The Duke's Unwanted Wife

Waking up the next morning, the three started looking around again for any trace of awry mana that would lead them to the center of the formation. Finding none, they proceeded, having no more time to waste. They covered a significant distance and seemingly reached the end by noon. There was another cave there. In fact, there was just a collection of caves where they were. It made Amaika finally realize something.    

    

“It’s a magical formation, yes, but the reason why we haven’t been able to find our way out of it is because we are most likely in a subdimension.”    

    

“So, we’re stuck in another dimension? Isn’t that just perfect?!”    

    

“Calm down, Marvis. If there is a way in, there is definitely a way out. If we keep moving forward, I am sure we will find the exit if we keep going in the direction we’re going.”    

    

“You have been saying that the ENTIRE time!”    

    

“Would you rather stay and be stuck here?”    

    

Marvis growled, baring his teeth at Amaika. The werephoenix was unmoved but it wasn’t because he could easily defeat Marvis. Rather than respond with aggression, it was better to show an open and peaceful stand.    

    

“Fine! Lead us out of here.”    

    

It wasn’t like Amaika couldn’t tell why he was anxious, they were anxious too. However, the call was getting stronger and they were determined to find out what it was and get out of there.    

    

{Something is wrong. I can sense multiple presences coming up from the ground. They don’t feel…alive.}    

    

Amaika immediately responded to Cheese’s warning and turned into a giant bird, snatching Marvis up into the sky. A few moment after, various decaying hands dug out of the ground, clearing reaching for them as a target. Amaika didn’t wait for it to reach them, flying above them closer to where they felt the pull. They reached a cave with a giant stone rolled over the mouth. Marvis jumped down and began pushing the stone away while Cheese fended off the undead that kept crawling after them.    

    

“Please don’t tell me we’re in the Field of Death, Amaika!”    

    

Undead beings were rare and there was only a particular place they could be found. Since they were so rare, they were practically a myth, the existence of the Field of Death was also a myth. Marvis thought his guess was just a shot in the dark but not hearing Amaika respond, he felt hopeless. Channeling his fury, he pushed the stone away from the entrance and the two rushed in after him. For some reason, the undead couldn’t come in with them.    

    

There was an orange glow over the cave coming from a mysterious source. They kept walking deeper until they heard the chirps of several birds. Amaika immediately started running and as frustrated as he was, Marvis followed right behind. They finally reached where the birds were to find them all chained down to an altar which suspiciously looked like a sarcophagus.    

    

“They were…all alive?”    

    

There were about a hundred birds chained down, all chirping a beautiful song. The song was the pull Amaika felt as they traversed through the cave. It was like they couldn’t believe their eyes that the immortal divine birds were all alive. The sarcophagus caught Marvis’s attention. The symbols on them were similar to the symbols he saw on Natalia’s top secret documents.    

    

“Cheese, can you call the fairy god mother here?”    

    

Cheese nodded and summoned Madaline. It barely took a few minutes and she appeared in the cave with them since she had a direct connection with Cheese. She also looked pleasantly surprised to see this scene, especially the sarcophagus. She ran her hand over it.    

    

“I can’t believe you found what she was looking for. I thought you were supposed to be at the ancestral grounds. What are you doing all the way here?”    

    

“Amaika brought us here. Now, I can see why they did it. Are they all werephoenixes? I thought they were all in hiding.”    

    

“Apparently they were not if all 99 are here. Who has been hiding them here? Wait, it all makes sense now, what Natalia told me. We can’t leave them here.”    

    

“So, we’re taking them all with us?”    

    

“No, I am taking all of them back to Aldie’s cove with me. You and Cheese will leave with the sarcophagus.”    

    

“You want us to take that creepy thing with us?! No way! What if whatever is in there crawls out of there and tries to kill us?!”    

    

“Your paranoia is on another level, Marvis. The person in there cannot be revived so easily. I’ll set up a teleportation portal that would take you directly to Polivia to join her. Make sure you keep the sarcophagus safe.”    

    

After staying at the Salon for virtually the entire day, a tired Natalia returned to the mansion. There was still a lot to prepare for the auction so she wanted to get everything in check before it started. When she opened the warehouse, she wasn’t expecting to see Marvis sleeping on a sarcophagus.    

    

“Marvis?”    

    

He slowly opened his eyes, sitting up on something that was clearly uncomfortable to sleep on, not to mention creepy. Cheese flew out of his hair, flying up to Natalia’s hair, finding it a much better place to sleep.    

    

“What’s that?” she asked, surprised.    

    

“The fairy god mother said it was the final resting place of the god of nature.”    

    

“She found it?! Seriously?”    

    

“Actually, we were the ones who found it. Okay, it was Amaika who found it but they dragged us through the field of death to find it. I just wanted to activate my bloodline and come back but they wanted to find where the teleportation circle they apparently laid down led to. That’s why I’m um…late,” he said, sheepishly. She smiled, running to him. He thought she was interested in the sarcophagus but she hugged him tightly.    

    

“It’s been torture without you. I’m glad you’re back.”    

    

“Hmm, I’m back,” he hugged her. When they finally parted from their long hug, she ran her fingers over the rims of the sarcophagus. There was no response, no mana or anything emitting from the sarcophagus. It didn’t look like something that contained the body of one of the original gods.    

    

“Step back, Marvis. You two, cheese. I want to draw something.”    

    

“With what?”    

    

She brought out a sharp knife out of nowhere and he accepted it. However, when she cut her hand with the knife, he jumped towards her, trying to stop her. He was stopped by an invisible barrier that repelled him backwards. The blood floated up instead of dropping to the ground, forming a silver line. Putting aside the fact that her blood was silver rather than red, the line resembled the steel wires that held the sky tubes.    

    

The silver line was elastic, continuously creating a magic circle around the sarcophagus. Natalia controlled it with precision, concentrating all her attention to make the perfect symbols. Because of her precision and control, she quickly finished it and activated it with an incantation.    

    

It glowed orange and the sarcophagus began sinking into the ground. After it was gone, the magic circle started to fade. Soon, it was gone like it was never there. Natalia stumbling while holding her head quickly drew their attention back. Marvis ran forward again, realizing the barrier was no longer there. He caught her in his arms, checking her body's warmth with his hand. Once he saw she was burning up, he ran back into the mansion, leaving Cheese to guard the warehouse.    

    

Marvis ran past the guards, disregarding their existence. Before anything major could happen, he was quickly spotted by Fredrich who immediately helped him out. They got her to her room and it was up to Adelie to heal her with her powers.    

    

"What happened to her?"    

    

"She made a magic circle to contain the sarcophagus I brought back from a cave I found. I didn't know it would drain her so much. Is she okay, Adelie?"    

    

"I can't concentrate on healing her if you keep bothering me. Out, all of you!"    

    

They vacated the room and Adelie could finally reveal the fear on her face. There was nothing she could actually do. All the mana she poured in was sucked into Natalia's body without any signs of her condition improving. It was terrifying, especially since she didn't know what else to do.    

    

Natalia wasn't actually unconscious. She held Adelie's hand, shaking her head. Adelie came out of the room, looking more confused than she was when she left. The door was locked and none of them could enter anymore.    

    

"Could it be…that sarcophagus was what she was looking for the entire time?" Fredrich thought out loud.    

    

"What do you mean?" Sebastian asked him. Fredrich got some paper and drew out some symbols on the paper.    

    

"She tasked me with finding items with these symbols and the location of the field of death. Were these symbols on the sarcophagus, Marvis?"    

    

"Yes, they were. I know it's what she's looking for but I don't know why. I have a feeling there is a lot more she's hiding from us but before she's ready to open up to us, we can't do anything."