Chapter 272:further talk
Silver became increasingly certain that the landscape around them was changing. He noticed every detail.
He had been trying to locate the cave without making his intentions obvious, but the problem was that Larry’s new information was frustratingly vague. Most of the valley had never been mapped out in detail.
The author had described the scenery only enough for readers to understand that Dillain’s group was traveling deeper into dangerous territory. There had been a few landmarks mentioned here and there, but Silver couldn’t simply remember a set of coordinates and drive straight toward them. The original story had never been written with someone like him in mind, someone who actually needed to find the place.
He occasionally looked through the windshield toward the mountains, comparing them to the fragments of memory in his mind and Larry’s little clues. Nothing seemed familiar enough to give him confidence.
Ravenna noticed his repeated glances.
"You’re becoming more tense the deeper we go. Larry already has a clue, we’ll probably notice from his reaction when we reach there."
Silver shook his head.
"We can’t only depend on him when we don’t even know a vague direction, just some weird cave."
"He is still our best bet... you’ll go bald with all the stress."
"Are you cursing me."
"I mean, it happens."
Ravenna smiled.
Silver glanced at her.
"Tsk! You’re enjoying teasing me."
"A little."
"You could help, use binoculars or something."
"I am helping."
"How?"
"I’m reminding you that your perfect memory isn’t actually perfect."
Silver laughed quietly.
"I never claimed it was."
Ravenna looked out the window.
"Do you remember anything else?"
Silver thought for a moment.
"There were beasts around the area."
"How many?"
"I don’t know."
"Rank?"
"Mostly low-ranked."
Ravenna’s expression became thoughtful.
"Then Larry’s description matches."
"That’s what I’m thinking but I’m not sure if my memory is forcefully filling itself with Larry’s clue to make myself feel better." Silver’s fingers tightened slightly around the steering wheel. "And that’s what bothers me. I might just be overcompensating"
Ravenna turned toward him.
"I don’t think you’ll do that."
"The mind is a weird place, what if this world has already changed because of us, then the things I remember might not happen exactly the same way. Maybe someone has already found it."
Ravenna understood immediately. Silver had already interfered with the original storyline in countless ways. There was no guarantee that the cave would still contain what it once had.
"There is another possibility," Ravenna said.
Silver glanced at her.
"What?"
"The stone might not be there yet."
Silver went silent. That possibility had crossed his mind before, but he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it. The multicolored Awakening Stone might not have been waiting in the cave, perhaps it had appeared later.
Perhaps it had been created by some event that hadn’t happened yet. Perhaps Dillain’s arrival had triggered something. Or perhaps the stone had always been there and Dillain had simply been the first person to find it.
There were too many possibilities.
"I suppose we’ll find out."
Ravenna smiled.
"Exactly."
The convoy suddenly slowed. Silver immediately focused ahead. Larry’s vehicle had stopped near a rocky incline. Several of his group were already outside.
Silver brought their vehicle to a stop.
"What happened?"
He stepped out. Elena pointed toward the road.
"Tracks."
Silver looked down. There were enormous footprints pressed into the dirt. They belonged to something very heavy.
The impressions were deep enough that water had collected inside them.
Ravenna crouched beside one.
"Recent?"
Silver touched the edge.
"Very."
Antony walked over.
"How recent?"
Silver examined it.
"Less than an hour."
Antony looked around.
"Where is it?"
Silver slowly raised his head. He scanned the surrounding rocks but found nothing. The valley remained silent.
Marcus raised his weapon and everyone became alert. Seconds passed, then a large shape moved behind a ridge. Silver immediately drew his sword and Ravenna raised her rifle, but the creature didn’t attack.
It was a massive herbivore with thick armor covering its back and two curved horns extending from its head. It stared at the convoy for several seconds before slowly turning away and disappearing between the rocks.
Nobody moved until it was gone.
Antony exhaled.
"Well."
Silver lowered his sword.
"Not everything wants to kill us."
"Give it time."
Ravenna laughed.
The convoy resumed its journey. Silver remained thoughtful. The animals were becoming stranger; not necessarily stronger,just more numerous, more displaced, and more concentrated.
It made Larry’s description of the cave even more interesting. If something was causing beasts to gather in one location, perhaps the recent beast tide had intensified that behavior.
They traveled for another hour before Larry’s voice came through the communication system.
"We’ll stop here for ten minutes."
The convoy pulled into another rocky clearing.
Silver stepped out.
He looked toward the western horizon. The sun was already turning orange. They didn’t have much daylight left.
He walked toward Larry.
"How far are we from the cave?"
Larry looked at him.
"You’re still asking about that?"
"Yes... I tend to over think when I find things that are fascinating. I suppose that’s why I came to the valley."
"You’re a weird one." Larry pointed toward a mountain range. "Somewhere beyond those ridges."
Silver followed his finger.
"How far?"
"Maybe an hour or less."
"By vehicle?"
"Assuming the road stays clear."
Silver nodded.
"Have you personally seen it?"
"No."
"Then how do you know it’s there?"
"People talk." Larry shrugged. "One of the patrol teams saw it from a ridge. Another group supposedly went close enough to inspect it."
"Did they enter?"
Larry shook his head.
"They said the beasts made them uncomfortable."
"Really, aren’t they just normal beasts."
Larry folded his arms.
"That’s the strange part."
Silver waited. Larry continued.
"The cave is not particularly impressive. It’s just a large opening in the rock. There are no glowing crystals, no strange plants, no ancient ruins."
"So why does everyone remember it?"
Larry sighed.
"Apparently, they gather around it."
"Just like you said."
"Yes, that’s just the vanilla part of it." Larry looked toward the mountains. "Some of them lie around the entrance for hours."
"Sleeping?"
"Sometimes."
"Feeding?"
"No."
Silver frowned.
"Then what?"
"They just stay there."
Ravenna joined them.
"Doing nothing?"
"That’s what makes it strange." Larry rubbed his chin. "One researcher suggested that the cave might be releasing a scent or some kind of underground gas that attracts beasts or hypnotise them."
"That sounds reasonable."
"It does." Larry nodded. "But there are problems."
Silver waited.
"Different species gather there."
"Okay... that isn’t normal."
"Exactly." Larry continued. "Predators and prey. Creatures that normally attack one another can be found within the same area."
Silver’s expression changed.
"Without fighting?"
"Apparently."
Ravenna looked at him.
Silver understood why that detail mattered. If the cave merely attracted beasts because of food, predators would eventually hunt the prey.
If it contained water, there would still be competition. But if completely different species could gather peacefully... Something else was happening.
"How far from the cave do they gather?" Silver asked.
Larry shrugged.
"Depends."
"On what?"
"Nobody knows."
Silver frowned.
Larry continued.
"Some reports say they gather within a few hundred meters. Others claim they’ve seen them several kilometers away."
"That’s a huge difference."
"I know."
Silver thought about it.
Maybe the animals weren’t being attracted to the cave itself but to something beneath it, or perhaps the entire area was affected.
He looked toward the mountains again.
"Have people ever found bodies there?"
Larry looked at him.
"Of beasts?"
"Yes."
"No."
"None?"
"Not around the entrance."
Silver’s expression became serious.
"That’s strange."
"It is." Larry glanced toward the other contractors. "That’s why nobody likes the place."
Silver nodded.
There was a difference between something being dangerous and something being inexplicable. Experienced contractors could deal with danger, calculate risk, estimate the strength of a beast, prepare weapons and strategies, but an unexplained phenomenon was different.
It couldn’t be measured, and that made people uncomfortable.