

Arthur’s gaze remained fixed on the river. "It’s following a cycle."

"And whatever is causing it is still active," Athena added.

Arthur smiled faintly as he looked toward the ancient structures surrounding them. "Then we found another part of this place that hasn’t stopped working."

Before anyone could respond, Star suddenly began trembling in Arthur’s arms.

Arthur immediately looked down. "Star?"

The little Slime wasn’t looking at him. Its attention was fixed on the frozen river, its small body pressed tightly against Arthur’s arm.

Arthur followed its gaze.

At first, there was nothing unusual. Only dark shapes could be seen beneath the ice, scattered throughout the frozen river.

Then the ice spread completely across the chamber, and those shapes became clearer.

Luna’s eyes widened. "Those aren’t rocks."

Athena stepped closer, her expression changing as she realized what she was seeing. "No..."

Beneath the ice stood enormous figures.

Beasts.

Dozens of them were scattered throughout the frozen river. Some possessed massive horns, others had elongated claws or thick shells, while several had bodies unlike any Beast the group had encountered before.

One resembled a gigantic wolf, its frozen body nearly twice the size of the Frostfang Wolves they had fought earlier. Another possessed a heavily armored body covered in thick plates, while a third had enormous antlers that spread outward like the branches of an ancient tree.

Yet the strangest part wasn’t their appearance.

It was their positions.

They weren’t standing like statues that had been placed throughout the river. They looked as though they had been caught in the middle of moving. One Beast had a front leg raised above the ice. Another had lowered its head as though it were preparing to push forward. The antlered creature was positioned with one leg extended ahead of its body.

Luna stared at them in disbelief. "They’re moving."

Mithra tightened her grip around Kusa as she studied the frozen creatures. "They look like statues."

Vedas shook his head. "They’re positioned like Beasts."

Sun continued staring across the frozen river. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this."

Eden slowly moved closer to Arthur, her eyes fixed on the creatures beneath the ice. "Are they alive?"

Athena didn’t answer immediately. She studied one of the enormous creatures for several seconds before finally shaking her head. "I don’t know."

The water suddenly returned.

The ice cracked apart and melted into the flowing river, and the creatures began moving with it. One enormous Beast lifted its front leg and placed it down several meters ahead. Another lowered its head and continued forward. The antlered creature took another slow step through the water, seemingly unaffected by the river flowing around its body.

Nobody spoke.

Then, almost exactly a minute later, the river froze again.

Every Beast stopped.

The creatures became statues once more, frozen in whatever position they had reached.

Arthur watched carefully.

When the river flowed again, they moved. When it froze, they stopped. The same sequence repeated again and again, yet the creatures never appeared confused by the strange cycle. They simply continued along their paths as though they were following instructions that had been given to them long ago.

Arthur’s expression gradually became more serious. "They’re following the same route."

Athena glanced toward him. "You noticed too?"

Arthur nodded as his eyes followed the movement of the creatures through the river. "They aren’t wandering." He watched several of them disappear farther into the cavern. "They’re going somewhere."

His attention eventually settled on one particular Beast.

It was enormous, with four powerful legs and a broad body covered in dark, stone-like hide. Two massive crystal horns rose from its head, catching the faint light beneath the ice.

There was something different about this one.

The other Beasts seemed to move according to the same rhythm, but this creature occasionally stopped even after the river had begun flowing. Sometimes its head shifted slightly, as though it were observing its surroundings rather than simply following the others.

Arthur narrowed his eyes.

Star pressed closer against his chest.

Eden noticed and moved beside him. "Star doesn’t like that one."

Arthur glanced down at the trembling Slime before looking back toward the Beast. "Neither do I."

Mithra looked toward him. "What do you think it is?"

Arthur continued watching the creature. "I don’t know." A faint smile appeared on his face. "That’s what makes it interesting."

The river began freezing again.

Ice spread across the cavern until the enormous horned Beast was completely trapped beneath it. For a moment, everything became silent, the whole cavern holding still the way it had every minute before, nothing about this cycle seeming any different than the last dozen.

Then Arthur noticed something.

A faint glow had appeared beneath the creature’s crystal horns.

Athena’s expression immediately changed. "Wait."

The glow slowly became brighter.

Luna took a cautious step backward. "What’s happening?"

A thin crack appeared beneath the Beast’s feet.

Crack.

Vedas immediately raised his spear. "Arthur."

Arthur tightened his grip around Dusk as another crack spread through the ice.

Crack. Crack.

The creature slowly raised its head.

Its eyes opened.

Everyone froze.

The Beast didn’t look toward the other creatures, nor did it resume the strange path it had been following.

Instead, its massive head slowly turned toward the edge of the river.

Toward the group.

Toward Arthur.

Star suddenly trembled violently against Arthur’s chest, and Eden moved closer to him. "Arthur..."

The Beast’s crystal horns began glowing brighter.

Arthur’s expression became focused as he watched it without moving.

Nobody else moved either.

Then the river began flowing again.

But this time, the enormous Beast didn’t continue along its original route.

It took a slow step toward them.

The ancient cavern trembled beneath their feet.

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