We stopped at the entrance.
A dark, wide maw of a cave led deep into the mountain, like an open mouth. The stone around it was old, eaten away by moisture and time.
The dwarves dismounted first.
“This is the first cave,” one of them said, adjusting his lantern. “There are dozens of them in this mountain. We’ll start with this one.”
He took a step forward.
“If you want to die first—be my guest,” Liara said sharply and jumped off her horse.
The dwarf froze.
She stood in front of the entrance, leaning on her sword.
“I go first.
Then Zenhald.
Then you.”
She swept her gaze over everyone.
“If I say lie down—you lie down.
If I say run—you run.
If I say don’t breathe—you don’t breathe.
Understood?”
Silence.
Then everyone nodded.
We went in.
The first steps were ordinary. Stone. Dampness. Echoing footsteps.
Just a cave…
But after only a few meters, I felt it.
A weight.
Somewhere below. Very deep.
Something huge.
Alive.
Dangerous.
“Liara,” I said quietly. “Do you feel that?”
She stopped and listened.
“Barely,” she answered honestly. “Very weak. Why?”
I didn’t answer.
For the first ten meters, the dwarves worked energetically—hammering at the walls, collecting chunks of rock.
“Just the entrance, and the cave is already giving up treasures!” one of them shouted happily.
We went another hundred meters.
Calmly.
Too calmly.
Then the cave opened up.
Branches split off to the sides—wide, deep. The ceiling rose, the space became enormous. And in the center…
A hole.
Not just a drop.
A crater descending into darkness.
From there came a feeling.
Not fear.
Terror.
I stopped.
“Tgar,” I said aloud.
Liara turned sharply.
“How do you know that name?”
Whispers spread behind us.
“Who is that?”
“What’s Tgar?”
Liara slowly straightened.
“During the reign of one of the Demon Kings,” she began, “creatures were created to exterminate dwarves. One of them was Tgar.”
She looked down into the darkness.
“A massive fire creature.
Monstrous strength.
Its flames burned entire underground cities.
Dwarves vanished in days.”
She tightened her grip on her sword.
“Now it’s clear why no one ever explored this mountain.”
I stayed silent.
I remembered.
Not from books.
Not from legends.
“I created them,” I thought, from a past life.
The silence thickened.
“Well then,” I added. “I’ll destroy it now.”
I stepped forward.
“STOP.”
Liara grabbed me.
“You can’t,” she said sharply. “Not here.”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“I know I’ll win,” I replied—and jumped.
The fall lasted a fraction of a second.
Then I was yanked back.
She literally dragged me by the collar and slammed me onto the stone.
“ARE YOU INSANE?!”
She was furious. Truly furious.
“Do you want to die?!”
“I’m not like you,” I said, getting up. “I know what this is.”
“Exactly!” she shouted. “You’re a child who thinks he knows everything!”
She stepped right up to me.
“I’ve faced a creature like that before.
The squad was strong. Experienced.
Half didn’t make it out.
The rest were crippled.”
Her voice trembled.
“This isn’t a field. Not the sky. Not open space.
This is a cave.
And it plays on Tgar’s side.”
I clenched my fists.
“I’ll win.”
“Maybe,” she said quietly. “But we won’t.”
She looked at the group.
“And I won’t let you kill people just because you’re confident.”
I was silent.
Something moved below.
Deep.
Very deep.
Liara turned to the group.
“Back.
Now.”
The dwarves didn’t argue.
I looked into the darkness.
…Not today.
Or today?
I took a step back.
Liara was already turning, giving the order:
“Back. Now.”
The dwarves began to retreat.
And that was when I jumped.
“YAAAA—!”
I heard Liara scream—sharp, torn:
“NO! ZENHALD!!!”
Falling.
Not instant—long seconds where the air whistled in my ears and the darkness opened below.
I fell for maybe six seconds. Maybe more.
The ground rushed up.
I landed hard, but stayed on my feet.
And immediately understood:
There was no light here.
Not from below.
Not from above.
Not from the sides.
Absolute, crushing darkness.
I extended my hand and created a sphere of light.
A circle—about thirty meters.
Stone. Ash. Traces of ancient heat.
And emptiness.
“Idiot…” I whispered.
Half a minute later, I heard footsteps.
The light wavered—and Liara burst into the circle.
She flew up to me, grabbed me by the collar, and practically lifted me onto my toes.
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!”
Her voice shook.
“Do you understand what you just did?!”
“Liara, I—”
“SILENCE!” She shook me. “We’re going to die. Both of us.
While there’s still time—we get out!”
And at that moment…
Light.
Not mine.
A flash—blinding, infernal.
I turned.
It rose.
Tgar.
About fifteen meters tall.
A massive, twisted being, as if molded from fire and darkness. Heat radiated from it—and at the same time, a cold that pierced to the bones.
It wasn’t just a creature. It was the embodiment of an ancient catastrophe. Roughly fifteen meters tall, it wasn’t made of flesh. Its body looked like hardened, charred lava, crisscrossed with cracks filled with pulsating orange heat.
It was monstrously powerful. Every muscle was a condensed mass of energy. It radiated not just heat, but the feeling of absolute cold—the kind that remains after fire has burned everything alive. Demonic frost.
It roared.
The ground cracked beneath our feet.
Liara screamed:
“NO!!!”
Tgar inhaled.
And exhaled hell.
I didn’t think—I just raised my hands.
A dome of mana closed around us.
The fire struck.
First—red.
Then—yellow.
The stone around us melted, dripping like wax.
Then the flame turned white.
Then blue.
Minutes stretched into eternity—for someone.
I felt the fire burning away magic itself.
Five minutes.
Then… silence.
The fire vanished.
Tgar staggered.
Its chest glowed dimly, unevenly.
“Now,” I whispered.
I surged forward.
Not a strike—a breakthrough.
One precise, concentrated blow to the center of its chest.
The creature collapsed.
I stepped closer and saw it.
A core.
Pulsing, cloudy, with a barely visible crack.
“Your time is over,” I said.
I tore the core out.
The light went out.
Tgar died.
Silence covered the cave.
I put the core into my pocket. The crack was… small.
“It’s fine,” I muttered. “I’ll look at it later.”
I turned.
Liara stood there, unmoving.
Eyes wide open.
“You…” she swallowed. “You defeated it?”
I shook my head.
“No.
I just waited until it burned itself out.”
I looked at the blackened body.
“It’s old. There was almost no mana left in it.
We were just lucky.”
Liara stared at me for a long time.
A very long time.
“You…” she finally said. “Are you really a child?”
I gave a tired smirk.
“Depends how you look at it.”
I glanced around, listening to the silence that no longer pressed down.
“That’s it,” I said. “We’re leaving.
This mountain is completely safe now.”
Liara blinked.
“…Are you serious right now?”
“Absolutely.”
I raised my hand, and a stream of wind lifted us both. Stone, dust, darkness—all fell away below. We shot upward toward the exit, as if the mountain itself had finally exhaled.
“You know,” she said while flying, “you’re surprisingly convenient.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned.
“I mean ‘useful,’” she clarified. “Where have you even been all this time?”
“Studying at school,” I answered calmly.
“While you were saving the world… or carrying diapers.”
She stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing.
“Cheeky.”
We flew out of the cave.
Outside, the squad stood frozen.
Faces pale. Eyes wide.
“We…” one of the dwarves began. “We saw the light.
We thought you were dead.”
“No,” I said, brushing myself off. “The cave is just safe now.”
Silence hung.
Then someone nervously exhaled.
“…Safe,” the dwarf repeated.
“He said ‘safe.’”
We mounted our horses.
Noxus immediately snorted.
“Ugh,” he said. “What, are you fried?”
“It happens,” I muttered.
He sniffed.
“No, seriously. You stink.
When was the last time you washed?”
I was about to protest, but didn’t get the chance.
“Go wash already,” Liara added, riding beside me.
“Zenhald, you’re unpleasant to touch.”
“HEY!” I protested. “You—”
I stopped.
Sniffed my sleeve.
…Alright.
“Fine,” I admitted reluctantly. “Maybe I’m a little dirty.”
Noxus snorted.
“A little,” he echoed mockingly.
“You smell like a cave that just survived the end of the world.”
Liara laughed again.
We rode on.
And I suddenly realized that…
I hadn’t felt this normal in a long time.
When we returned, I didn’t say anything.
I just turned toward the river.
It was warm. Wide. Calm.
Mine.
I stepped into the water and didn’t swim.
I just let myself sink.
Like a stone.
The current gently caught me, pressed me to the bottom. I lay on my back, staring up into the murky sky of water. The flow itself washed away the dirt, the soot, the smell of fire and cave.
Good.
No thoughts.
No decisions.
Just lying there.
I saw Noxus swim past. He looked at me, snorted underwater, and swam back to the shore.
Maybe two minutes passed.
Then the water exploded above me.
Liara jumped into the river.
She descended quickly, sharply. Came right up to me, gesturing with her hands, clearly demanding a reaction.
I lazily looked at her.
She grabbed me by the collar.
And started dragging me.
“Hey…” I thought. “Why are you ruining the moment…”
She hauled me out of the water and threw me onto the shore.
“ARE YOU ALIVE?!” Liara shouted.
I coughed.
“No, damn it, I’m dead,” I muttered. “Why did you pull me out?”
“Noxus said you’d been lying underwater for two minutes without moving!”
“I’m resting,” I replied—and jumped back into the river.
Returned to the bottom.
Five meters deep—perfect.
A minute later, Liara appeared again.
She sank beside me, tried to lie down the same way…
and was immediately pushed upward.
She tried again.
Up again.
I stayed.
Five minutes.
Then ten.
My consciousness grew soft. Warm.
I started drifting toward sleep.
And then someone started shaking me again.
I opened my eyes.
Liara.
“Enough,” she gestured. “We’re getting out.”
We swam back to shore.
“What?” I asked, sitting on the stones.
“The barge is ready,” she replied. “Tomorrow the first miners go into the mountain.”
“So what?” I asked. “There are no horrors left there.”
She looked at me carefully.
“Situations vary,” she said. “We’ve been asked to escort again.
Just in case.”
I sighed.
“Fine.”
I went back.
This time—just to sleep.
