'That's amazing amazing Antenela.' utters an impressed Elsie.
'I guess. The only limitation is that I can only project as much as I've seen,and considering I've lived in the mainland all my life, that's not a lot.' responds Antenela.
Elsie then goes into deep thought for about two seconds before she enquires curiously, 'Hmm... can you project the thoughts of someone else into reality?'
'I don't know, I' ve never tried that... wanna give it a shot?'
'Definitely!'
'Alright then, close yours eyes and think of the most vivid memory you have.'
Elsie closes her eyes as Antenela places her hand on her head, she then tries to think about her first birthday gift, clearly avoiding her true core memory knowing that it would only bring her grief. Antenela tries project the image but it doesn't come out clear because Elsie's memory of it isn't too sharp.
'I need a core memory Elsie, I can't project this one because it's not vivid enough.' Elsie then begins to try and think harder but her thoughts are overcome with darkness and a new image appears, a portrait of a loved one, she can't help but let the thought roam in her head, clear as day, Antenela sees it and feels the emotion linked to it.
She looks at Elsie, eyes still closed, and she feels a bit of sorrow.They soon establish a neural link, allowing Antenela to see her memories as well, she projects the image and a girl appears. Bearing almost the exact same appearance as Elsie, the only difference being a black spot on her chin, an untied afro, her dark brown eyes and the clothes she's wearing.
'Open your eyes Elsie.' Antenela softly utters.
Elsie opens her eyes and sees a glimmering image in front of her, the girl from the portrait in her room, her twin sister. Wearing the clothes she wore when Elsie last saw her, they both stare at each for a bit before Elsie questions out of slight disbelief, 'Ella?'.
The projection responds, 'You certainly are no stranger to your past, but that doesn't mean you should be a prisoner to it. You don't need an escape Elsie, find the book and you find home.' the projection then dissapears into thin air prompting a swift baffled look from Elsie toward Antenela.
Antenela also looks at her, slightly taken aback by the cryptic message.
The both stare at one another, each seeking answers from the other. Elsie goes first 'Was that real or?' she questions Antenela who responds with a level of knowingness.
'It was an image, from your memories. I pieced it together using those but I'm not so sure about the message, was that you?'
'No, she's - she was my twin sister but she passed on some years back...wait what do you mean you're not sure about the message? I thought you were in control of the projections?'
'I... I don't know, It certainly wasn't me, the words she uttered seemingly stemmed from a live source I just don't from where or how.'
'A live source? How could that be? She's merely a memory now.'
Antenela begins to think deeply and identify how the projection could've given out a message in real time yet it didn't mold into existence and form a physical being.
'You said she passed on right? That would explain why the memory didn't come to life, but she some how gave out a message in real time, that should not be possible. Maybe someone is trying to contact you from a different realm, trying to send a message.'
Antenela's eyes spark brightly as she has an idea hit her mind 'That's it! I've got it - the message must've come from the spirit realm. Before I went into your mind I had to create a neural link, and once I had done so your brain allowed me in and I could access most of your memories. Well anything you presented me with that is, also if it was clear enough to read.
Anyway, I think during my little tour through your thoughts I may have somehow opened a gateway to the spirit Realm, using my powers your mind allowed you to also connect and receive a message from your sister who I presume is in there.'
Elsie mystified begins to find sense in the situation, she remembers what the projection said and also what the nymph told her and Franck before they went into the mainland. 'Find the book and find home', 'Go to the mountains and you'll find your first clue there.' These are the two key statements she deduces from her thoughts.
'You may be right, the book, the first clue it all makes sense but what about' finding home?' So far we know that shapeshifters are working with an unidentified creature that has assumed leadership over them, a bunch of books went missing in almost every library around the city along with a tonne of people, and all the library editions of the book of silver thoughts had pages torn out from them in a weird pattern. How do all these add up?'
'Antenela looks up to the temple then looks over to Robert's watchtower and gets an idea. We have to find the prisoner, I believe there's more to this than we thought we knew.'
They both get up, Antenela instructs her to go find Robert while she goes to the mountain temple to retrieve an item.
'The shapeshifters that were here took something from the temple, a sacred scroll and the rune of Eonica. An ancient tool allowing the bearer to bend the universal flow of time at their will, but it needs to be activated first that's why the scroll was also taken, all they need now is another tool I have no knowledge nor understanding of,but I know someone who might. We'll have to move quick if we want to find out what they're planning and possibly stop them.' Antenela assertively utters.
'Alright, got it.' Elsie responds as she begins to run in the direction of Robert's watch tower. She runs down the mountain and gets to the ground, she sees the watchtower but there's no one anywhere near it, she then hears someone call her from the distance. She looks over her shoulder and spots Franck by a bush, all alone.
Elsie runs to him and shouts 'Where's Robert?!'
Franck points up, Elsie instantly looks in that direction and sees him exiting the watchtower with a bag containing a huge book filled with lots of loose pages. He climbs down, mounts his horse and approaches them.
He notices a wide eyed Elsie staring at him as he holds the horse's collar rope in one hand and his shotgun in the other. 'What? Deja vú?' He questions Elsie sarcastically.
'Antenela needs you right now! we need to head to the temple.'
'Antenela?' a puzzled Robert questions.
'The foreseer!!' Elsie shouts back.
'What does she need me for me?'
'We may have found our first clue but there's no time to explain, we have to get a move on.'
Robert agrees to leave with them, Elsie then summons Sentry who is feeding on some grass and bushes by a small pond, she gets to them in a heart beat and is mounted by both Franck and Elsie, they instruct her to head back to the mountain and find the sacred temple.
They all climb up and meet up with Antenela at the top who is holding a pendant in her hand, she opens it and reveals a numerical sequence of sorts and a drawing of The River of Life beside it. 'This is velversden, and the numerical sequence is a display of how the 7 planets will be lined up once the convergence is in full effect. It changes every 5000 years, the order of the is never the same, It usually helped us determine which planets would be most vulnerable to spatial intrusion and increased annomal activity. Robert, hand me your book please.'
Robert doesn't hesitate and does as he's asked, Antenela then grabs the book and opens it, revealing all the pages which were taken in the other books but are still intact in Robert's book. She then continues with her explanation. 'Notice how all the pages which were torn out in the other books are all between chapters of the new gods and the creation of humans, you put these together and they become coordinates, forming their own sequence, they could possibly lead us to the current location of The Book of Silver Thoughts. Now all I need all is someone to help me figure out how the the coordinates co-relate with this particular sequence, Robert! Any clues?'
Robert responds with a straight face, 'Well I met with various people on my last journey to find the book, but that was way before the convergence, I didn't have to worry about any competition from space.'
'And the people you met with? Were they of any guidance to you?' Antenela further questions him.
'A few, particularly in the Sub-Saharan, but it's miles away... It'll be days before we get there.'
'Then we'll just have to find a shortcut, my contact can help us get info regarding the artifacts they took and why they need them, we'll have to cross the river and cut through the forbidden swamp. It's the quickest way we can exit the mainland and search for what we need.'
They all agree and mount their transport with Antenela creating an elk of her own, they then set off on their journey through the mountains, travelling for a while before getting to the very edge where the mist which hovers over the neighbouring region is visible. Antenela crosses the river first, and they notice a disturbance in the atmosphere as she does so, almost like she walked into and invisible wall of liquid - similar to the entrance of the mainland forest, they quickly follow and enter the region as well.
They notice that the entire place is hardly visibly due to the heavy mist, below it lies a floor heavily garnished with skeletons, patches of grass and broken ornaments. The place is quite dim and the atmosphere gloomy,with no signs of life in the vicinity.
Antenela snaps her fingers and creates a small brimming light which enlightens their immediate surrounding and helps them navigate their way. They continue to move forward, following the illuminated path before they're met with a large lake and plenty of statues scattered in and around it. Seemingly of people who inhabited the area before it was so lifeless, they walk closer and notice that they are actually rock sculptures which resemble people who were frozen in motion, each with a different pose.
I have a bad feeling about this.' Robert utters, his paranoia seemingly getting the better of him. 'Relax, everyone here is either stoned or dead, basically there's no one left to kill you.' Antenela assures.
'Well that ought to lift my spirit, splendid job great foreseer.' Robert responds with a sarcastic quirk which makes the foreseer crack a half smile, realising just how easily frightened he is.
She stops right in front of the giant lake and dismounts her horse, she then spots a boat nearby tied to a post.
'Well looks like it'll be smooth sailing from here Rob. Hope you can swim just incase it's not.' she utters with a teasing smile as she looks over to Robert who isn't impressed by her witty piece of world play.
'It looks fairly deep, I think you should leave the elk here, she'll be able to find her way back to nymph Sheyla.'
Elsie nods as she dismounts and so does Franck, Elsie then looks to Franck, slightly worried she says to him.
'You've been quiet.'
He responds with a calm tone, 'I've just been thinking, with all the time we have let slip through our hands how far ahead the enemy could be ahead of us.'
Elsie remains quiet, she digests the statement and it begins to worry her as well. Antenela steps in, once again with assurance, 'that's exactly why we've taken this path guardian, once we've cleared the lake and the woods we'll be plunged into the desert of the Sub-sahara, there we can get the answers we need and move back on track. Believe me, there's no way we can come in second pla-'
Robert interrupts before she can finish, 'Tell me, if you're the foreseer then why don't you just 'foresee' the events of this journey and tell us how it ends?'
Antenela slightly annoyed by the question maintains her composure and gives a cool response. 'I can't, I'm not able to, the shapeshifters that invaded my mind somehow prevented me from seeing into the future. Besides even if I still could use all of my powers they wouldn't be too effective outside the mainland, I don't have too much to work with here. Besides we're forbidden from entering this region anyway.'
She then unties the boat and gets it going, 'Now, are you going to get in or your skepticism won't allow you to cross a mysterious lake with a stranger you don't trust?'
'It seems I have no choice now I do I? I'll just have to take my chances for this one.' Robert replies with a defeated smile on his face.
They all get on the boat and instruct the elk to leave while Antenela reduces hers to dust using her power, she then grabs a wooden oar and so does Robert and they begin to paddle forward.
They paddle in silence for a long while, carefully inspecting the surrounding, but they spot nothing untoward in the devoid environment. That is until they hear a sound, growling in the distance, their boat then stops dead center and the water level begins to decrease like it were being absorbed into the ground.
Panic ensues, they all turn they're heads ferociously from side to side to try and spot the cause of this, all the water is then soaked into the sand below until all that's left is dried ground.
They look forward and see the woods near by but then a figure emerges from the darkness, the body of a horse is visible to see but it seemingly possesses the torso of a man. The growls intensify as a large pack of wolves appear from the woods, seemingly ready to guard the area with their lives,the figure then approaches slowly bearing an extremely inhospitable look on his face.