Chapter 4
“Hey, you, are you all right?” someone says, cautiously approaching
a terrified-looking Emi.
“Sir, did you see what happened?”
“N-no, I—I didn’t.”
“Do you remember anything?”
“Well, the only thing I can remember is seeing something floating.
It almost looked like two sai.”
“Is that why you screamed?”
“I’m not sure. I guess that
could be why I screamed.”
A look crossed the stranger’s face.
“What is it?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Then do you mind me asking you what you’re doing?”
A scream filled the air once more, only this time with agonizing pain
behind it. Alex falls to the ground, as something
has been forced upon him. Leaning up against
the cave wall, thin reddish liquid begins pouring out of him, leaving a puddle of
blood beneath him. It seeps through his clothes
where there appears to be a wound. Something
has pierced his side, and the weapon is still there. The blood creeps its way out of the wound, onto
the weapon, and then down to the ground. Getting dizzy from the blood loss, Alex bravely
removes the weapon from his side: it is a sai. He ends up passing out on the hard, moist cave
floor.
“Huh? Oh, it seems as if that
were only a dream. What a relief.” Alex listens closely and notices that the storm
has finally rolled past the cave. “I guess
it’s time for me to head out of this cave and go back to the village. Or since I’m already here…It seems like this cave
goes far back. Might as well check it out
and see if there’s anything interesting in here. Why am I in such a rush to get out of here? It isn’t even morning yet anyway. I need something to do to pass the time. I would rest, but that is all I did while I was
waiting for the weather to clear. I must
have woken up because it stopped raining. After all, the rain was quite a peaceful way to
fall asleep. The change in sound must have
been the reason I woke up. That or that horrible
nightmare I had. Might as well do something
to pass the time, and I might as well go exploring. I just hope I can find my way out of this place,
though. I wonder what could be back here
since a hidden door is needed. Wait a minute,
how far back did I go? It seems to me this
door hasn’t moved in ages. Meaning no one
of this generation or even past would know of this secret. I might have just discovered something that is
worth my time being back in here. Now let’s
just hope I can get the door open at least to take a quick peek.”
Alex goes up to the door and begins pushing on it in hopes it would
be an easy task to get it open. After a little
time just before his endurance gave out, he manages to get the door open just a
crack. He rests a bit and gets back up and
begins to give it a go one last time. This
time he has no problem opening the door the rest of the way, almost like he was
the god of strength. That very door had been sealed for eternity, making
it impossible for the average person to open it, and the mysteries that await behind
the door are revealed.
Creeping in, Alex is not sure what to he’ll find. There are many spiderwebs that hang from the ceiling
and on the walls. Strangely enough, there
are no spiders to claim which web is theirs. After fully entering the room, there is a smell
of musk in the air that makes the room feel even more ancient.
“This place certainly has not been found in a while. That’s a good sign for me, I guess.”
Walking further into the hidden room, Alex stumbles upon a raised area
in the middle of the room. The raised area
has something on the top of it. It is covered
in spiderwebs and dust that had built up in the years it has been silent. It is too dark for Alex to see what the object
may be, so he reaches out and picks up what feels like a scroll. Trying to find some source of light, he leaves
the room and works his way back out of the cave. The only source of light he is able to find is
somewhere close to the mouth of the cave. Depressed about the one object being the only thing
he could find in the room, he begins to read what is written on the scroll beneath
the dust that somehow had gotten onto the scroll itself. Still hoping that it would have been a great find,
he realizes it is after reading the word “Akio.” Alex then knows who it is talking about. Akio used to live in the village Alex lives in,
so Alex knows some history about him. Alex
slowly opens the scroll completely, trying to hide the fact that he is excited to
see what it has to say about Akio. After
slightly opening it, he can’t wait any longer, then rushes to reveal the words of
the legend. He attempts to read what is uncovered
and what wasn’t ruined by the aging of the scroll. As he begins to read, he passes out from all the
musk that had built up in the hidden room, as it flooded his lungs unknowingly when
he opened the door to the room. The dust
was heavy, and the cobwebs were thick. When
he opened the door, the air around him wasn’t fit to be breathed, but he didn’t
know this.
