The Challenger

by Harlon Banks

  "Let's pick up the pace," Liariana's words were straightforward, walking forward without glancing towards Jonath. "I'd rather we make it through the barrier before more bandits try to ambush us." She said tranquil and calm about the entire altercation that happened earlier. Jonath watching her a bit in thought, head canting to the side as hands fidgeted ever so slightly at his sides. He mentally was still shaken up a bit about having to kill those people so suddenly, even if he had only taken the life of one; but the entire event in itself still made him upset mentally. However physically, and much to his mental surprise Jonath was calm as ever about it. No shaking from shock, even when he had deflected those arrows and killed that man not a single shiver of fright or anxiety took him. It was as if his mind and body belonged to two very different beings and were trying to synergize.

  "Oh well." He mused silently to himself with growing indifference on the matter. Those bandits made it very clear this forest was an anybody's rules landscape; it was either him or them, and he chose himself. Following Liariana, keeping a few feet of distance behind her so he could admire the tall knee-high grass and wide open space around the Temple little longer; they came to a stop right where the distortion barrier met the ground before them. The barrier itself extremely hard to see, nigh invisible to the naked eye unless one were actually trying to distinguish it from the air. Liariana's hollow staring red eyes looking upon the mystic energy with a stare lacking expression; her eyes pulsing a bit, her aura energy swelling within them as another gentle breeze swayed the bangs framing her face across her features momentarily. Pupils thinning out or more accurately, being compressed by the vibrant crimson hued aura energy swirling through the Yelkath's eyes; said pupils resembling those of a cats now - slitted and primal.

  To her now, the barrier was clearly seen in all its glory; a thick and dense layer of crystal blue energy permeating the air between her and the temple entrance. Her bandaged in black right arm raising from the confines of her cloak, exposed from the base fingers reaching out to caress the veil of energy while Jonath circled quietly around to her right side and watched. His eyes taking into account the soft red glowing of her eyes and the slit pupils; did she along with her clear speed and stealth also have visual powers? It made everyone's reactions about her being a Yelkath all the more informative...

  There was a loud incomprehensible static sound (that was really unpleasant to the ears) suddenly; a reaction from the ward to the young woman trying to press her fingers through the barrier. Digits tensing as they try to move aside aura so densely packed that it felt like trying to push two same pole magnets together; her fingers always getting repelled right as her hand almost fit its entirety inside. Ceasing such a futile action now, she looked at her flesh, suffering slight burns at the tips as steam emanated off her digits. Her arm lowering back to her side and she stepped back a few feet; shuffling around in her cloak for the wire bird.

  "That's some pretty strong shielding. Must've really not wanted people like those bandits to get in..." Jonath said with an unamused snort. Liariana not responding, merely holding up the now deactivated bird to the ward; the creatures tucked wings and body cradled in her gloved palm and caged by her fingers. Soon after she held it out the bird would quickly release a soft and warm golden glow upon the barrier; the energies pulling away from the glow leaving a hole in the infrastructure for the two to enter. Turning to look at him, Liariana's now blank red eyes gestured Jonath head in first while she had the bird activated. With a nod, he stepped through the small tear in the bubble of magic and she followed behind him. Once Liariana stepped within the bird in her possession immediately stopped glowing and went dark again.

  "It seems like it's out of energy..." Liariana said stashing it away in her pocket not really surprised; Wren most likely did that so they wouldn't back out once they had passed the barrier. "It most likely won't recharge for a while..." Her words were rather indifferent as she took the lead and headed to the temple stairs. Jonath following casually behind her with arms swaying loosely at his sides and an expressionless face of his own.

  "I'm still a bit put off by the fact Wren and his Group just let some students walk into something like this; but then again what he does with his students lives isn't any of my business." He sighed to himself while looking up at the full moon looming above the temple, almost obscured by the ruins crest.

  "Regardless, you think we should look for them?" He asked glancing her way as they walked down the steps into the darkness below. Though he didn't really want to waste his time playing 'finding bodies' he still had a slight bit of a conscious; asking if she wanted to even if he already knew her response would help ease any shred of guilt he had about just ignoring them.

  "If fate warrants an encounter with them so be it, however I will not waste my time searching for the dead bodies of idiots." She responded, voice indifferent about the topic. Jonath scoffing at her words amused about how accurate his assumption was about her reply. For someone with such a hollow, empty look in her eyes at times she was rather abrasive.

  As they descended into the dark inner machinations of the ruins, another breeze wafted the grass at the surface; and some distance away from the straight path they took from the bubble entrance to the stairs lied a couple of skeletons hidden amidst the greenery.

  Skeletons that bore the same uniforms the college had...

  Pieces of flesh still clung to their darkened bones and mangled ligaments... who, or what lied them to rest there?

  As they descended they soon found themselves swallowed in darkness in every direction save the way they came; the light from the moon barely making it all the way down the long staircase and meeting the ends of their heels. Jonath couldn't see anything ahead of him, it was all pure blackness. The air was stale and smelled of stagnant water and mold and the humidity felt as if it were making his clothes cling to his skin. A flash of light, Liariana tossing up a glowing white crystal that hovered in place between them and illuminated their pathway rather weakly by itself.

  "Right then, let's get this over with." Jonath said fumbling around in one of the pockets on his pants as well, withdrawing a gem of his own. The crystal a soft white and the size of a coin; he tossed it up in the air. The gem quietly flashing white and hovering with Liariana's, the illumination around them stable and strong now. "There we go, should be bright enough for us. These gems are pretty interesting..." He commented not at all surprised Liariana had one like him. Jeremy said something about them being commonly used to light the dark on people's travels anyway.

  Before them both was a narrow pathway, the light not reaching the end of it but nonetheless showing that they were at the mouth of the inner workings of the temples true maze. The walls eroded and cracked as well as the ceiling; dripping water echoing in the distance along with vines and weeds growing between the cracks and crevices of the walls and ground. Liariana and Jonath both standing still and looking down the hall as if getting a feel of what was to come, and then they both took a step forward; walking side by side.

  Not a sound other than dripping water and their footsteps ever hit their ears...

  "Wren said the thing he were looking for would be in the deepest parts of this place. You think he was being serious or just bullshitting us?" Jonath asked glancing slightly down her way on his left. He still wasn't used to the fact she was tall for a woman, almost his height even with the top of her head at eye level with him if not slightly above it. Liariana returning his gaze for a split second and then looking ahead as she matched the pace of his steps.

  "I would imagine that there was some truth to his words." She replied. Her red eyes steady eyeing the event horizon of the light gems hovering right behind and over their shoulders. "However he said he didn't know what the infrastructure looked like, only that he was very sure something of value lied within."

  Jonath looked at the stone grey walls as he listened to her answer; his eyes narrowed showing he were thinking over the words a moment. Liariana kept looking
ahead...

  "Hey, Izuna?" He suddenly called her by her nickname; figured it was about time he used it.

  "What is it?" She responded neutrally and unbothered by the name. Her line of sight moving to meet his, peering through stray bangs of black across smooth skin.

  "I know you said earlier you'd prefer we keep the chatter to a minimum so I'll shut up after this, but I gotta ask one thing." He paused giving her a few seconds before continuing if she wanted to interject; when she did nothing but keep walking with a matching pace to his, he took that as the green light. Turning to look forward with a small inhale, and exhale.

  "I know you're a foreigner, and I know you apparently recently arrived to Kynerva; why'd you come here?" He popped the question and promptly awaited a response. Liariana staring a moment in silence, her features hiding any reactions she had behind a glassy gaze and monotone expression. Her eyes focusing on him, narrowing vaguely before breaking away to look before her again. Several more seconds passing before she figured she might as well answer him.

  "My homeland is a small territory, war-torn and desolate now from a bloody war that carried on for years; I came here to escape the fighting and start over." She said, Jonath oblivious to the deceit in her words.

  Draven's face flashed in her mind, her lips pulling back into a show of disgust that Jonath missed since he weren't looking at her when it happened.

  "So, you're basically a refugee immigrant then?" Jonath responded hands idled in coat pockets. Liariana nodding and not saying anything else about the topic. Taking her unwillingness to delve on the matter more into account Jonath dropped it as well. Hesitating for a moment before adding on one last gesture of speech.

  "I'm an amnesic myself." He suddenly said, the Yelkath briefly stopping in her tracks, eyes subtly widened in shock as she turned her head ever so slightly to look at him when he turned to see her halt. Expression soon devolving into a narrowed glare of suspicion and yet? Indifference to it all the same...

  "Why are you telling me this? I didn't ask you to..." She asked low yet calm. Jonath shrugging and turning to walk again, the two surrounded by complete darkness save for their little veiled bubble of light emanating from the hovering duo of gems.

  "Felt I had to return the favor. You told me something about yourself so I told you something about me. Just was curious is all, don't have to worry about me asking any more personal questions my acquaintance." He snorted teasingly over his shoulder. Liariana tilting her head, eyes narrowed and expression confused but eventually returning to its typical hollowness and she caught back up with him.

  Nothing else was said for the rest of the walk down the hall. The two eventually reaching its end and now standing at the edge of another staircase that led them into a massive underground chasm... however the sight that greeted both of their eyes as the glow from the crystal spanned out wider due to the less confined space, astonished them...

  "... Whoa..." Jonath whispered looking downwards at what lied within the chasm.

  It was a ruined underground city; long swallowed in darkness and time and stretched out for miles upon miles. An entire city, large in size lied dormant under the ruins of a temple hidden away in the forest. The stone structures, buildings and pillars and streets as far as the eye could see. Snuffed out fire lamps and torch scones dotting the walls as the roof of the underground chasm lie mere meters above the twos head and the entrance they came from. They weren't that deep underground and yet right below the surface there was an entire...

  What... was this place!?

  "An entire city... hidden underground for centuries I take it..." Liariana muttered to herself, looking at the wide stairs descending downwards at an angle to the streets of the city long abandoned and empty. Didn't seem like anyone besides them had stepped in here for years upon years...

  Not a single sound heard besides their own voices... The eeriness of it all was so strong it was suffocating. The humid air making Jonath and Liariana feel even more uncomfortable as stale smells filled their nostrils. The two standing absolutely still, ears attentive and eyes analytical; watching... listening for anything, anything at all...

  Nothing... Infact the silence around them was so intensely deadening to the ears it felt as if they were deaf between words...

  "So, Wren wants us to search through this entire city... for something we don't even know exactly what it even looks like?" Jonath scratched the back of his head closing his eyes and huffing rather irritated at the entire scope of the situation at hand. Liariana casting her gaze left and right, right arm raising from obscurity of her black cloak and pointing outwards to something.

  "There..." She said. Jonath following her finger to see a large cathedral ward section within the city that looked to be the heart of the ruins, at least from what they could see. The cathedral massive, robust, and surrounded by a vast courtyard fenced by stone walls and carvings of winged beasts perched atop checkpoints running along the walls. It was hard to see anything else, them being too far away and the light crystals not strong enough to brighten things farther away as easily yet nevertheless...

  "He said that it would lie in the deepest heart of the ruins; I'd assume he were comparing this to a beast with multiple hearts. Each different depending on what chamber you entered.." Liariana calmly deduced. "That would mean there's more places like this around the continent..."

  Jonath's brow furrowed... Wait, did that mean?

  "You mean to tell me you think Wren knew there was a city down here and just acted ignorant?" Jonath responded with a side eye to her. If that were the case, then the unnerving vibes he'd gotten all this time made much more sense.

  "That and this is probably only one of many sections of a larger underground civilization... If you look at portions of the walls within the chasm they look to have shifted, and collapsed; this section of the city is likely cut off from the rest of the underground paths." She paused, starting to descend down the stairs with Jonath following after her.

  "You mean there's more ruins with entrances like the one we came through? That explains why Wren wanted us to come down here... He might actually be looking for a map that reveals the other locations with entrances to other closed off portions of this underground network. You think?" He asked, her response a simple nod as they descended; both looking off at the Cathedral Ward in the distance... it looked quite the walk.

  "Only one way to find out." Liariana replied... "Tread carefully once we're down there; who knows what could be waiting among the ruins."

  Cryptic Secrets

  A/N - Just want to once again thank those who've read this far into the story and I hope it is keeping your interest! Every review, follow and favorite is much appreciated and motivates me more to write chapters faster for you. Thank you!

  The Challenger Chapter Fifteen - Cryptic Secrets

  Tap... Tap... Tap...

  Their footsteps echoed through the palpable quiet; the ruined, eroded, damaged and crooked buildings of the long forgotten city encompassing all of them. The two walking side by side under the shining white light of the two gems hovering behind and above them, a sphere of white shrouding them both. Jonath's pale eyes glancing here and there, eyeing stone windows, cracked doors, aged debris and piles of ashen dust; this place had to be centuries old. The ominous look of these grey stoned buildings instilled a bottomless sense of dread in the air, it felt haunted the more Jonath walked through the place.

  "Wonder who or what built this place..." He mused aloud in a soft-spoken voice. Eyes looking all around as far as his sight would allow at the architecture that clearly looked outdated compared to what he'd seen in Luminous City; the buildings here were all lacking any glass in the windows or broken fragments across the ground or steel or fiberglass or whatever else that took more high-tech manufacturing. There were no electrical lampposts either, just torch scones fixed on the walls of buildings or atop poles lining the narrow and dirty streetways. Everything down here was just made of stone, clay or rarely iron or br
onze... all primitive materials.

  "The bigger question would be what drove the people here to build a city underground instead of on the surface." Liariana chimed in with an aloof tone that implied her question was more just to correct his thinking than to actually call for an answer. Jonath side eyeing her with a quiet snort of annoyance before simply looking ahead again as hands retreated back to his pockets.

  "No point in either of us asking each other any of these questions anyway though now is there?" The platinum silver-haired man sighed closing his eyes as spiky silver bangs brushed over his eyes. "Considering neither of us know anything much about this place. Never read anything about an ancient city underground when I was at the library either." He opened his eyes and gazed up at the roof of the chasm so high above while huffing. "Then again I spent most of my time there learning about stuff that should've been common knowledge like the days of the week or the months and whatever. Least I know what to look into once we get back." He yawned again with a follow-up shake of his head. Liariana vaguely casting her crimson gaze towards his direction before looking straight ahead again.