"Fuck!" Reign cursed aloud as he was suddenly swallowed by a tornado made of ck miasma.


    He had been flying around, searching for another nest after destroying his 14th one in a row when he suddenly found himself stuck in its eye.


    As for how that happened, this dark miasma clearly defied natural order and physics.


    The miasma whirlwind wasn''t strong enough to harm him, but it threw him off course, messing up his sense of direction and thendscape around him.


    With visibility so poor in this ce, he waspletely lost after that whole fiasco.


    "Where is East, where is West?" He kept looking left and right, hoping his gut feeling would guide him, but it was futile.


    ''Can''t believe I got lost,'' he muttered, feeling frustrated.


    He had been meticulously memorizing his directions all along, using the train tracks as a reference point, but now all that effort was wasted.


    As hended on a patch of uneven ground, his feet sank slightly into the soft earth.


    Taking a deep paused, he tried to calm his racing thoughts.


    The surroundings were very unfamiliar, devoid of any recognizablendmarks because the tornado hadpletely reshuffled the sand.


    ''I need to find the train tracks,'' he muttered to himself.


    Minutes passed in silence as he contemted his options.


    Then, a n began to form in his mind.


    He would remember this spot as best as he could and pick a direction to travel.


    If after a considerable distance he didn''t encounter the railway tracks or any other familiar signs, he would backtrack to this starting point.


    With that in mind, he materialized a long pole made of bones and firmly nted it into the ground before taking flight again.


    This would serve as a marker to help him remember the location when he returned.


    SWOOOOOSH!


    With a strong p of his wings, he wasted no time and began flying to his right, or whatever direction it was.


    He continued flying, periodically materializing poles made of bones every 5 kilometers and throwing it on the ground .


    Each time he nted a new marker, he felt a sense of relief knowing that he was creating a trail.


    He continued flying further, and around the 50 km mark, he slowed down a bit because he saw something unexpected.


    Up until now, most of thendscape had been t and hilly, but in front of him was an actual tall mountain.


    Its presence was almost surreal amidst the otherwise deste and almost t terrain.


    He hovered in the air for a moment, taking in the sight.


    The mountain stood tall and imposing, its rocky surface was theplete opposite with the barren and sandyndscape around it.


    ''I''m pretty sure this is the wrong direction,'' Reign chuckled to himself.


    He wasn''t disappointed to admit his mistake; in fact, he sensed that something about this ce was different.


    And when something was different, it was bound to have both risk and reward.


    He took a closer look at the mountain and noted the features that made it stand out in his opinion.


    ''This mountain... it''s different from everything else I''ve seen out here,'' he thought, scanning the rocky slopes .


    ''The miasma is thinner, the ground isn''tpletely ruined, and there''s even some dry grass. It''s almost like this ce is fighting back against the corruption.''


    He hovered a bit longer, the curiosity gnawing at him.


    ''Could this be a remain of a city that was here before? If that''s the case, there might be more to discover here.''


    The thought excited him, the possibility of uncovering something valuable was too tempting.


    ''If this ce holds secrets, then it''s worth exploring. Risks and rewards go hand in hand, after all.''


    With a determined nod, he made up his mind. ''Time to check this out up close.''


    Reign descended cautiously, his wings folding as he approached a ledge on the mountain.


    Hended with a thud, his feet touching solid rocks.


    The air was noticeably clearer, almost breathable, a stark contrast to the oppressive miasma that dominated the surrounding .


    ''There''s definitely something unique about this ce,'' he muttered to himself, running his fingers over the ground. ''Let''s see what secrets you''re hiding. ''


    He walked slowly as he moved deeper into the mountain''s vicinity, taking in every detail with a sense of wonder and curiosity.


    He wasn''t in a hurry; instead, he relished the opportunity to explore this mysterious ce at his own pace.


    There was something about ces like this that stirred his inner child, igniting a sense of adventure that he thought he lost after all the traumatic experience he undergone.


    ''Hard floor really feels better,'' he thought to himself, a faint creepy smile appearing on his mouth.


    The ground was solid and stable, a wee change from the shifting sands he had walked on earlier.


    As he walked further, he saw some holes in the distance.


    Reign touch his chins as he examined the series of perfectly formed holes scattered throughout the mountain side.


    ''These holes are too urate to form naturally,'' he muttered, his curiosity piqued.


    Each hole seemed meticulously made, their smooth edges and uniform shape suggesting deliberate construction rather than random erosion.


    Intrigued, he approached one of therger holes and looked inside.


    What he had initially thought to be a simple cavity revealed itself to be a narrow tunnel, its walls carved from the solid rock of the mountain itself.


    The tunnel extended deeper into the heart of the mountain, disappearing into darkness.


    ''This hole is a bit small for me.'' he thought to himself,


    With a mentalmand, he called back his wings, and his body began to shrink in real-time.


    Bonespacted, and his frame reduced until he reached a manageable height of around 5"5 feet. Satisfied with his new size, he cautiously entered the narrow cavity.


    The tunnel, once cramped and restrictive, now felt more amodating as he navigated its twists and turns.


    The walls closed in around him, and he had to stoop slightly to avoid scraping against the rough rock.


    As he walked deeper into the tunnel, the air grew cooler, and faint echoes reverberated off the stone walls.


    Small cracks and crevices in the rock asionally offered glimpses of other passages and chambers beyond, hinting at howplex the mountain''s interior was.


    ''This must have been built for something, but what for? I doubt humans would bother making this many tunnels,'' he mused quietly to himself.


    "And where does these tunnels even lead to?" he wondered aloud, his words echoing against the wall.


    ***


    High above the sky, a winged figure soared at a fast pace, her body a blur against the backdrop of miasma.


    "A mountain ? " With aquick pivot of her wings, she slowed her momentum and hovered in midair, her gaze fixed on the imposing mass of rock and stone before her.


    The mountain stood tall and quiet, its peaks hidden in thin ck mist .


    "Wow, what is this ce? And I can also feel that there''s a barrier around it," Zet eximed aloud, her excitement evident as her geeky side took hold.


    She was a bit down earlier because while flying towards the next city, she encountered a Blight Tornado.


    It was mostly harmless given her power, but the real danger came from its trait to vanish and reappear in specific areas.


    Plus, this phenomenon was almost non-existent in Tier 4 Regions, so that really took her by surprise.


    ''I wonder what this ce has to offer,'' a smile formed on her lips as she quickly flew down.