THE CLOCKWORK WORLD

Prologue - Beneath the Surface

The tunnel was long and dark, requiring to the two young men to walk in one after another, with a torch that cast lights over the rough walls, showing small stone inscriptions, half-erased by time. The scripts looked very ancient, and both of them didn't recognize the language, even Mani in front of him, who by his seeker position, with his knowledge from all the research the organization conducted, seemed to be unfamiliar with the texts. He seemed however to figure out from when the stones have been engraved.

- The script looks to come from the earliest years of Aleph, he said. This is unbelievable, we are probably in front of the oldest texts I have ever seen. Even the ones in the Palace's archives are not that old.

Nic had never seen his counsellor and friend that thrilled. He would like to be as enthusiastic as him but a weird feeling had been wrapped around him since they entered the underworld, like a small alert to an incoming danger. They were on a mission, urged by his father the King, who had been alerted by some tribes who complained about strange disorders in the land, leading them to an odd phenomenon where people were about to fight without any reason. The tribe's elders told them that the peak of this phenomenon was near the entry of a cave that no one would dare to break into. So the two of them decided to get in to discover what was it about. Now they were heading into what would appear to be the corridors of an old building and if Nic trusted Mani's words (he did), the place have been built during the creation of this world, at the Founding Times. This was a huge discovery because the Founding Times was quite an obscure era to them. No text has been identified yet, just old legends which probably have been distorted with the ages so there was not much to learn from it, except for anyone who liked fantasies. But, the more they walked within the corridor and its inscriptions, the more the Prince thought that they may be under new understandings about their past.

As they moved into the building, the tunnel left for a series of rooms where the texts were replaced by primitive drawings depicting circles, lines, and very simply shaped human beings evolving in this mishmash which goes into something looking like a city.

The Founders.

Mani became even more excited. He ran to every wall, watching closely the drawings, his curly hair swinging each time he shook his head from enthusiasm.

- This is absolutely mind-blowing! The engravings tell the story of the creation of the world, from the arrival of the Founders to the establishment of the Kingdom of Aleph. Some of the myths might be true so... this is a huge discovery!

He turned to face Nic, his face enlightened by his passion but turned into a frown when he saw that his companion didn't share the same excitement.

- Why are you making that face?

- I don't feel comfortable in this place, answered the Prince. There is something that makes me feel unsafe. Don't you feel it?

The other man looked a bit around him, even sniffed the air, before facing Nic again.

- You are right. I feel a bizarre stream running all over the place. My curiosity over the archaeological finding distracted me a bit, but something is here, probably not a good one.

The Prince had a glance at the only path in front of them while the other stared at him with a questioning face but he waved again. They came to this place to investigate the rising troubles outside. If they didn't pursue it, they wouldn't be able to find out why and come back with a solution. So they continued their walk in the next corridor. For several minutes, they didn't talk, limiting themselves to following the path, a bit hampered by some collapsed columns and broken stairs, hoping that the building wouldn't fall apart with them inside. Soon, fractured sculptures were lying on the floor, some pieces still showing their topic. They are certainly representing the Founders or mostly their Element characteristics. One of the chests shows wings while a trident is held in a fist.