I was in complete and utter shock as I stared up at the cliff face. There was no way that we were getting back up there, and Ace had just abandoned us down here to die. I wanted to be angry with him, but I knew that it would do me no good. He had made his decision, and this was kind of all our fault.
Chloe had pushed me to get with Grace, but I had never seen Ace put up the cameras. He must have smelled the sex after getting back in the truck from the bandits and not said anything. This was all our fault, but that didn't make me feel any better.
"What do we do now?" Chloe asked as she looked around at our surroundings. "We can't exactly climb back up."
"We need to decide how we are going forward from here. There are two ways, east or west. East takes us into the mountain, and west takes us down the canyon. The reason we picked this place to descend is that it was the lighter place on the map that wasn't marked out. The rest of the canyon gets dark the farther west. Do any of you have a screen so we can pull up a map?" I asked, not sure if Grace knew about my Chaos Trigger. I didn't want to use that unless I needed to, and I had yet to be in a place where that was needed yet. Something told me that it was important to wait and that I would need it in this canyon.
"I have my phone, but all the maps are dead now, but everything else works," Grace explained, handing me her phone, and I got the same thing of a distorted and fuzzy screen like an old TV. This was going to make things difficult, but there must be something down here that was blocking everything.
I handed the phone back to Grace before looking down east into the mountain. I could see that it got darker and more treacherous looking the farther down we went, but there was something about this place that called out to me. Maybe it was my sense of adventure, or maybe I just wanted to get away from everything up top, but something told me that this was where we needed to go.
"I think we need to head east," I said finally as everyone looked at me. "There is something in there calling out to me."
"What could possibly be in there?" Chloe asked with a confused look on her face, but Grace just smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
"Sometimes you just know these things," Grace said as she put her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "I trust you."
"Why are you all trusting of him now? Aren't you a Dark Goddess? Aren't you here to work against him?" Chloe demanded as she looked between the two of us.
"I have my reasons," Grace said cryptically as she started to walk east into the mountain range. "Come on, let's go before it gets too late."
"Hold on, Cow! Stop talking in riddles! What the fuck is going on with you two?!" Chloe yelled as she stamped her foot in frustration, but Grace stopped and whirled on her.
"Halberd is my only hope of getting out of this place! And unlike you, I am honest about why I am using him! Does he know about your gambling problem? Did you even tell him why you are here?!" Grace demanded, and Chloe flinched as I turned to her.
"What is she talking about?" I asked, but Chloe just looked away and didn't say anything. "Chloe, what is going on?"
"I was in debt to some dangerous people back in the Heavenly Realm. They gave me a choice; either I come into the city and work off my debt, or they kill me," Chloe said softly as tears started to well up in her eyes. "I didn't want to die, so I came here."
"You could have told me," I said as I stepped closer to her and pulled her into a hug. "I would have helped you."
"It doesn't matter now," Chloe said as she clung to me tightly. "We are stuck here regardless."
"Oh, stop trying to give him the tears! Is that like a special talent you have?! Chloe racked up a huge gambling debt with Hades, and she was forced to act as a guide! She was not going to be killed! She is just a liar like all of us!" Grace snapped, and Chloe jumped back from me.
The two of them started to argue, but I just tuned them out. My mind was reeling from everything that I had just learned, and I didn't know what to think. Chloe had lied to me this whole time, and I didn't know if I could trust her anymore. I could feel her emotions, but I didn't seem to know much about them.
Grace, on the other hand, was an honest person, and even though she was using me, I could see that she genuinely cared for me. I didn't know what to do or think as the two of them argued, but eventually, they both calmed down, and we started to head into the mountain range.
This whole situation just kept getting more and more complicated, but I knew that we had to push forward. Maybe there would be some answers in the mountain; maybe not. Either way, we had to keep moving forward, or Ace would win.
The place started to get darker, so I pulled out a light staff I had bought before leaving from my inventory and handed it to Chloe. She had leveled up to 54, but she was still the weakest of us, and Grace was the strongest, but I had yet to see her fight.
The path started to close in until we reached a massive door that was covered in carvings of serpents. I didn't know what they meant, but the door was obviously ancient. It looked like it had not been opened in thousands of years, and there was a large padlock holding it shut.
I could feel the magic emanating from within, and I knew that this was our destination. I just didn't know what we would find on the other side when we got the door open.
