08: The Time Orb

"Do you need an extra hand?" Alvan heard a familiar female voice behind him. He was frozen in place.

It was her... It was Emelda!

He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Her voice is one of the voices he will never forget what it sounds like. Now, he would have to coax her.

'Was it all obvious to her? And how did she manage to bypass those knights?' He paused for a moment, then slowly turned his head towards Emelda, a smile spreading across his face. But due to the pitch darkness, Emelda didn't see his smile at all.

"You saw through my facade earlier. I guess I have to step up my acting game." He said sarcastically, not knowing what else to say to her.

"You! Why wouldn't I, you cunning fox? When it was evident from the expression on your face that you were lying then."

Alvan laughed bitterly. Emelda had always been his weak spot. When it comes to lying or deceiving someone, he is a master and can even give the all-knowledgable High Priest a run for his money. But when it comes to this particular lady, he would always falter.

"So, how did you manage to bypass the knights?" He asked, thinking that after that little shadow minion drama, those knights would become even more vigilant.

Emelda started narrating to him how she had successfully followed him inside.

When Alvan had sent her off, with the excuse to help him fetch Kael, she simply moved out of his line of sight and started observing him. And while Alvan stealthily made his way towards the boulder where he had hidden from the knights, she had also followed him, but she kept her distance to avoid being discovered by him.

Alvan never looked back to see if anyone was behind him because he was confident in his stealth. As he entered the dark passageway, she skillfully evaded the knights while the pseudo-shadow minions forced them to close their eyes. In other words, she had been on his tail from the onset.

Just as the two were talking, Alvan's bracelet lit up with a golden glow. Their attention was shifted to the bracelet, which seemed to be pulling Alvan toward the stone gate. Emelda followed behind, amazed by what was happening before her.

"You should have guessed it, right? It was this bracelet, given to me by my mother, that was pulling me in here. I was also curious to discover whatever it was that was calling the bracelet. However, I didn't want you to come with me because it might be something ominous. You might get hurt." Alvan kept blabbering in front of the stone gate; however, Emelda remained silent.

"Why don't you illuminate this dark place? Let's see if there is a locking mechanism that we can use to open the stone gate." Emelda suggested, marveling at the sight of such a stone gate.

Nobody had told them that there was something like this in the basement. 'It makes sense. We were taught about the basement when we were still students at the academy. But they never talked about this place, and since those knights were stationed at its entrance, it means they knew whatever was on the other side of this gate.'

Alvan ignited a flame in his left hand, illuminating the area where they stood. The light was not bright enough to be seen by the others outside the dark passageway. There, at the very center of the stone gate, was a circular indentation-like hole.

"Do you think we need to insert something into that hole?" He asked, looking at Emelda who was behind him. But before she could utter a word, he spoke again, almost as if he was exclaiming. "Wait! My mother's bracelet is reacting to the stone gate. Does it mean that..." Alvan didn't finish his sentence as he inspected the bracelet he was wearing.

That was when he saw the thing that might fit into the hole of the stone gate. It was a crystal the size of a thumb. The largest crystal was embedded on the bracelet, among several other smaller crystals. It was also colorless, just like the other crystals, which were three times smaller than it.

Alvan carefully removed that specific crystal and delicately inserted it into the small hole at the center of the gate.

Instantly, the crystal lit up with a radiant white glow before they heard a creaking sound. It was followed by the mechanical sound of something within the gate. Then, from the fissure running through the center of the gate, it began to open up, receding into the side walls.

Before them, was a magnificent sight. A chamber unfolded before their eyes as the gate was fully opened. And this chamber wasn't pitch dark like the passageway where they stood.

The room was well illuminated by several crystal lantern stands that lined the walls, each containing a glowing red crystal. However, there was nothing in this chamber except for a particular statue on an elevated dais in the chamber.

Alvan and Emelda entered the chamber and approached the statue to get a closer look at it. Alvan could still feel the pulling force, but now he knew its exact source.

As they approached the statue, astonishment, and shock washed over them. Emelda, in particular, was frantically turning her head back and forth between the statue and Alvan.

There was a striking resemblance between the statue and Alvan. Just as if Alvan were its clone.

The eyes, nose, mouth, and jawline are all the same shape. The only difference was that the statue was a little bit bigger than Alvan's and was sculpted with bronze, so one cannot tell the color of his hair or eyes. On the hands of the statue, which was seated on a throne, there were two objects.

On his right hand was a colorless, transparent crystal orb, roughly half the size of a football. And on the other hand, there was a tome, and on top of the tome was a folded scroll. The tome was black with some red engravings snaking their way around it, spiraling especially towards the center of the tome. While the scroll was white.

Just as Alvan moved a step closer to inspect the statue, he unknowingly triggered a mechanism underneath his feet. The stone gate swiftly moved and closed, sealing off the area.

"What has happened?" Emelda said as she glanced back at the stone gate. Fear and terror were clearly etched on her face.

"Whatever it is, I will satisfy my curiosity about this place first, and I promise to get you out," Alvan assured her as he moved even closer to examine the inscription engraved on the spine of the tome, which was adorned with golden letters. The inscription read, "THE BOOK OF IMMORTALITY."

Just then, his eyes also caught another inscription engraved on the throne the statue was on. It actually looked more like an epitaph than a mere inscription. And it read: ZAMON DREG.

Alvan's eyes widened in shock instantly. That was the name of his father. No wonder, the statue looked so much like him. He stepped back a bit, staring at the statue while also contemplating what his mother had told him about the bracelet and his father.

Was this it? The bracelet led him to the location where the statue of his father was sculpted. How on earth was he supposed to know anything about his father or the reason behind the construction of his statue here?

Emelda seemed to notice his frustration. She hugged him from behind and whispered to him, "Why don't you try something with that crystal orb? Maybe channel your energy into it to see if there will be any reaction?"

Alvan nodded. He extended his right hand and started channeling his energy into the crystal orb. However, he didn't choose ethereal or cosmic energy to add, but a golden surge of energy transferred from his hand into the orb. That was not all. The bracelet once again lit up, and white energy flew out of it into the orb as well.

The orb squirmed with supplied energy before it slowly started to light up. This time, Alvan felt a suction force pulling his energy towards the orb, which eventually glowed with a brilliant blue light.

However, Alvan stopped the channeling process after the orb had fully lit up. The orb projected a replica of itself, which was ten times larger, in front of Alvan and Emelda. It looked just like the simulation screen of advanced technology on Earth.

Suddenly, the orb projection began to display flashes of images to them.

And there, they could see the very shadow plague that had struck Etheloria twenty-six years ago. However, the images were flashing at a high speed until they slowed down... There, in front of Alvan and Emelda, appeared a scene.

In the scene, they could see the High Priest, Alvan's mother, Alvan's father, the twin guardians, the supreme commander, and the two elders…