Oh my? what's this?
Author-nim decided to post today after a long break and when it's not even Monday?
...Well I was supposed to post this chapter a few days ago but unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish on time.
Forgive this lowly Author
- From yours truly, SlackerLifeIsNoWhere
Chapter 16: Hidden-scenario 3
The forest was dark, damp and quiet. There was no fog inside the forest－making it easier to see unlike before.
"...Is it just me or does it feel like the path got longer?" asked Alberu "It feels like we've been walking for days" he sighed
"It felt like hours to me" Barrow shrugged
"The path has changed, it's different from when we first saw it." Cale replied 'The forest must've been messing with their sense of time.'
It hasn't even been an hour since they entered the forest.
City 'Lost in Time'
Cale, who has his 'record', had been keeping track of the time ever since they were transported in this dimension.
Alberu abruptly stopped his tracks making the other two halt their movements.
"...There's a similar scent of dead mana nearby."
Alberu informed Cale. Both he and Barrow can handle dead mana but it would be dangerous for his dongsaeng who doesn't have darkness attribute.
The redhead gave a slight nod in reply, not bothering to be cautious of their surroundings.
'There's a huge amount of despair around that area.' Cale grimaced
He knew they were going the right way. If his theory about the 'Sacrifices' were right then, there would obviously be a sense of despair and death around the place.
"Let's keep going" said Cale, leading the way.
The grass and bushes rustled by their movements, Barrow occasionally cutting down the vines obstructing their way.
Soon, a white structure came into view.
It was a white temple, overgrown vines crawled its way up, covering the bottom part of the temple and pillars.
It would've probably looked and felt quite holy if it wasn't for the stench of death around it.
They scanned the place around it
"There's no dead mana around here" Barrow commented
Alberu nodded "It's possible that dead mana doesn't exist here, maybe something similar to it"
Cale hummed in agreement, staring at the carved words on the large door in front of him.
ᜆᜒ ᜋᜒ ᜇᜒ ᜁ ᜆ᜔ ᜌ᜔
(A/N: Yes, it's Baybayin :> I used a translator btw, it might be wrong.)
'...Ancient language?'
Alberu walked up next to him, eyes narrowing towards the unknown language
"Can you read that too?" he asked
hm? 'too?'
Cale looked at him with a questioning gaze "What?"
"You were able to read the diary, they have the same language" Barrow pointed
The young redhead blinked, looking back at the carved words on the door.
The words slowly distorted, forming a new set of words.
T I ᗰ E ᗪ E I T Y
"...Time deity"
"Hoh...You really can read it" Alberu said with amusement
"As expected of my dongsaeng!!" Barrow praised
Cale sighed as he gestured to the older redhead to remove the vines blocking the door.
Barrow swiftly cut down the thick vines, opening the temple's door.
"Ugh..."
Cale scrunched his nose in disgust
Inside the temple came a strong rusty smell. Its floor and walls are made out of white marble, dirtied with splotches of dried blood.
There is a big altar near the middle end of the temple－ a skeleton corpse is lying on top of it. At the very back was a large golden clock, still ticking unlike the other clocks they've seen.
Alberu walked down the red carpet leading toward the altar, the two following from behind. He grimaced at the sight in front of him.
- Those damned bastards! (Thief)
Cale internally nodded, agreeing with the Thief's words.
The skeleton corpse seemed what to be a child's remains, its 'limbs' were bound by chains connected to the altar. The draped white cloth beneath the corpse stained with dried blood, white tulips surrounding it as if it was there to make things look presentable.
They spread out in different areas, looking for clues or anything that would be of any help.
Barrow walked past the altar. He slightly lifted his head to examine the golden clock in front of him. Cale moved away from the altar, leaving Alberu behind to do his own search.
'Let's see…I've seen a lot of secret rooms in movies and novels.' He thought, pulling one of the torches on the wall－ it might be a hidden lever for all we know.
…Yeah, nothing happened.
1st…2nd…5th…10th…
Cale continued pulling the torches hoping that one of them would trigger and open a hidden room.
'I guess the torches are not it' he thought before pulling the last torch inside.
Click!
Uh?
The redhead stared at the last torch he pulled.
"Cale! something moved beneath the altar." Alberu called out while gesturing for him to come.
'...I guess the torches were it?'
Barrow and Alberu pushed the big altar back, revealing a dark eerie spiral staircase leading underground.
Cale gulped, '...Isn't this like the scenes in horror movies? how creepy…'
Taking the nearest torch, they headed down with Barrow in the front lighting up the area.
Tak…Tak…Tak
Their footsteps echoed as they descended down the spiral staircase.
'A ghost won't pop out and kill us right?' He sweat drop
Light soon emerged from the end of the stairs. Barrow slightly hurried his pace as they reached the last steps, peeking through the small lit up hallway.
"Erm, it's… more normal than I expected..?" Barrow commented with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Past the small hallway was an average sized room lit up by torches, its walls made of stone bricks and flooring with wooden planks.
The room consists of a wooden table with books stacked on top, chairs, a cabinet, couch and a red carpet with golden embroidery－perfectly placed in the center of the room.
"What did you expect then? some sort of torture chamber?" Alberu scoffed
"Well to be honest, I was expecting some kind of dungeon prison or something." Cale nonchalantly said.
"See? even my dongsaeng thought of something like that." Barrow shot the blonde a triumph look, while the said blonde grumbled inaudible words.
Cale sighed as he ignored the childish acts of the two and approached the stacked books on the table.
He grabbed the first book－ Black leather cover with a golden clock designed in the middle.
He flipped the cover open, seeing the contents of the first page.
________________________________________
Records Of Time
“ With time comes life, and with time comes death. ”
－ Saint of Time
I.
________________________________________
'That's it?' He thought before continuing to read the next page then the one after.
he flipped through the pages before halting to a specific page
________________________________________
The deity of time had broken their law
They did something that would destroy the balance.
The revival of the dead.
It is a forbidden act, a taboo
Yet our deity broke that rule for his people.
He pitied the cruel death of his followers
He truly is a kind deity
but…
It's only a matter of time before this place falls into chaos
XXII.
________________________________________
Barrow started searching the cabinet as Cale continued to flip the pages.
________________________________________
Our dear deity has fallen
He gave the very last bit of his strength
to protect the city of time, engraving his power
inside an item that would activate a barrier.
Incarnations of Death appeared during the night.
Thanks to the protection of our deity,
the creatures would not be able to cross the barrier.
Though it is unfortunate we would not be able
to interact with the outside world for a while…
XXV.
________________________________________
Alberu scanned through the papers lied down on the couch.
________________________________________
The saint has given the suggestion of putting
the divine item inside the core of our city.
The priests agreed, it was a wise idea to put it
in the center of the city.
It was a place where no one would be able to reach,
Only the priests and the saint would be able
to enter the place.
XXX.
________________________________________
'The core, the center of the city…' The redhead pondered, 'Is it talking about the bell tower?'
________________________________________
We found a way to appease the other deities
It is a very cruel method, but such way would
bring back the balance they kept.
We do not want to resort to such an act,
But alas, the world is cruel and unfair.
The item will lose its power sooner or later.
More lives will be lost if we do not act quickly,
Everyone's death would be the worst case possible.
LIV.
________________________________________
The pages continued on and on but the pages after were left blank. He shut the book close.
Did the person who wrote this not want to document and record down their history of doing such acts?
Cale stared at the book in his hands deep in thought－
"Dongsaeng"
－Until Alberu placed his hand on the redhead's shoulder, calling out to him.
"Hm?"
Cale hummed, a sign that the brightest sun of roan had gotten his attention.
"There's a small box in here" Alberu handed out, "I found it on the side of the couch, I think we need the key you have to open it."
"Nothing important was written in the papers too" he continued.
Cale nodded as he took out the key Barrow gave him from his sleeve. Taking the small box from the other's hand, he slipped the key inside the keyhole.
"Oh, it really is the right key"
With a quiet "Click!" the box opened revealing the inside.
…Which was another key.
"I think I know what this is for" He said before storing the key inside his dimension through his sleeves. "Have you searched everything? we're going out if there's nothing else."
"There's clothes in the cabinet" Barrow said, pointing at the bundle of cloth.
Cale looked at the two
Seeing their messy, tattered and dirty school uniform…they would look absolutely filthy if it weren't for their good genes saving them.
"...You guys go wear it" he sweat drops
Besides, he already has his own convenient clothing－fire proof, self-repairing properties and the ability to change into his priest outfit. He's very content with his own clothes, thank you very much.
Alberu stared at his clothes before nodding. Grabbing the clothes that would suit him better, he chased the other two out of the room before changing.
Barrow went in after the blonde, changing with the remaining clothes left for him.
Alberu's:
Barrow's:
(A/N: Photos were found in pinterest, they are not mine. Credits to the wonderful artists. Also… ginger😍)
Cale stared at the two's outfits before nodding and heading back up.
'Ah…how jealous, I want a cool outfit too.' He suppressed a sigh
.
.
.
Minutes after making their way back through the forest, they were now, once again, standing in front of the bell tower.
"...So you're saying that the item we're looking for is inside all along?" Barrow's voice had a hint of annoyance.
The younger redhead nodded his head once as confirmation, seemingly trying to look for something in the tower in front of them.
They entered the door leading to the inside of the bell tower－ which Cale unlocked using the key they found in the temple.
"Let's split up and look for anything suspicious…or anything that would be helpful to us" Cale spoke.
The two agreed with his words and proceeded to scan the inside of the bell tower.
They dispersed into different areas of the tower, Cale climbed the staircase leading up the tower.
He searched through the walls, pushing the stone bricks of the wall hoping it would trigger something－ and with a small click!, it did. But it wasn't the wall that made the sound, but the floor tile he was standing on.
He tapped the floor's tile once again, it made a small sound with every movement he made.
'This…It's quite loose?' he thought as he tried to remove the tiles beneath him.
Krrrrk－！
The tiles made a sound as he dragged it out of its place.
A box buried under the tiles came into view as he took the tiles out one by one.
"Jewelry box?" he muttered
A box larger than the size of a man's hand －all sorts of jewels and gemstones decorating it, in the middle of the box was a small carved out hole, did a gem fall out of its place?
"Hyung-nim!" He called out to the two below, gesturing them to come up.
The two came up the stairs
"You found it?" Alberu asked
"I think" He said, pointing at the box
Barrow inspected the box before commenting
"...There's no keyhole?" Then how would they unlock the box?
Cale took the box before grabbing the dagger Barrow found earlier.
"The ruby…" he commented, asking Alberu to take the gem out of the dagger.
'They have the same size' Cale thought
Alberu and Barrow understood what Cale was thinking as they came to the same conclusion after seeing the ruby.
The blonde took the dagger and picked the ruby engraved on it, he then passed it to the redhead in front of him.
The said redhead accepted the red gemstone, placing it inside the carved hole－it fits perfectly.
Cale opened the box after it made a small sound, indicating that it was now unlocked.
Inside was a golden hourglass, but instead of sand was a liquid picturing that of a galaxy.
[The 'Flow of Time and Space' has been acquired!]
[You have met the conditions to clear the hidden scenario!]
[You have obtained 10,000 coins as compensation.]
(A/N: I changed "flow of space" to "flow of time and space" because i think it suits it better.)
They heard the system ring as Cale held onto the hourglass before a dark smoke swallowed them whole.
They were back from where they first found the Hidden-scenario－ the storage room of the antique shop.
Cale glanced down towards his hands and let out a sigh of relief to see the hourglass still with him. He shoved it in his dimension before scanning the blonde and the older redhead beside him.
That's good, they also got to keep the clothes they found…he was worried it might not be transported with them, is it part of the rewards?
[The constellation 'Eternal Rest' is glad to see you safe.]
[10,000 coins have been sponsored.]
[The constellation 'Ruler of Sun' sighs in relief.]
[10,000 coins have been sponsored.]
[The constellation 'Ruler of War' welcomes you back.]
[10,000 coins have been sponsored.]
[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is happy to see you again.]
[100 coins have been sponsored.]
[A few constellations are wondering where you went.]
[The constellations have sponsored you 200 coins.]
.
.
.
His face was bombarded with messages right after the constellations were able to watch him once again.
'Is there no way to mute this…?' Cale internally sighed before asking
"How long have we been gone for?"
[The constellation 'Eternal Rest' says 1 day.]
Well, considering the time they spent inside the other dimension it was understandable.
'The time here was slightly faster than the other.' They definitely had spent hours inside the dimension but not enough for a whole day to pass.
"Are we heading back to the station?" asked Barrow
"You both head back, I'll go ahead to my station" He answered
…He definitely doesn't see a certain redhead pout in disappointment.
________________________________________________
2564 words!
Notes:
Our first Hidden-scenario is finally finished!
Does it feel rushed? I think it's a little rushed but oh well, I'll just do better on the next ones.
yes there will be more since that's where they will get the items they will need in the future, for what you ask? well that's a secret, but if you look through the names of the items you'll be able to guess it.
next chapter will be the meeting of Priest-nim and our Omniscient reader－ which will be posted on Monday next week, yes, yes. I will actually post a chapter on time, hooray!
“ With time comes life, and with time comes death. ”
Does this quote actually exist? i don't know it just came into my head and decided to put it there.
anyway this isn't regarding the fanfic but I sadly have summer classes (ಥ_ಥ)
Which is probably one of the reasons for my lack of motivation lately, but fear not! Motivation-chan has made it's way back to me!
Also, I lost my 50/50 on Keqing yesterday, I was going for c1 Kazuha but oh well, I still got Heizou so I guess it's fine, still not giving up on Kazuha's constellation 1 though.