"The entrance was opened by someone already."
She was standing beside one of the hour lines, looking depressed.
All the wizards were surprised. They quickly gathered beside Melissa.
She pointed at the white dot on the dark hour line and they watched the white dot slowly turning gray.
Ainphent had a serious expression on his face.
"This mark means the entrance was opened not so long ago. The dot will turn white first and then slowly return to gray. Someone or something has already entered the ruins…"
"Something? You mean creatures?" Belem questioned.
"I’m not sure. The area we went past is covered in black rocks, but the other half of the island is a sea of dark trees. We already explored the island last time but we didn’t find any living beings."
Melissa’s brow furrowed.
"Strange, no one followed us here… which means someone else located the island by himself, " Ainphent said, lowering his voice.
"How’s that even possible? We never leaked any information to the public."
Melissa was about to say something else but her expression suddenly changed.
"Move away from the sundial!" she shouted out.
The island started shaking, and it almost felt like an earthquake.
The team quickly walked off the sundial.
A line of dark smoke appeared on top of the gray gnomon. It looked like a snake climbing up the incline, and after several seconds, the snake turned into a small black light dot.
White smoke slowly rose from the surface of the sundial as the earthquake stopped, then lingered in the air.
A dreamy voice came from nowhere. It sounded like a woman singing an opera, the pitch high and tone mild.
"My beloved hometown.
I shall return one day.
I’ve been wandering for so long.
I miss the clean spring, the beautiful frogs.
We shall enjoy the best insects together while listening
to the charming screams. We party, we dance, and we sing.
The sky is red as the blood and the land is warm as lava.
The blood in the glass was smooth and tasty.
We laughed, we gouged our eyes out…
We chew them now as we sing…"
"What the hell is this song?"
Angele glanced around. It seemed like the voice was coming from all angles, echoing above the empty and lonely island.
"I don't know. I never learned this language but I can understand the meaning of the lyrics," Isabell said, her eyebrows scrunched.
"I don’t like it. It’s sick."
Ainphent shook his head.
The followers all had serious expressions on their faces while checking the surroundings. The song was repeated several times before it stopped.
*Crack*
Three dark tunnel entrances opened up in the sundial. Each was about one meter wide and Angele could see long, white-stone staircases inside leading to an endless abyss.
Strangely, the three entrances slowly turned blurry, and it almost looked like they were about to disappear.
"What are you waiting for? Enter the ruins. Someone triggered the trap inside and something is changing!" Melissa shouted out in a loud voice and pointed at the three entrances.
A ray of white light shot out from her fingertip and transformed into three white energy strings. They quickly glued to the entrances.
The dark tunnels became focused once again and remained stable for the time being.
Without saying anything, Melissa rushed into the entrance closest to her and vanished into the darkness.
"Move!" Ainphent yelled and followed Melissa into the same entrance, his followers entering after him as well.
Kuirman glanced around and entered a different entrance. Angele looked at him for a second, checking the entrances the others had went in.
"Hmm."
He stepped forward and rushed into the tunnel Kuirman had chosen.
The tunnel was dark. Angele felt like he had just entered an endless space as he stepped inside. The only thing in his sight was a floating stone staircase.
He started walking down the stairs, and the sounds of his footsteps echoed in the space.
Angele glanced around and once again confirmed that there was nothing around. He raised his right hand and created a silver knife in his palm.
*CHI*
He shot the knife to the right, and it was swallowed by the darkness without making any noise right away. Angele did not hear the knife hitting anything, so he assumed that the right and left sides were infinite as well.
He had no idea how long the staircase was. He could not see the end at all.
*Kata-kata*
The only thing Angel could hear was his footsteps and a chilling feel climbed up his back.
He turned his head around, but the entrance had already disappeared. It was replaced by a black shadow.
Angele looked down and was shocked. He slowly took a step forward then stopped.
The gray stair disappeared as Angele moved his feet away from it.
He tried to step on the disappeared stair again but nothing was there.
"This place…"
Angele’s heart was pumping.
With a flick of his finger, a ball of red flame appeared beside the left side of his face. Its bright yellow glow brightened up the area around him.
Angele stood still and observed his surroundings with the help of the light.
However, he could only see the stairs in front, the rest of the area was covered by a strange dark aura.
"Ha," Angele sneered and blue light dots appeared in front of his eyes.
‘Zero, can you scan the environment for me?’
‘Task created, scanning… processing… done…transferring the information…’ Zero reported quickly.
*Hissss*
A strange noise echoed in Angele’s ears. It sounded like a snake using its forked tongue, and suddenly, intense blue glow covered his eyes.
*BOOM*
The environment changed. Angele’s eyes blurred and the next moment he was standing on a wet staircase of a closed tunnel.
The ball of flame was still floating around his face and it quickly brightened up the place.
The walls were built with light yellow bricks while the ground was covered in black slates. Angele heard deep and slow footsteps ahead; someone else was here.
‘Warning… Unknown force field detected! The chip is being… *CHI*… interrupted! The force field… is….’
Angele could barely understand what Zero was reporting. It sounded like the current noise mixed with random voice lines, and its voice did not even sound mechanical anymore.
Angele’s sight blurred again, his view shifting between bright light and darkness. He thought he was standing in a tunnel but the next second he saw the endless dark space in front of him again.
"Goddamn it! What the hell is this place?" Angele cursed in a low voice.
He turned around and started running back.
He was running at full speed while the tunnel and the dark space kept flashing in his sight. After several minutes, he arrived at the exit, and he could see the bright white sky outside.
Angele rushed out.
"Where am I..?" he wondered, looking around.
The greens trees were vibrant, and the wind was making the leaves dance in the air.
"The tunnel is still here?" Angele turned his head around and looked into the tunnel. It was still dark.
He had a plan in his mind, so he returned to the tunnel.
*CHI*
Nothing was interrupting his chip anymore. He returned to the stone staircase, and he could see the black rocks outside the exit. It indicated that the exit now led to the sundial.
‘So, it was an illusion?’
Angele raised his left hand and saw the wings on the palm swinging. It seemed like they had grown a bit larger than before.
‘The unknown force field is no longer around,’ Zero reported in its mechanical voice.
The signet was heating up. It was absorbing some unknown energy substance from the air slowly; it seemed like the blood of the harpies helped Angele resist the illusion. However, the signet needed time to develop the resistance to the illusion that was impacting him here.
Angele calmed down and walked down the stairs quickly.
The tunnel was wet, and he could smell the mold in the air.
After turning twice, a familiar man appeared in Angele’s sight.
It was Kuirman. The light from his torch casted flickering shadows upon his green robe. It looked like the robe was specially designed, and Kuirman was walking forward slowly.
He heard someone’s quick footsteps and turned his head around, seeing Angele standing in the corner, staring at him.
"You come to me yourself?" Kuirman looked surprised. "You know you can’t beat me, right? Are you stupid? How did you even become a formal wizard?" Kuirman taunted and sneered.
"Die!"
Angele wasted no time and threw a blue heart bomb at Kuirman.
*BOOM*
Countless drops of freezing blue liquid splashed through the tunnel as the heart bomb exploded in the air. After several seconds, the walls and the ground were painted in blue.