Sunday, June 21, 2015

Akio Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Hey, you, are you all right?” someone says, cautiously approaching a terrified-looking Emi.
“Sir, did you see what happened?”
“N-no, II 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.


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