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[Seventeen Years Prior | “The Heart of Untram”]

“As I was saying…there’s no way your style is better than the Mountain God Style! Just no damn way!”

Walking in front through the small clearing between the tall trees, the young man with pitch-black hair and a fiery attitude spoke.

Following closely behind with an annoyed look on his face, the dark-skinned, platinum-eyed adolescent followed. He wore a black cloak, covering his leather armor beneath.

There was a small scar here and there, but otherwise, Vandread had perfectly smooth skin.

“How many times do I have to say this, Julius?…I’m not saying the Godless Style is strictly superior to your Mountain God Style, but it is better at quickly killing,” Vandread replied.

“And like I said–!”

Before the young Julius could retort to his friend, he was interrupted by the sight revealed past the treeline, which caused Vandread to look up in awe as well.

It was a massive temple, hidden deep within the forest and now covered in overgrowth, yet the many statues of knights and beasts stood strong on its edges.

“There it is–’The Heart of Untram,\'” Julius remarked.

Vandread squinted, “We’re supposed to find an antique in an old place like that?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Julius scratched his head, “I wouldn’t count on anything of value being found in there–I mean, it’s obviously been ransacked, right?”

Suddenly, a figure landed between them, falling out from a tree above them with a less-than-elegant landing.

“Oww…” The figure groaned.

It was a young man, the same age as the other two with shaggy, blonde hair and a bandage over the bridge of his nose._.

‘Victor’, Vandread thought, he’s the third of our rag-tag, little group. Clearly he’s not…the most refined adventurer, but he’s reliable.

“Seriously, Victor?…” Vandread sighed, looking down at the blonde-haired man.

Julius laughed, extending his hand down to the blonde-haired man with the bow strapped to his back, helping him up to his feet.

“Ghh, that smarts…” Victor rubbed his back while wincing.

Though the clumsy, green-cloak wearing archer had bruised his nose from the fall, it was already healed after just a few moments.

“I swear you’d be dead a hundred times over if it wasn’t for your healing ability,” Julius sighed.

“Did you catch sight of any enemies?” Vandread asked.

Victor scrunched his nose before shaking his head, “Nothing. It’s been dead silent.”

“Weird,” Julius remarked.

“That’s weird? I think it’d be more weird if there were other people waiting in this forest,” Victor replied.

Vandread shook his head, “No, I agree with Julius. If the Heart of Untram really does valuable antiques inside, we’re probably not the only ones after it. It’s a recent discovery, after all.”

After gathering themselves and getting ready, the three youthful adventurers headed towards the abandoned temple.

Julius looked back with a raised eyebrow towards Victor, who was staying a good ten meters behind the two, “You really oughta use a sword and lead the way instead. I mean, you don’t have to worry about dying if you get sliced up!”

A small chuckle came from Victor, who ruffled his own, messy locks, “I’ve told you a million times, I’m terrible with swords.”

“Sounds to me like you’re still being a chicken about getting hurt–pretty lame for an immortal,” Julius teased.

“Hey! I’m not a chicken! Besides, I’ve told you before–I’m not immortal; I can be killed,” Victor huffed.

While the two bantered, Vandread acted as the sensible member of the party, keeping his eyes peeled and moving ahead, making sure there were no lurking enemies around the entrance of the temple.

“Cut it out, you two. We’re here,” Vandread said.

As the natural ‘cool-headed’ member of the trio, Vandread’s words caused both Julius and Victor to focus up once stopping at the mossy entrance of the old temple.

The pathway leading up to it had no visible road, having been buried beneath soil and grass; even trees seemed to grow against the body of the structure.

“Alright…How about we make this quick so we can get back and have some of Bacho’s steak?” Julius proposed with a confident smirk, cracking his neck side-to-side.

“Ahh, a steak sounds great right about now…” Victor said, closing his eyes as if picturing it.

“Let’s get this done fast and right, then you can worry about filling your stomachs,” Vandread replied, equipping himself with a pair of knives.

Naturally, Julius was the one who led the way as the three climbed the tall steps to the temple entrance. Though Vandread was more of the level-headed one, the natural charisma and adventurous spirit that Julius possessed gave him the natural inclination of a leader.

There wasn’t much caution in the way Julius nonchalantly stepped past the threshold of the entrance, causing the steps of his boots to echo off of the archaic stone.

The interior was quite vast, but there was hardly anything of note to be seen in the initial chamber besides grass and roots that had grown through the cracks between the stone.

“Looks pretty empty to me,” Julius remarked, glancing around.

Vandread stood beside him, staying wary, “Empty is good. As long as we find what we’re here for and get out–that’s a job well-done.”

“You’re boring, ya know that?” Julius sighed, “I mean, don’t you want to test yourself against some worthy foes? Make a name for yourself? You get me, right, Victor?”

Posed with the question from the eccentric, dark-haired adventurer, the archer chuckled and scratched his head nervously.

“Err, I’m more on the side of ‘peace’,” Victor laughed.

Julius shook his head in disappointment, “I should’ve expected as much.”

“Can we get a move-on please?” Vandread said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Julius led the way.

With his sword drawn, Julius glanced around while moving through the abandoned corridors of the temple with Vandread covering his back and Victor watching their flank. It was their usual strategy, and it had never failed; though it was basic, it was solid.

“What is this ‘antique’ we’re looking for again?” Julius asked.

Vandread gave him an annoyed glare, “…You need to start reading up on the quests you accept.”

“Ha-ha, I just leave the details to you, Vanny,” Julius laughed.

“–” Vandread stared at him before sighing, “It’s apparently the relic of a warlock of old; it’s a ruby chalice, but our client has left it at just that.”

“Ah, a secretive fellow, huh? Boring,” Julius playfully said.

“Just stay focused, please,” Vandread said.

It seemed the only thing to worry about was the dingy, unstable state of the temple as tiles moved and slid at times under each step, nearly causing Victor to fall at one point.

Navigating through the dingy corridors, the most troublesome obstacles the trio encountered were gaps in the flooring, having to jump over pits to cross to the next chamber. There were some traps discovered, though none of them got past Vandread’s keen eye as he disarmed them for the other two.

Finding themselves in a narrow corridor, Julius led the way with a confident march.

“Still, I can’t complain about the pay on an easy job like this,” Julius said, “What’re you two planning on using your money on? For me, well, I’ve got to party while I’m young.”

“Blades,” Vandread answered quickly and simply.

Julius looked back, “What about you, Victor?”

The blonde-haired, young archer scratched his cheek with a nervous smile, “Well, err…I’d like to buy a cottage out in a small town. A quiet place–maybe like Yullim.”

“Yullim?! I didn’t expect that,” Julius replied in surprise.

“Just an example,” Victor smiled.

“Well, I hope you can–”

As Julius spoke with a smile, the conversation between the three young-blooded adventurers was cut off as the entirety of the temple rumbled around them.

“What happened?!” Victor let out, looking around.

“Err…” Julius glanced down, “…My bad.”

The energetic youth had accidentally stepped on a false tile that clicked beneath his boot, triggering some sort of contraption.

“Just great–get ready!” Vandread announced.

Julius was the first to notice it: a boulder came rolling from the direction the three were moving towards. It was massive enough to leave no space in the hall, causing the entirety of the old, pale-stone corridor to tremble as it approached.

“Run–!” Julius yelled.

They all began moving, with Vandread taking the lead with his swiftness and Julius following behind, but Victor, being the slowest and least coordinated of the three, managed to fall behind.

Before any of the three could reach the other end of the corridor, the weight of the trap boulder proved to be too much for the old temple to handle as the floor gave out from beneath.

“Wah!” Victor flailed.

“Gh-!” Julius fell.

“–” Vandread remained focused, looking for something to hold onto.

Though each of their reactions had little merit in their differences as, in the end, they all fell straight down the newly-formed hole together.

After falling into the unknown pit that was dark and musty, dust filled it from the crash of debris. Coming to, Vandread blinked a few times, laying on his stomach as he groaned.

…We fell? How long have I been out? He questioned.

In front of him, he watched Julius pick himself up, spitting out some dust. Besides a few cuts, Julius was practically unharmed as he brushed dust off of his limbs.

“All good?” Julius asked him.

Vandread groaned a bit before nodding, “…Think so.”

“Well, can’t say we didn’t walk right into that one,” Julius remarked, looking up.

It was a long way back to the top, and little seemed to be present in the unknown depths of the temple besides darkness.