"I thought that they did a scan of the Loch years ago. You know, trying to search for... well, that."

Alfie gestured towards the ceiling of floating water that separated them from the Loch above, referring to the legendary swimming within those waters.

Ignoring the glares from Erik, Seth simply shrugged, which caused his prosthetic arm to swing limply.

"They did. They didn't find anything. Not him, and definitely not this cave."

He brushed his finger against the bowl of one of the braziers, checking for any sign of wear and tear, but there was nothing. There wasn't even a single speck of dust marring these intricate braziers.

The only 'imperfections' in them were the carvings that created the light, and it was hard to call such craftsmanship imperfections. Analysing the carvings, Seth was simply blown away. Although they were the same letters that he and other runic carvers used, trying to compare his own work to this mere light source felt almost blasphemous.

It felt almost akin to comparing a caveman blindly banging a stick against a hollow log and the symphonic wonder that was the works of Beethoven, by saying that they were both music. Compared to the latter, the former barely seemed to register as such. But while it was technically true, and that they were both technically music by the loosest definition, one was an art.

Not trusting himself to commit this work of art to memory, Seth quickly summoned his journal and began to transcribe it onto a page. He took the utmost care, letting the other two simply wander and explore, while he focused on this marvelous carving.

By the time he was done, Seth almost felt dirty about his version. Although it was a perfect copy, by many people's eyes, it was missing so much in his eyes. It wasn't just the slight changes in the handwriting or the immutable straightness of certain lines or the perfect circular curves.

It was... It was like a machine copying an art piece. Although it was the same, fundamentally, it was missing the heart and soul. There was a depth that you couldn't quite put your finger on or rightly describe, if you were pressed, but it was something you would notice nonetheless.

It was as if every pen stroke had left the smallest sliver of their master behind, and Seth was comparing himself to that sliver of a master artisan. Someone he definitely could not compare to. Even his own son was leaps and bounds ahead of him when it came to runic carving.

Pulling himself away from the work of beautiful art, Seth dismissed his journal and waved to the others.

"We should probably move, see what's deeper inside. This is where we were supposed to be going anyways, but we don't know if good ol' Nessie knows about this cave."

"Wait... So the explosion didn't kill it?"

"Do you want to stand around here to find out?"

Seth said with a shrug before heading deeper inside the cave, strolling towards the corridor that twisted off into the great unknown. A few seconds later, he heard the echoing steps of the other two jogging after him to catch up.

As a matter of fact, Seth did know the answer to its ultimate fate. His Karambit was still embedded in its side, and in turn that blade was still connected to him. Although he still could not free it from the fatty, spongy flesh of the Loch Ness Monster, he could still feel where it was in relation to him.

More specifically, he could feel that it was still moving. Judging by the speeds it was moving at, it was safe to say that it was the beasts own doing rather than the knife having being swallowed by something else after they chomped at the monsters dead flesh.

Nessie was indeed still alive, although in what kind of condition he had no idea.

At the very least, he hoped it would be close to death or easier to kill. It would suck if he wasted his arms core for a useless attack.

Glancing down at the metallic arm that was swinging limply by his side with every step, Seth sighed deeply. He had a spare core with him, but it was in one of Omelette's saddle bags. You would have thought that after his last core trouble, that he would have learned to keep a core on him at all times as a spare.

The problem with that was, he tended to get thrown around a lot. Call it an occupational hazard, but odds were that if there was a wall somewhere nearby he was probably going to be thrown into it or through it. It just seemed to be how his life was at this point.

The problem there? Well... Would you want to carry a highly volatile explosive in your pocket when you're being thrown around like that? No? Neither did Seth. So it was packed safely with Omelette.

Not that he could even carry it with him if it was safe. The outfits the system gave them didn't exactly come equipped with pockets. Perhaps they were designed by the same people who made women's clothing, who knows.

But unless he was willing to take that core and stuff it in his prison wallet, he was never going to have a spare with him. Maybe the real less was to stop breaking them to use as a weapon.... No, that would never work either.

As they walked, they didn't worry about the others being worried about them being gone for so long. Aside from clearing the way, one of Seth's tasks, while the others were creating water shields and breathable air, was to act as their communicator to back to dry land.

He was still in control of the charcoal pencil, which he used to write out a live report to Astra. Although he missed some details, considering that it wasn't his main focus, they still managed to understand the gist of what was going on.

Even when he missed details, they were smart enough girls to understand that an explosion occurring under water - which they saw the evidence of on the surface - was most likely their doing and the fact that they were still writing meant that they were still alive afterwards.

As they walked, and as Seth was mentally relaying details of the cave to the above ground group, Alfie seemingly got bored of the silence as they walked.

"Do you think it was real?"

"What? You mean Nessie? Well, it just tried to eat us, so I would hazard a guess to say yes. It's real."

"No no, I mean before. Before all of this, before powers and magic and all that. Before the world went to shit, do you think Nessie was real?

Cos I was thinking, If this cave existed before then too, and they didn't find it back then... Then what if this was were Nessie was? What if it hid in the cave when people were around and only came out sometimes."

Seth considered it for a few seconds, before shrugging.

"I don't know. Maybe you're right. I mean this place looks brand new, the braziers look like they were made this morning, but the cave itself is definitely natural. I might not know much about geology or earth, but this is definitely naturally formed.

Otherwise, why not made a room and a proper corridor instead of a cave? It's like they were trying to hide that someone lived here. At least... not once you get passed the hidden entrance.

But that just makes me wonder, how did they even carve those things? Were did the material come from? Nessie didn't seem like the creative type. So if they didn't, then who did? No one else has been here."

"You might want to review that last part."

Erik interrupted their chat, having moved ahead of the pair while they swapped conspiracy theories. The pair quickly caught up to him, rounding the corner of the cave to see what he was talking about.

Diggers, forklifts, semi-aquatic vehicles, tri-pod lights. All sorts of signs of not just civilisation, but modern civilisation littered the section of the cave where it came to a sharp dead end. The lights were hooked up to generators that had long sputtered away the last of their gas, vehicles were stopped in the middle of their movement.

They had walked into the middle of an active work sight, or the remnants of one.

Bodies littered the ground, both the skeletal remains of humans that had been completely picked clean, as well as the remains of various creatures that had once been human. Their own bodies were skeletal, but not from being eaten. Instead their rotten skin clung tight to the bones, starved to death having been trapped in this inescapable hidden retreat.

Some of the bodies still wore the remnants of the safety gear, bright orange vests with silver streaks that reflected in the flickering, magical light.

After taking in the seemingly impossible sight of modern civilisation within this mystical cave of wonders, their eyes landed on the focus of this work sight.