Bab 4: Into the Unknown
The crimson veins on the walls pulsed faintly, their light casting eerie, shifting shadows across the narrow passage. Eliar moved cautiously, his boots scraping against the uneven ground. Each step echoed in the oppressive silence, a stark contrast to the frantic shrieks and claws that had driven him forward. The sounds of the creatures behind him had faded, but he didn't trust the quiet. Not here.
His body ached with every movement. The rush of adrenaline had long since burned away, leaving behind exhaustion that dragged at his limbs like chains. He glanced at his hands, the faint glow from the energy long gone. Whatever force he had tapped into earlier felt distant now, unreachable.
But he knew it wasn't gone. It was still there—woven into the walls, the air, the world itself. He could feel its presence like a distant drumbeat, faint and steady, but unnervingly alive.
"Where does this even go?" Eliar muttered, his voice too loud in the narrow space. He stopped and pressed a hand against the wall, catching his breath. The veins beneath his fingers were cold, the energy within them a soft thrum against his palm. He frowned, his thoughts racing.
The energy… it reacts to intent. To patterns.
The realization was as frustrating as it was fascinating. Whatever logic governed this world, it wasn't human logic—but it wasn't entirely alien, either. The energy responded to structure, to order. It was like solving an equation while blindfolded, each attempt revealing a fragment of the larger answer.
Eliar straightened and kept moving. The passage twisted and turned, narrowing at times to the point where he had to squeeze through. The air grew colder, sharper, and the faint metallic tang he had tasted earlier was stronger now.
Finally, the tunnel opened into a vast cavern.
Eliar froze, his breath catching as he took in the sight. The chamber stretched far beyond what his eyes could see, its walls marked with intricate carvings that glowed faintly with the same crimson light as the veins in the stone. The carvings were sharp, angular, and geometric, their patterns weaving into one another in a way that defied human logic.
"What is this place?" he whispered, his voice swallowed by the enormity of the space.
The air here was heavier, denser. The energy that had felt distant in the passage was overwhelming now, pressing against his skin like static. He stepped forward cautiously, his boots crunching against the brittle, glass-like surface of the cavern floor. The sound echoed, distant and strange.
In the center of the cavern was a raised platform, its edges carved with the same intricate patterns as the walls. A faint hum emanated from it, low and constant, like the heartbeat of the world itself.
Eliar approached the platform, his curiosity outweighing his exhaustion. The closer he got, the more the energy in the air seemed to intensify. By the time he reached it, the hum was vibrating through his entire body.
On the platform rested a single object: a sphere, its surface smooth and black, crisscrossed with faint, glowing lines of crimson. Eliar hesitated, his instincts screaming at him to keep his distance. But his curiosity pulled him forward.
"What are you?" he murmured, reaching out a tentative hand. The moment his fingers brushed the surface, the world exploded with light.
The energy surged through him like a storm, chaotic and wild. Eliar staggered back, his hand snapping away from the sphere as crimson threads erupted from its surface. They coiled through the air like living things, weaving intricate patterns around him before burrowing into the walls of the cavern. The carvings flared brighter, the patterns shifting and rearranging themselves into something new.
"What the—?!" Eliar stumbled further back, his heart pounding. The hum had become a roar, deafening and all-consuming. The air crackled with energy, and his body felt like it was being pulled in every direction at once.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as the patterns around him burned into his vision. They weren't just carvings anymore—they were equations, flowing and alive, their logic unraveling before him. It was too much. Too fast.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the light vanished.
Eliar gasped for air, his body trembling. The cavern was silent again, the hum reduced to a faint whisper. He forced himself to his feet, his legs shaking beneath him. The sphere on the platform was unchanged, its surface dark and still. But the walls—the carvings were different now, their patterns more intricate, more deliberate.
"What did I just do?" Eliar whispered, his voice hoarse.
The faint sound of movement behind him sent a chill down his spine. He turned sharply, his pulse quickening. At first, he saw nothing. Then the shadows shifted.
A figure emerged from the darkness, its shape humanoid but wrong. It moved with an unnatural grace, its body marked with the same glowing lines as the sphere. Its face—or what passed for a face—was smooth and featureless, its head tilting as if studying him.
Eliar took a step back, his mind racing. "What… are you?"
The figure didn't answer. It raised a hand, and the glow along its body flared brighter. The air around Eliar grew heavy, suffused with the same oppressive energy he'd felt in the cavern.
"No, no, no…!" Eliar's instincts screamed at him to run, but there was nowhere to go. The figure moved faster than he could react, closing the distance in an instant. A jagged burst of light shot toward him, and he barely had time to throw up his hands in defense.
The energy struck, and the world went white.
Eliar woke to darkness.
The air was cold, the metallic tang sharper than ever. His body ached, every nerve screaming in protest. He groaned, pushing himself up on trembling arms. The cavern was gone, replaced by another narrow passage, its walls faintly glowing with crimson veins.
He didn't remember how he'd gotten here. The last thing he remembered was the figure, the burst of light…
He shook his head, his thoughts too scattered to make sense of. All he knew was that he wasn't dead. Not yet.
"Alright," he muttered, forcing himself to his feet. "One step at a time."
The passage stretched ahead, dim and uninviting. But it was the only way forward.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone