I Received System to Become Dragonborn

The party moved straight toward the temple. The quest they had taken was actually only to help reduce the number of monsters that had become too many in this forest. Other parties were doing the same thing, and they were all staying at the same inn.

Exploring the forest all the way to the northern ridge wasn't part of their job, but Jan had a feeling—if they didn't find the source of the rising monster numbers soon, something bad was going to happen.

They walked cautiously as they drew closer to the old temple. If there really was a clue to the monster surge in this temple, then it was only natural to expect a lot of monsters guarding it, right?

Their weapons were already drawn, and they stayed alert in combat-ready stances. But strangely, not a single monster had appeared yet.

Hund gripped his sword tightly, the muscles in his arm flexing beneath his armor.

"Are you sure you don't see anything, Jan?" he asked, his voice low but tense, his eyes scanning the shadow-draped trees around them.

Jan who already with an arrow notched and his bow half-drawn, didn't take his eyes off the path.

"I don't," he said, and that simple answer unsettled him more than anything else.

For someone like Jan whose senses were sharper than most, whose instincts had never failed him in years of travel, silence this deep felt unnatural and wrong.

He exhaled slowly, then turned slightly. "Esther. Use your Magic. I want to be sure."

The witch gave a nod without question. She stopped, closed her eyes, and held out both hands, her fingertips pulsing faintly with violet light.

A moment passed before the subtle current of her spell swept outward, invisible to all of them but she can see it's thread.

When her eyes opened again, they were cold and serious.

"There's nothing," she said. "No monsters. But also not a single bird, insect, or animal either. It's dead silent. Like the forest's holding its breath."

That made everyone freeze. Annette glanced nervously over her shoulder. Hund muttered something under his breath and tightened his grip on the sword's hilt.

A quiet forest was never a good sign. But a forest that silent? That was worse. It meant something dangerous had already scared everything away.

"This is bad," Esther said. "We should fall back. Call for reinforcements while we still have the chance."

"We don't know what's in that temple. We could be walking straight into a trap," Annette agreed.

Jan looked at them with his jaw clenched.

"You could be right," he said. "But we're also close. Whatever's happening in this forest, it started here. And if we go back without proof, nobody's going to believe us. They'll think we just panicked and run away. You know what I'm talking about."

He paused, then lowered his voice. "I say we move forward until we find something to bring back. Then we can talk about retreating."

The others hesitated, but in the end, they nodded.

Reluctantly, they moved again, their formation tighter now. The shadows of the trees deepened as they neared the ancient stone structure ahead.

The air grew colder and the silence become heavier. And still, nothing came to greet them.

After few minutes more, they finally arrived at the edge of the temple grounds, the structure now fully visible through the thinning trees.

Moss-covered stone columns jutted from the earth, and the outer walls that chipped, cracked, and covered in faded runes rose higher than they expected.

It was bigger than it had looked from afar. And far more ominous.

The tall and narrow windows were little more than gaping black slits in the stone, and the entrance was an arched doorway left wide open, it looked less like a welcome and more like a mouth waiting to swallow them.

They slowed their pace. Their eyes sweeping the area. Still no movement or a flicker of life.

Even the wind, which had followed them all morning, seemed to have stopped at the temple's border, as if unwilling to pass through the threshold.

"Esther," Jan said quietly, "one more time."

She didn't need to ask. With another breath, Esther closed her eyes and reached out with her Magic again.

Her fingers pulsed faintly with violet light as the spell expanded from her like ripples in a pond.

A long moment passed.

Then she opened her eyes and shook her head, looking troubled. "Still nothing. Nothing at all. Not even heat signatures… it's like the forest just ends here."

Jan's expression darkened. He glanced at the others.

Annette sighed, already knowing what he was thinking.

"I'll follow your lead," she said softly. "Just don't make me regret it."

Hund cracked his neck. "We've come this far. Might as well step through the damn door."

It was true that despite their small number, their party had long earned a reputation across both Qomore and Astoria, the twin giants of the human kingdoms.

Their names carried weight from the battlefields of the southern marshes to the ruined citadels in the east. And unlike most parties, each of them could use Magic.

Even Hund, who might look like a pure brawler, had once shattered a stone golem with a single fist enveloped in runic fire.

They weren't invincible. But they were close enough that few things in the wild dared challenge them.

So they weren't as afraid as like most others would be. Not even now.

Jan looked once more toward the dark doorway. Then he gave a single nod.

"Stay sharp," he said.

Together, they crossed the threshold, entering the ancient temple as silence followed behind them.

They stepped into the temple's gloomy hall, their boots echoing softly against the cold stone floor.

The walls were made of black and grey stone, aged with cracks and timeworn decay. Dust clung thick to the surfaces and the air was heavy, damp, stagnant, and untouched for so long.

Esther kept her hands slightly raised, her fingers glowing dimly as she continuously spread her sensory Magic in waves.

Jan moved at her side with eyes narrowed, every sense stretched to its limit. He could hear the faint creak of their leather armor, the soft clink of Annette's staff against her back, even the steady thump of Hund's steps behind them. But beyond that was nothing.

The hallway was lined with open archways leading to shadowed chambers deeper in. Every one of them looked like a gaping mouth, like something could leap out at any second.

Their fingers stayed tight around their weapons and they were ready.

They didn't rush. They stayed in the first hall for a full minute, unmoving, breathing slow, waiting for something to stir.

But the darkness remained still.

Jan finally nodded and pointed to one of the farther doors along the wall.

"That one. Let's start from there," he whispered.

They approached the chosen door with quiet steps. Esther's light Magic gave a faint glow, not bright enough to draw attention, but enough to see a few paces ahead. Jan slowly pushed the door open, it gave a low, drawn-out groan, and they stepped through into a new corridor.

It was narrow and curved slightly, forcing them to walk in a line. They lit their Magical lamps and the corridor become brighter now, the lamps casting flickering light over the cracked stone and faded carvings along the walls.

They see strange symbols. It looks like runes but they didn't belong to any known language.

After a short walk, the corridor opened into a chamber. They stopped in the doorway with their weapons ready, but nothing moved.

Inside the chamber were statues. Five of them. Tall, silent, and strange.

The light from their lamps flickered against the stone faces, revealing forms that were deeply unsettling.

Each statue was a fusion of things that shouldn't belong together—human shapes twisted with features of animals and… something else.

One had the face of a deer, but its eyes were too large and too sunken. Its mouth stretched open in a silent scream.

Another stood tall with the upper body of a man but with wings sprouting from its shoulders and the gnarled legs of a bird.

One knelt with elongated arms, a serpent coiled around its neck, and eyes that feeliks like it followed them no matter where they stood.

"They're not from any religion I've ever seen," Annette murmured, her voice barely above a breath.

"Not gods," Esther added, her tone distant and disturbed. "Not demons either. They feel ancient."

Hund approached one carefully, tapping the base with his sword's pommel. It rang hollow. Solid stone. But the feeling of wrongness still pressed down on them.

"This whole place is wrong," Jan muttered.

They stood there in silence for a moment, the statues looming above them in the pale Magical light. The chamber was still. But it felt like the longer they looked at the statues, the more they changed.

Or maybe they were just imagining it.

Maybe.

Then a black smoke appeared from the statue that already crumbled.

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