Chapter 53: The Paradise [10]
The depths of the crater were a jagged, unforgiving expanse. Sharp edges of rock tore at their skin as they navigated the narrow paths of twisted earth and stone. Strewn beneath their feet was a graveyard of forgotten weapons, rusted and broken. This equipment was useless to them; most of it was entirely ruined, and they had no need for such relics.
As they neared the center, the strange, magnetic pull intensified. It struck the group silent, leaving them utterly absorbed by whatever called from the deep. The sensation felt like a spell they could neither break nor wished to escape. It filled their hearts with an inexplicable yearning—a desperate need to belong, though they knew neither to whom nor where.
The inner reaches of the crater were vast. It took nearly thirty minutes of grueling descent to reach the basin, by which time the sky had already turned pitch-black.
Once they reached the floor, an eerie shift took place. Accustomed to the flawless, eternal weather of The Paradise, the youths were caught off guard by the sudden, biting chill. It had been a long time since any of them had felt cold. The sensation was a harsh reminder of their own mortality, reigniting the embers of past suffering. Wounds they thought healed, and ugly, buried feelings began to resurface.
It was unnatural, but logic had already abandoned that place. Even if it wasn’t classified as one of the great disasters, a crater of that magnitude should have been acknowledged by the nation—or so Aldrus thought.
Turning the matter over in his mind, he reasoned that, given how disastrous the Great War had been and how valuable the bond between the nations was, the East couldn’t risk a slaughter by sending forces across the Fog Island just to gather intelligence on The Paradise.
Plus, further to the west, the island formed an even thicker natural barrier, deterring the other nations entirely. The southern nation had been the only one to attempt the crossing long ago, and it had ended in catastrophe.
Ugh.
Shaking the thoughts from his head, Aldrus and his companions soon separated to investigate the area. They used the time warp at the center as a landmark to avoid losing one another. It seemed a safe place for a final camp before pushing onward to the island, for monsters rarely dared to approach anything resembling a Time Domain.
Hmnng...
After a while, Aldrus squeezed through a narrow fissure beneath a massive boulder blocking out the moonlight. Inside, the cramped cavern constricted rapidly, forcing the black-haired boy to crawl.
Hahh... what a hassle. If there’s a decent spot to sleep in here, maybe Cedric will actually be impressed, he thought, fighting the cold.
A deeper worry gnawed at him. He knew he was being drawn forward by an unseen force, and so were his friends. His mind felt clouded, yet he remained lucid enough to notice a troubling detail: his comrades had all drifted off in the same direction, close to one another. He, however, was moving the exact opposite way.
Was it two different spells? Had he imagined it? Why had this enchantment taken hold so suddenly, and why did the pull divide them? He hadn’t even consciously looked for this cave; he had been traversing it before he realized what he was doing.
Tch.
He bit his lip. In that fleeting second of clarity, he needed pain to keep himself anchored. Something was... deeply wrong.
...No. I’m not doing this right now.
Aldrus stopped, intending to turn back and rejoin the others. But just as he resolved to leave, the end of the crawlspace opened into a small, damp chamber. Though it lay twenty meters ahead through the dark, he could see inside with unnatural sharpness.
"A-Ah—"
He froze. There was no time to fight back; the spell took hold again, instantly shattering his willpower. Thoughts of his comrades, the island, and the crater vanished. All that remained was a desperate drive to reach that room of stone.
He forced his body through the final, claustrophobic squeeze, and then, he arrived.
Aldrus tumbled onto his knees, arriving upon a floor of midnight stone. Here did the claustrophobic earth give way, blooming into a chamber as vast as a manor, yet starved of all light. No rotted timber spoke of ancient dwellers; no iron shackles sung of forgotten captives. He stood entirely isolated, entombed within four walls of polished black stone, clearly crafted by human hands.
An overwhelming silence filled the chamber. It intertwined with the cold and the dark, as if the three elements had merged into a single entity, breathing down his neck. Yet, Aldrus felt no fear. He should have been terrified, but a bizarre sense of homecoming washed over him instead. That chamber, though perhaps centuries old, felt as familiar to him as a home-cooked meal from his mother.
He simply stood there in the dark, admiring the seamless architecture through the shadows.
Then, the intoxicating spell struck again, absolute and undeniable. He had no right to refuse. He didn’t want to. Something was calling... Come close to the wall, it said. Come close to the wall and behold.
The chamber was empty, not even his shadow lay beside him, not a single voice. But he heard nonetheless. Somehow. It did not matter. He simply obeyed.
As if possessed, the boy turned toward the furthest wall and walked. Each step was swallowed by the void, yet with every stride, a profound sense of wholeness filled him. He felt an intense, dangerous rush of excitement.
Somehow he knew; he was approaching something monumental.
Upon reaching the black stone, his eyes scanned the surface through the gloom. There, carved deep into the rock, he finally found it.
...There was something written on the wall.
"To Aldrus Dagon—Thou shalt look upon this testament when the hour is ripe. Behold thy first truth and awaken, for the crimson tide draweth nigh, and thou must needs be girded for the storm.
"Knowledge is a heavy cross, child, and for this, I grant thee my deepest sorrow. Cleave these words unto thy heart, for they shall not be the last spoken unto thee—"
And as his eyes drank in the verse that followed, the veil of his old life shattered, and an ancient, dormant power stirred within his very soul.