Minutes passed.
Or perhaps hours.
Time became difficult to judge beneath the dense canopy.
The deeper he ventured...
The quieter the forest became.
Even the insects disappeared.
No wind.
No birds.
Nothing.
Only the sound of his own footsteps.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Then—
The trees suddenly opened.
Kai blinked.
"...What?"
Before him stood something that clearly did not belong.
A structure.
Half buried beneath nature.
Massive roots crawled across cracked walls.
Thick vines wrapped around weathered stone.
Trees had grown through sections of the roof itself.
The building had lost its battle against time.
Yet...
It still stood.
Kai slowly approached.
"This..."
He placed a hand against one of the walls.
Cold.
Smooth.
Not ordinary stone.
Embedded within the walls were thin glowing lines.
They pulsed faintly.
Almost like veins.
"...Magic circuits?"
He wasn't certain.
He'd seen similar designs throughout Asphyxia.
Mostly inside its defensive walls.
But these...
These were different.
More intricate.
More refined.
Almost elegant.
"Asphyxia's don't look like this..."
He circled the structure.
No windows remained intact.
Most entrances had collapsed beneath fallen debris.
Nature had reclaimed almost everything.
Then—