Chapter 180 - 175: The Sound in the Mountains
John didn’t sleep much after hearing the sound.
He remained inside his tent, listening to the quiet of the mountain forest.
Every few minutes, he thought he heard something.
A branch moving.
The wind passing through the trees.
Water running over stones.
But none of them were the sound from earlier.
*Clink.*
The memory of it remained in his head.
Metal against stone.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Almost as though someone were working on something in the darkness.
John finally closed his eyes.
Whatever was out there could wait until morning.
There was no reason to investigate alone in the middle of the night.
That was one of the first lessons he had learned during his travels.
Curiosity was useful.
Recklessness wasn’t.
---
When morning arrived, John stepped outside his tent.
The camp was already beginning to wake.
He immediately noticed the Soul Raven sitting on the same branch as before.
The creature looked toward him.
John stared back.
"You didn’t sleep either?"
The raven tilted its head.
John sighed.
"I’ll take that as a yes."
He looked toward the forest.
"Did you find anything?"
The Soul Raven remained silent.
Then it flew down and landed beside him.
John noticed something unusual.
There was a tiny piece of gray dust clinging to one of its claws.
He crouched.
"What’s that?"
The raven lifted its foot slightly.
John carefully examined the substance.
Stone dust.
But there was something mixed into it.
A faint metallic shimmer.
John frowned.
"Where did you go?"
The raven simply stared at him.
John smiled.
"Right."
"You don’t talk."
---
At breakfast, John told Lythriel and the others about the sound.
Lythriel stopped eating.
"You heard it again?"
"Last night."
"How far away?"
"Hard to tell."
Aerion looked toward the forest.
"Was it an animal?"
"No."
John shook his head.
"It sounded like metal."
Sylvara frowned.
"Metal?"
"Against stone."
Darius, who had been quietly drinking tea nearby, looked up.
"How many times?"
"Twice."
"Same rhythm?"
John thought about it.
"Yes."
Darius became thoughtful.
"Interesting."
Lythriel looked between them.
"I don’t like that word when you say it."
Darius smiled faintly.
"Why?"
"Because whenever scholars say something is interesting, it usually means we’re about to walk toward something dangerous."
A few people nearby laughed.
Even Darius smiled.
"That’s not entirely unfair."
---
Commander Gareth soon called for another briefing.
The expedition had a new problem.
The route ahead was becoming increasingly difficult.
The main trail was blocked by a landslide.
The old trail they had taken yesterday eventually disappeared into dense forest.
The scouts had found another route, but it would take them deeper into the mountains.
Gareth pointed at the map.
"We’ll follow this ridge."
"It should lead us toward the northern valley."
"From there, we’ll reconnect with the original route."
Eric studied the map.
"There’s no recent survey of this area."
"I know."
Gareth replied.
"That’s why we’re sending scouts first."
He looked at everyone.
"No one wanders off."
"Stay within sight of the group."
"If you discover anything unusual, report it immediately."
His gaze lingered briefly on John and Darius.
Neither took offense.
They understood why.
---
The expedition departed shortly after.
The forest seemed different in daylight.
The shadows from the previous night had disappeared, replaced by sunlight filtering through the trees.
John found himself paying closer attention to the ground.
Every rock.
Every tree.
Every broken branch.
After yesterday’s discoveries, he couldn’t help wondering what else had been hidden here.
About an hour into the journey, Eric suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
Everyone behind him halted.
He crouched.
"What is it?" John asked.
Eric pointed at the ground.
Tracks.
Human footprints.
At least three people.
John examined them.
They weren’t fresh.
The edges had softened from rain.
But they were unmistakably footprints.
Darius approached.
"Not expedition boots."
John looked at the impressions.
The soles had a strange pattern.
"Travelers?"
"Probably."
Darius shook his head.
"But not recently."
Commander Gareth looked at the scouts.
"Could these belong to hunters?"
One scout shook his head.
"Possibly."
"But there’s no hunting camp nearby."
Gareth thought for a moment.
"Mark the location."
Eric did so.
The expedition continued.
---
Several hours later, the forest finally began to thin.
The group emerged onto a rocky slope overlooking a narrow valley.
John stopped.
The view was breathtaking.
Far below, a river cut through the valley.
Beyond it stood another series of mountains.
The peaks were larger than anything they had seen so far.
Snow covered their upper slopes.
Clouds wrapped around them.
Lythriel stood beside John.
"That’s..."
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t need to.
John simply stared.
The Ashen Peaks were no longer distant.
They were everywhere.
The expedition was entering the heart of them.
---
Commander Gareth ordered a short break.
John used the opportunity to sketch the landscape.
Eric stood nearby, taking measurements.
Darius opened one of his old maps.
"John."
John looked over.
Darius pointed toward the valley.
"Look at this."
John walked closer.
The old map showed the same valley.
But something was wrong.
The river was different.
On the old map, the river divided into two branches.
The modern river only had one.
John frowned.
"The landscape changed."
"Yes."
Darius looked toward the valley.
"But look here."
He pointed toward a small symbol near the eastern side.
John recognized it immediately.
The same circle.
Three crossing lines.
His expression changed.
"That symbol again."
Darius nodded.
"It’s on the old map."
John looked at him.
"How old is the map?"
"About seven hundred years."
John stared at the symbol.
Seven hundred years.
And they had found the same mark on the stone marker.
Then on the old wooden stake.
Now on the map.
It couldn’t be coincidence anymore.
---
"We need to tell Gareth."
John said.
Darius nodded.
But before they could move, one of the scouts shouted.
"Commander!"
Everyone turned.
The scout was standing near the edge of the ridge.
"There!"
He pointed toward the valley.
Something was moving below.
At first, John couldn’t make it out.
Then he saw them.
Three figures.
Walking along the riverbank.
They were too far away to identify.
But they weren’t animals.
They were people.
Or at least...
They appeared to be.
Commander Gareth raised a spyglass.
He watched for several seconds.
"They’re traveling."
"Could be hunters."
One of the guards suggested.
Gareth lowered the spyglass.
"Maybe."
But he didn’t sound convinced.
"Can you identify them?"
"No."
Darius looked toward the figures.
"They’re heading toward the ruins."
John turned sharply.
"What ruins?"
Darius pointed toward the valley.
"There’s an old site marked on the map."
John looked again.
At first he saw nothing.
Then he noticed the faint outline of stone structures near the base of the mountain.
Half-hidden by trees.
His heart began beating faster.
The expedition had finally found something.
---
Gareth made the decision quickly.
"We aren’t following them."
Several people looked surprised.
"Commander?"
"We don’t know who they are."
"We don’t know what they’re doing."
"And we don’t know whether the ruins are safe."
He pointed toward the valley.
"We’ll establish camp here."
"Tomorrow we’ll investigate."
John nodded.
It was the sensible choice.
Even if every instinct in him wanted to go down there immediately.
---
The expedition spent the rest of the afternoon establishing camp on the ridge.
The view was incredible.
But John barely noticed it.
His attention remained on the ruins below.
Every now and then, he could see movement near the river.
The three figures had disappeared.
No one knew where they had gone.
As evening approached, Darius joined John near the edge of camp.
"You want to go down there."
John smiled faintly.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yes."
"You don’t?"
Darius looked toward the valley.
"I do."
John laughed.
"At least you’re honest."
Darius smiled.
"Curiosity is part of being a historian."
"Unfortunately, so is patience."
John sighed.
"Master Aldric says the same thing."
"He has a talent for saying things we don’t want to hear."
---
The two remained silent for a while.
Then John noticed something.
A faint light.
Deep in the valley.
It appeared between the trees.
Then disappeared.
John narrowed his eyes.
"Did you see that?"
Darius immediately looked.
"There."
The light appeared again.
A tiny orange glow.
Then another.
Three lights.
John’s expression became serious.
"Those aren’t campfires."
Darius shook his head.
"No."
They watched.
The lights moved slowly through the ruins.
Then stopped.
A moment later...
The metallic sound echoed through the valley.
*Clink.*
John froze.
Darius slowly looked at him.
"The same sound?"
"Yes."
*Clink.*
Again.
Something was striking stone.
But this time, there was another sound beneath it.
A faint vibration.
Too low to hear clearly.
John felt it more than heard it.
His hand instinctively moved toward his chest.
Something inside him reacted.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Recognition.
For the briefest moment, a strange warmth passed through his body.
Then it disappeared.
John stared at the ruins.
"What was that?"
Darius asked.
John didn’t answer.
He didn’t know.
---
Above them, the Soul Raven suddenly appeared.
It flew directly toward the valley.
John looked up.
"Wait."
But the creature didn’t stop.
It disappeared into the darkness.
John stood there for several seconds.
Darius watched him.
"That bird of yours seems very interested."
"Yeah."
John looked toward the ruins again.
"I think it knows something."
"Do you?"
John was silent.
After a moment, he shook his head.
"No."
"But I think we’re getting close."
"Close to what?"
John looked at the distant mountains.
He remembered the symbol.
The abandoned trails.
The ancient camps.
The strange lights.
The metallic sound.
And now...
That inexplicable feeling inside him.
"I don’t know yet."
He said quietly.
"That’s what worries me."
---
That night, John opened his journal.
He wrote carefully.
**Day Nine – Northern Ridge**
*We reached the northern valley today.*
*There are ruins below.*
*They appear on a map that is approximately seven hundred years old.*
*The same symbol we’ve encountered repeatedly is marked beside them.*
*We also saw three unknown travelers.*
*They entered the ruins.*
*Tonight, we heard the same metallic sound.*
*Something is happening there.*
He stopped.
His pen hovered over the page.
Then he wrote one final sentence.
*Tomorrow, we find out what it is.*
John closed the journal.
Outside his tent, the wind moved through the trees.
Far below...
A faint orange light appeared among the ruins.
Then another.
Then another.
Three lights.
And somewhere beneath the mountain...
Something answered with a slow metallic strike.
*Clink.*
---
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