Chapter 26: Lured
-'Something fishy is going on. Can you feel a presence?' Moss immediately said.
-'No. What should we do? Ignore it?'
-'That would be for the best. Let's stay on our toes.'
A minute later, however, a bush shook again with even more strength.
-'Noticed something this time?' The commoner asked hopefully. He had failed to detect anything again.
-'No. We won't have our peace. Better play this game while I can still see something.'
It was day time but sunlight had a hard time reaching them. As soon as the sun would start to decline, they would be left in complete darkness. They would need to stop to camp as well.
-'Okay.'
While they spoke calmly, their heart pounded hard. This situation was quite worrying. They started to miss their old quarters already. Was it some other beast? Another ploy of the wolfs, or of the sect elders? Better find out. Like the last time, as they accessed the place where the movement had come from, another noise erupted a bit farther.
-'Fast now.' Moss said.
They accelerated to the extent of their ability, although he did not use his floating step. Separating now would prove disastrous. They would have no way of finding each other in these thick woods.
In the end, they failed to catch up with whatever was luring them. This chase lasted for approximatively one hour. Each time they showed the intention to stop, the thing made itself more threatening and even threw things at them. But even then, they failed to even see something else that rocks and vegetation. The disciples went from concern to anger but did not do anything rash.
Eventually, their pursuit led them to a small clearing. At its centre stood some kind of rocky build. Peace came as soon as they entered the glade.
-'We seem to have reached our destination' Lauren commented.
-'Yes. Let's take a closer look.'
This structure was the entrance of a tunnel. It was not high and looked more like a well than a door, excepted that the hole beneath was not vertical but went down in a slope.
-'I can see where this is going.' The sister said.
-'Let's take a closer look.'
There were some inscriptions on the stones that framed the entrance but Lauren proved unable to read them.
-'I have never seen the like of it, it's crude and quite repetitive. There are six symbols overall. Those who carved that were not skilled.'
Moss nodded while inspecting massive slabs that stood on the first meters of the gallery. He passed his hand on uprooted clump of grass and freshly stirred earth.
-'All of this has been moved recently. Those who dit it did not even bother to hide it.'
The two huge stones had matching edges. Besides, there were trenches on the inside of the stone frame, and pieces of what had been a single slab had remained in it.
-'This huge stone was originally barring the way but it has been smashed a few hours ago.'
That was reassuring. It seemed to indicate that there was no consistent passage there. Just from that, they could guess that this way had been opened specially for them, probably from members of the sect. That was not for certain though. They could not find anything that resembled human footprints. Only weird marks.
-'Should we go inside? It's that or angering what has been bothering us for an hour. I guess that someone from the sect wants us to enter.' Moss asked.
-'That would be my guess as well. Okay. Just a quick look then.'
-'You can't see in the dark. I can go alone if you want.'
-'No.'
-'Let's go, then.'
The passage was narrow, but the ceiling was high enough for them to walk while standing straight. They were of almost similar height. Moss was just a little bit taller. They advanced on approximatively twenty meters. The old man's eyes had no trouble adjusting to the darkness but Lauren was almost blinded.
-'Grandpa, can you still see something?' She asked in a hushed voice.
-'Yes. No problem. The walls are changing from soil to stone there. Moisture has stagnated. It has been long since someone did some maintenance. The floor and ceiling are made of stone as well.'
The girl crouched and touched the ground to assert what he just said.
-'Building this... Must have been expensive and demanding.' She said.
-'For sure.'
They advanced for some time but all they seemed to do was getting farther down into the earth. At some point, Lauren took his hand.
-'Moss?'
-'What is it?'
-'I can not see a thing. Can you talk a bit? I don't like this silence.'
-'What do you want me to talk about? Oh, I know! Can you not use my eyes to see?'
-'That's a good idea.'
They stopped to let her concentrate. He did not struggle when sensing her.
-'That's incredible! You really can see clearly. Only it's in black and white. Is your back aching?'
-'That's to be expected off an old man. It has gotten better recently, however.'
-'Glad to hear that.'
They continued to walk in this same configuration. Lauren could not keep it up indefinitely though, so she had to blindly follow the peasant most of the time. Soon an hour passed, but their absence of find dissuaded them to go back. The air was getting hot. They also noticed that the floor was slick and polished. They guessed that things had used to slide on it.
At some point, a door blocked their way. It was neat and had sharp angles. Lauren looked through Moss's eyes, as he inspected it. There was some kind of recess at the centre of the door, around waist height. It was large enough to put a fist in it. The commoner mindlessly tried to use it and it worked. The massive piece of rock slid to the right almost effortlessly. A cold blue light suddenly washed over them.
They both had to wait for their eyes to accommodate again. Then they entered what was a small room. Stones emitted light from a curved ceiling. There only was a small stone table and a seat here, along with empty shelves carved into the walls, and two other doors.
-'What is this place?' Lauren whispered while approaching the table.
Before Moss could answer anything, a loud crash resounded from where they had come.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone