"What else is here?"
Eren said to himself as he looked around the underground hall lit up by yooperlite stones. He then zeroed in on a set of metal doors that seemed to be embedded in one side of the hall.
The two giant doors were tightly shut and would have gone unnoticed if the hall wasn't well lit. These doors were made up of mystic wood framed with strange metal alloys that Eren couldn't recognize.
There were two pillars on either side of these two doors. There were various patterns on the surface of the doors that looked oddly like rudimentary runic designs.
Eren observed the doors with keen interest before approaching them carelessly. He found out that there were a few two depressions or slots embedded in each door, which looked like they were supposed to accommodate something.
"Hm? Wait a minute. Isn't this….?"
He took out the bear coin he had just tucked away in his storage and thought out loud. As he placed the coin in the right door's slot, the runes on the door glowed and a distinct mana pulse spread throughout the room.
However, the runes dimmed in the next moment as the left side of the door that had the corresponding series of runes became inactive. Eren raised his eyebrows as he understood what had just happened.
The coin was part of the puzzle that could open these gates. From the very beginning, the dead ranker sought out this place. It was just that he was killed by someone or something in the process. In the end, his corpse was brought here by the bear.
The dead ranker could have never thought that he'd reach the place he was looking for after his death. Eren thought that the wretched bear must have done this one thing that was commendable-- making someone else's wishes come true after their death.
'What the fuck is this place?'
Eren would be made aware of his foul mouth whenever things turned a bit mystic for his OCD-like, always-looking-for-answers brain. This time it was no different. He took the coin out of its slot and placed it again. He then tried to open the doors using his lightning-coated kicks. The guy just wanted to be sure.
Bang!
The doors didn't even budge from their position. After a few more kicks and changing the placement of the coin, Eren's trials concluded with a conclusion that the door won't open unless he finds the thing or item that is needed to be placed at the left door.
Eren started looking through the dead ranker's storage to find the item that was shaped like the clot found on the left door. The coin he had was palm-sized and had a diameter of 5cm. The depression on the left door looked to be meant for a runestone of a particular kind. It too had a diameter of 5cm.
The dead ranker didn't have any item on him that resembled the slot's depression. Eren then started looking through the bear-scavenged stuff again only to be met with disappointment.
Eren spent quite a bit of time inside the underground hall in search of the item required for the left door. Ultimately, he concluded that the runestone was not there. At that point, he stopped his search and gave up.
'If it doesn't open, it's not your door yet.'
Eren thought to himself and shrugged his shoulders. There was no point in hanging around in the underground hall anymore. So he decided to study everything he could about the Bear's Creed before coming back here.
***
A Steelforest mountain range. A bit away from the prairie.
A random mountain cave hosted three rankers as its dwellers for the night.
"Where were you?"
Seeing Eren in the late evening, Reece asked in a shaky voice. The sun was about to set after painting the sky with its golden red colors. Mia was with them. She had decided to postpone her mission after the morning's debacle.
Eren understood that Reece was worried the entire time he was inside the underground hall. The place was such that it interfered with voice communication. Eren should have contacted Reece before entering the space, which he hadn't done.
Reece started worrying about Eren didn't reply to her over the voice communication. She found Mia after some time and they both looked for him for hours on end without any luck. Just when they thought of involving Miranda in their serac, Reece was contacted by Eren.
Mia gave Eren the coordinates to meet up. And that's how they ended up staying in the cave for the night. Prairie was a dangerous place to be in at night. Steelfield mountain range had known risks and was nearby. Choosing to stay in this cave that Mia knew about was an obvious choice for the three rankers.
Eren smiled mirthlessly before hugging Reece in answer to her question. In his defense, he didn't know that the search for the runestone would keep him so busy that he'd forget to check the time.
"I'm sorry Reece. Let's just say that it won't happen again."
Eren patted Reece's back while he hugged her. Then he pursed his lips and continued.
"And I… I'm sorry for how I said what I said in the morning."
Eren said and took a step back. He then greeted Mia with a nod before deciding to set up a campfire inside the cave.
The entrance to the cave had already been secured by an isolation-array scroll. This allowed them to see what was outside the cave while the energy barrier camouflaged the cave's entrance. So they could light the campfire without attracting attention.
Reece processed Eren's words and smiled at him. Then she repeated them in her head before speaking it to him with a frown on her face as she asked him.
"What does that even mean?"
Eren chuckled before replying. "You know exactly what I mean."
Reece smiled and shook her head when she heard Eren's response. She could only admit her mistake at this point.
"You were right all along, Eren. I needed to hear that to snap out of my jitters. Weakness has no value in the rankers' world. It can only burden you and those who are close to you."