Chapter 22

Chapter 22 - LOT

Warm yellow light bathed the entrance area of the cave in a welcome glow, a nice change from the cold wilderness of the north. Jack looked around carefully as he stepped into the cave, his eyes alert.

The air inside the cave was humid and warm, washing away the outside chill. The stone floor was well worn, the footsteps of generations of people having worn the rocky ground smooth. The cave passage was around a dozen meters wide, and stretched downward to a corner that led out of sight.

Jack began walking down the passageway, noting several odd carvings in the stone walls to his side. They were hard to decipher, worn by time, but he could just barely make out what seemed like mighty warriors clashing against each other, with younger students watching. Several of the depictions appeared to contain caravan fleets, moving forward into a circular portal. Presumably a Space Gate.

As Jack turned the corner, he abruptly came to a halt, feeling, to his surprise, the same feeling he felt in the cave he had fled to in the wilderness. A feeling drawing to his soul. More specifically, to the Clan Leader’s Imprint in his soul.

“A Time Sealed room is here?” Jack muttered, somewhat surprised. After a moment, he shrugged. The Space Clan and Time Clan had been quite close, it wasn’t surprising that there were Time Sealed rooms near something as important as a Space Gate.

He covered his mouth after he spoke as he heard his voice echoing down the cave passageways. The design of the cave seemed to greatly magnify how sound echoed.

He walked carefully down a passageway that was lit by the glowing moss common to caves in the north. After about two dozen meters, he went around another corner, feeling the tugging sensation on his soul grow much stronger.

Once more, there was another stone passageway. This one seemed to be at an angle, going downward into the earth. It was also quite long, easily fifty or sixty meters to its end. At the end of it, however, Jack could just barely make out the entrance of a room of some sort.

He jogged down the passageway, noting once more the fine carvings on the walls. This entire cave system had undergone extensive work. In its prime, it must have been quite the sight, he mused.

He reached the end of the passage, and stopped, blinking in shock.

Unlike the rest of the cave, which, while carved or decorated, still had a natural feeling to it, this entire room was extremely odd.

It was as if someone had drawn a cube in the middle of the cave, and then removed all the stone and rock from that cube. An enormous, hundred by hundred meter wide room stretched before Jack, its proportions exactly that of a enormous cube. It was eerily unnatural.

In the center of this room was a large, ten meter wide stone ring, supported by several side pillars. The ring sat upon a raised platform, with a long ramp leading up to it. Odd symbols were carved into the side of the ring, and, as Jack looked closely at it, he noticed a slight distortion in the air.

Jack ignored all of this, however, instead turning his head to his left, where he felt the tugging sensation in his soul.

Before he could, Jack abruptly stood still, his ears tingling.

Very faintly, so quietly he almost missed it, Jack heard the sounds of feet scuffing on stone, echoing out of the passageway he had just left. An instant later he heard a thud, and a quiet voice cursing before abruptly becoming silent.

Jack’s heart jumped into his throat, and without another thought he activated his Slowed State and dashed towards the Time Sealed room.

..

..

Corker ducked his head in terror, holding his hands up as he looked at the vicious assassins that were all staring at him. The entire group stood in the entrance of the cave, almost all of them focused on the tracker who had just slipped, his foot clipping on a part of the cave wall on accident.

After being convinced, and slightly coerced, into helping track down the killer of the Duke’s son, Corker had started to regret not fleeing the city, and the duchy as a whole, a real action he had considered.

A tense moment passed before the killers all turned their attention back to the location Corker had pointed out, deep within the cave, down the only passageway that was visible.

The leader of the group made a few hand motions, directing a group of five his men to proceed, while he remained here at the rear with the rest of the assassins and the tracker.

Corker felt the eyes of the leader of killers fall on him slightly and shivered, his regret for not fleeing redoubling.

..

..

A sense of danger fell on Jack as he stood in the midst of what appeared to be an ancient office of some sort. The cave wall behind him that had vanished with his use of the Clan Leader’s imprint had reappeared, as solid and physical as it was before.

The entirety this wall, however, was transparent, allowing Jack to see through it. When he pressed his hand against it, he noted that it was very physical and real. He knew, however, from the imprint in his mind, that only people on this side of it could see through it. Those on the outside would be left thinking this was just a regular wall.

Thanks to successfully bonding and becoming fully aware of the imprint, Jack was able to seal or unseal Time Sealed rooms at will, like the one he was currently hiding in.

And as he turned around, looking through that wall after a few tense seconds, he saw several black garbed figures pour into the room. They wielded blades and daggers, and gave off a dangerous, chilling aura.

Jack watched as they began searching the room, feeling his heart clench as they moved past his portion of the wall. After a moment however the figures continued onward, fruitlessly searching the rest of the odd cube shaped room.

Jack wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead after a moment before he turned around, examining the Time Sealed room.

It was, like his initial observations found, a type of office. There were several wooden desks full of stone tablets and sheaths of paper. The back of the room had a couple of wooden cabinets, set into the stone wall. The air in the room had a very dry and still feeling.

The room was small. Only a dozen or so meters wide, and half again as long. Jack walked down the entirety of it, trying to see if there was anything else. There wasn’t. Just the wooden desks and cabinets.

Jack walked over to one of the desks, picking up one of the sheaths of paper. As soon as he touched it, Jack dropped it, staring at his hand in astonishment.

When his fingers came into contact with the paper, an odd sensation seemed to wrap around his hand. The space seemed to freeze slightly.

After a moment the sensation vanished. Jack looked back down at the paper and then picked it up again, this time keeping the paper in his hand. The sensation returned, an odd wrapping feeling.

Nothing else happened. The feeling seemed to be some type of protective covering for the papers, keeping them from decaying. The Space Clan certainly had unique abilities, Jack thought, shaking his head.

Jack scanned through the document, and then several others. They appeared to be shipping logs, carrying a great deal of boring information about transports. Long drawling lists of various goods, transported to foreign sounding locations.

After going over several of the papers, Jack did a cursory examination of all of them. He found nothing of interest. He used his Slowed State to increase his reading speed.

He then moved on to the wooden cabinets, going through them. After a few moments of searching, Jack finally found something useful.

“Space Gate Coordinates: The Twelve Transport Zones.”

A small guide that listed the possible areas the Space Gate could transport to, and a list of how to set the Space Gate to each setting. Jack ignored the list on setting the Space Gate to specific settings.

According to the Branch Chief, the Space Gate was damaged, and it wasn’t possible to control or dictate which location it would send someone.

With the list of transport zones, however, Jack would at least have a vague idea of where he was.

As Jack stuffed the list into his Space Sealed Pouch, storing it for later, he caught movement at the corner of his eyesight. He spun around, looking through the transparent rock.

Where, on the other side, the tracker Corker was staring directly at him, a confused look on his face.

“I…I don’t understand. As far as I can tell, the aura of fire is emanating from several meters in this direction.” Corker said, his voice set with panic. He could feel the ire in the nameless leader of Icy Night's voice as the man responded.

"So you are telling me that the target you are tracking is behind that stone wall?" The black robed figure waved a small dagger at the wall that Corker was staring at.

Corker nodded.

The leader paused for a moment. He then looked around, taking in the cube shaped room. He then walked up to the wall, placing his hand on it. It was the same wall as the rest of the room. He pressed on it a few times, extending his Spirit into it at one point.

The blue energy couldn't even penetrate a millimeter into the wall. The leader frowned inside his mask, his eyes cold.

"Is it possible your tracking isn't functioning due to interference by the Space Gate?" The leader stepped back, glancing around the room a second time. He then turned to face Corker.

"That might b-"

At that exact moment, before Corker could finish speaking, the wall that he had just been pointing to abruptly vanished.