The Naturalistic

CHAPTER 14

"The Dark chest?" I ask her again. "Are you sure you heard it right?" 

"Not heard." She pauses. "Seen. . . I saw it." Rick gasps behind me and I go cold. 

"Christ," I mumble. 

"Hurry now, let's get going." She says. 

I nod and glance back at Rick. He is halfway done buttoning his shirt and gestures me to move ahead. We storm out of there and almost jog towards the conference room. I hesitate for a moment before turning the door nob, but Sam signals me to proceed. 

Opening the door I find Gloria, Kate, my mother and my uncle sitting around the table with a box which I assume is the Dark chest in front of them. Nobody looks up at us, their stare focused on the chest. 

"Is this the. . .?" My next words never come out.

"Yes." My mother speaks softly. "It's the Dark Chest." 

The chest is studded with various stone and is black.  

"Can we open it?" I ask all of them. 

"No." Kate replies. "We need the key to open it." 

"How about we break it?" Sam says. 

"Do you ever try anything else but destruction?" Kate raises her brows.

"What? I haven't broken anyone's nose or bones today." Sam says.

"So. . . You want a gold star?" Kate smirks and Sam rolls her eyes.

"The chest cannot be destroyed." My uncle speaks. "It is protected by the Ezuka's own dark magic, just like its name. Any action to destroy or harm the chest would result in the destruction of the information inside and we will lose our last hope against him. Akonia would remain in darkness forever and we can't help it." 

"In simple words, the location would be lost forever and so would be the temple," Rick mutters.

"But why are we stressing over the temple," I say. "No one knows what's inside the temple, maybe Ezuka is playing a trick, maybe he is trying to distract us, maybe it's a trap." 

"I doubt it," Gloria speaks. "He wiped out his own memory of the temple, he has to be hiding something of very great importance in there. It cannot be a trap when he doesn't trust anyone, especially himself."

"What could be such a thing?" I whisper. 

"It could be a weapon that would help kill him or help him make mortal again." Kate answers.

"Maybe or it could be another clue which leads us somewhere else." My mother says. 

"We all are basing it on ' Maybe ' which is not going to answer our questions." My uncle interrupts. 

"That's all we can do for now Victor." My mother answers.

"No, we have to find the key." He replies.

"I think we should start from the beginning," I say. "Mother, where and how did you find this chest again?" 

"I was held captive and slaved in the capital castle of House Caldor" She starts. "All this time I served Ezuka, but they're still were people who opposed him while working for him. They pleased and gave me many opportunities and chances to run away but I denied them every time. Always wondering that even if I am set free from these chains, I am left alone, I have no one, no family, no one I could trust. What was I going to gain from my freedom? When the hands of my people were still tied to his chain." She wipes a tear away from her cheek and bobs her head towards me.