Holy Cradle Mines

The Secret in the Forest

The **Holy Cradle Mines** are a key location in The Secret in the Forest. The mines are located west of the village, in a huge cavern, from where Miner and his team extract the Holy Cradle's Crystals in their specific region. In addition to these Crystals, the place is inhabited by several aggressive paranormal entities such as Ooze Moles, Batterflies, Maggakes and Succs.

## Mine areas

Before entering the mines and beginning their Trial, new Ignarii receive instructions from The Miner as they are guided around the location. The cave is very dark, making it difficult to move around even with a light source, and it is recommended not to move away from your group.

When approaching the sources of Crystals, one must be extremely careful not to accidentally come into contact with any of the Crystals, which, due to their large size, are much more powerful than those normally used in Holy Cradle, even Green Crystals that are normally used for medicinal purposes should be avoided.

The entrance is to a large cave, and it is possible to notice the presence of various objects used to aid mining, such as pickaxes, carts, helmets, etc. When entering the cave you see that it turns to the right and there is the beginning of a staircase that goes down to the mines, where the fog starts to get very thick and you can barely see the next step of the staircase.

The Holy Cradle mines are divided into 5 areas: The Green Crystals Mine, the Red Crystals Mine, the Blue Crystals Mine, the Door and the Black Crystals Area.

### Green Crystals Mine

The Green Crystals Mine is the area closest to the entrance, which emanates dim green lighting and a low temperature, with several green Crystals of different sizes coming out of the floor and walls, being the only source known green crystal. This area is inhabited by Batterflies and Ooze Moles.

Even though green Crystals are used to heal injuries after extraction, it is not recommended to use Crystals from the mine, as they contain a lot of energy, The Miner says that the Crystals from the mine were only used once, when one of his assistants was buried and was about to die, due to the use of Crystals this assistant was left with consequences for the rest of his life.

### Red Crystals Mine

The Red Crystals Mine is the next area, emanating strong red lighting and, unlike the other sections of the cave, this place is extremely hot, with several red Crystals of different sizes coming out of the ground and walls, being the only known red crystal source. This area is inhabited only by Maggakes.

Red Crystals are especially dangerous to touch due to their high temperature, depending on the size of the crystal it can be compared to touching directly into lava.

### Blue Crystals Mine

The Blue Crystals Mine is the next area, emanating weak blue lighting and having, in contrast to the previous section, an extreme cold, the area has blue Crystals throughout the place, being the only known source of them. In this area, a creature was encountered, the Succ, which normally does not inhabit that location.

### The Door

Located between the blue and black Crystals is a sealed metal door, resembling a bunker entrance, covered in scratches, with a small entrance panel at the bottom to the left of the door.

When placing the black card of Eric Jour, the screen lights up showing the Spiral Symbol in a green LED touch sensitive, to unlock the door you must identify the 4 Sigils that are not part of the original Symbol. When the door is opened a robotic voice says "Welcome Blacksmith" and reveals a large flight of stairs, giving access to a room in a bunker with a large table in the center that has a model of Holy Cradle, a table full of Crystals lackluster, documents and tapes about the Project Holy Cradle. In addition to the flight of stairs, the room has a single exit, the hatch that leads to the Blacksmith's room.

This bunker was originally used by The Five Guardians to create Holy Cradle, a testing area to study the Other Side and the temporal distortion caused by Dimension Parasite and its Symbol, which could only be accessed by them, and in the future by other Blacksmiths, but this never happened as Eric Jour destroyed the other keys while fleeing Holy Cradle with the last one.

### Black Crystals Area

Located at the bottom of the cave, this area has Black Crystals, which, unlike other Crystals that are not extracted from their source, is used as the last process that an Ignarii must go through before leaving on their Trial and become a Lusidius. Touching a Black Crystal makes the person completely connect with the Holy. One of its walls is too straight to be a natural formation, as if it had been handmade by someone, this wall separates the area that connects the mines with the cave in the center of the Infinite Labyrinth where the Dimensions Parasite lives.

## History

The Holy Cradle mines were a place used mainly by miners to extract Crystals for residents to use, existing since the beginning of the city. If a new Ignarii arrived in the city, he was taken to the end of the cave to touch the black crystal and connect directly with the Dimension Parasite.

Team H asks to go to the cave, as the group has the key to the door that was in the depths of the mines, being accompanied by the Miner as a guide, facing several creatures, and going through all the crystal sessions . However, before entering the door, The Miner calls them to see the Black Crystals, coming across The Gatekeeper sitting leaning against a crystal carving several symbols of the Saint with a knife in floor. After the Miner realizes his situation, he turns against Cesar, sticking his pickaxe into the boy's ribs, starting a fight against the agents and the Doorman. During this fight, Arthur ends up losing his left arm, which was ripped off by the Miner with his own hands, managing to be saved by the Doorman who runs desperately and breaks a crystal vial with his hand to save him. .

After suffering very serious damage, The Miner grabs Cesar by the strands of his hair, and starts dragging him towards the black Crystals, being killed by Thiago who uses his sword to penetrate his chest, cutting out his heart and making him fall dead in front of the black crystal.

After this fight, the agents together with The Gatekeeper manage to enter the door using the key, discovering that there was a bunker used by scientists, where there was a huge hole leaking mud in one of the corners. There they find several pieces of evidence, one of which is the most important: to enter the Infinite Labyrinth without getting lost, someone has to carve the Spiral Symbol into their body. Thiago volunteers, having the symbol engraved with a red crystal on his back. After sticking the symbol into the agent, the Doorman climbs the bunker ladder to sacrifice himself and give time for the agents to reach the maze, being followed a few minutes later by the agents, leaving the bunker via the ladder in the wall, finding himself in the Blacksmith's House.

The Mines decayed along with the entire Holy Cradle after the Dimensions Parasite was disintegrated by the explosion caused by the explosives activated by Thiago.

## Evidências e Informações

 Seventh page of the diary of Dr. Eric Jour found on the Crystals table in the mine's bunker by Cesar.
 Document about Subject 01 found in one of the gray cabinets.
 Document about the island of Heilag Vagga.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Miner explaining how the mines work in The Secret in the Forest - Episode 13 (*watch on YouTube* at 07m05s)
2. ↑ Story told by the Miner in The Secret in the Forest - Episode 13 (*watch on YouTube* at 22m12s)
3. ↑ Miner's Warning at The Secret in the Forest - Episode 13 (*watch on YouTube* at 1h14m13s)
4. ↑ Miner's talk about the Succ in The Secret in the Forest - Episode 13 (*watch on YouTube* at 1h37m18s)
5. ↑ The Gatekeeper speaks about the Holy in The Secret in the Forest - Episode 13 (*watch on YouTube* at 3h21m45s)