However, the soldiers disagreed. They implored Sonata to choose a different path to avoid encountering the beast.
"You're all cowards. Why would you follow me if you're so scared?" grumbled Sonata. Nevertheless, he was kind enough to choose a detour to put his subordinates at ease.
The exploration continued, and the forest was rich in both flora and fauna. In simpler terms, it was teeming with strange creatures.
Sonata was not surprised by the monsters' peculiar shapes and strength until Alto confirmed that he witnessed some of them performing incredible feats. With his special eyes, Alto saw a monster resembling a basilisk from ancient tales. It could petrify its prey with a single glance.
"Petrify? Are you sure?" Sonata repeated, surprised. While he knew that some intelligent aliens could possess psychic powers, he had never seen any kind of alien monster demonstrate concrete psychic abilities.
"Some of them can also use magic," confirmed Alto. He witnessed a rhinoceros-like monster conjuring a magic circle in defense. He couldn't explain it, but it suggested that this world might have a civilization that utilized magic.
"This is exciting," remarked Sonata, who did not seem to be frightened by the discovery.
Despite several hours of exploration, neither Sonata nor Alto showed any signs of fatigue. However, their followers were exhausted and overwhelmed by the stress, and their stamina was waning. Sonata had no choice but to give the five soldiers a chance to rest while he and Alto continued their calm exploration of the surrounding area.
A few minutes later, Sonata returned dragging a bear with him. The bear had armor-like scales that made it incredibly resilient. This strange creature possessed magical abilities that set it apart from ordinary animals, making it more challenging for Sonata to manage than he anticipated.
Meanwhile, Alto returned empty-handed but with a startled expression. His special eyes seemed to have detected something peculiar again.
"I don't know what it was. It wasn't a cliff face," explained Alto. "It was covered in tree roots and vines, so it was difficult to discern. But I'm certain that it was something that was created."
"Created?" Sonata raised an eyebrow. "Are there humans or other intelligent races on this planet?"
"Perhaps, I don't know. It could have been the work of the Zerrians," speculated Alto.
The only way to find out for sure was to investigate it themselves. Sonata and Alto decided to make their way to the site at full speed, leaving the slower soldiers behind.
Without the burden of their followers, they arrived at their destination in no time. It was as Alto had described: the cliff appeared to be a colossal gate that could have accommodated the entire body of Sector One. Was it a genuine gate? What lay behind it, and why was it located in the middle of the forest?
Sonata noticed an intriguing object between the two panels that resembled a bolt holding both sides of the gate together. Alto considered smashing it, but Sonata forbade him as he could feel a force field emanating from it.
"It could be a real gate," observed Alto, scanning the area. "There's a lock, and a keyhole. It doesn't appear to be easily broken."
"The more I look at it, the more curious I become," remarked Sonata, turning to his friend. "Can you use your abilities to pass through it?"
"I tried, but I couldn't," replied Alto, shaking his head. "It appears that unless you do something with the lock that holds the gate, even teleporting won't enable you to enter."
***------------------------------------------------------------------***
With a sense of curiosity, Sonata touched the gate. Though it looked like stone at first glance, it was actually made of a mineral he had never encountered before. When he failed to do anything with the lock, he wanted to see if he could penetrate the gate directly.
"Can I borrow that?" he asked, pointing to the High-Frequency Blade strapped to his friend's waist. This blade was one of the Silencers' most basic equipment and could vibrate at a frequency so high that a normal human wrist could not withstand it. It could slice through almost any material, including the hardest substances known to them.
Vvv...
As he activated it, the blade emitted a loud, annoying sound, but Sonata did not hesitate to strike the gate. They expected the giant gate to be cut into a hole big enough for them to pass through, but they were astonished by what they saw. Apart from the deafening noise, the two comrades discovered that the blade had not caused any harm to the gate.
"Hey!" Sonata cried out in frustration, the first time he had done so since they began exploring. He had been prepared for the possibility that the High-Frequency Blade might not be able to break through the gate in one blow, but he never expected that it would not leave a single scratch on its surface.
"This gate is extraordinary," Alto exclaimed in agreement, his voice tinged with awe. Sonata slowly lowered the blade, examining it closely. He could see that it was chipped, something that had never happened before. Despite not being made of the best material, the blade had always been able to slice through anything before.
Sonata grew increasingly frustrated. He could not use force to destroy the gate and Alto's mental powers, which were supposed to allow him to pass through objects like liquids, were ineffective on the lock. This led Sonata to decide to try out some of his own powers.
…Steal Mind…
Sonata reached out and touched the lock, using his special ability. His powers weren't originally trained for inanimate objects, but sometimes objects that retained the memory of their owner would allow him to indirectly use his abilities.
In the image he saw, he caught a glimpse of the past. A short, brown-haired man appeared with a strange-looking machine, turning one of the machines into a bolt for this enormous gate. Sonata was sure he did it to seal something.
"There really are humans here. It's just like the people of the world," Sonata muttered, the image of the brown-haired young man still vivid in his memory. He felt as if he had known that person somewhere before. It was a nostalgia that could not be described in words.
"Did someone build this gate?" Alto asked.
"Somebody or something built it. All I saw was one man trying to seal it."
...What is the purpose of sealing it? What exactly is behind this gate...
A big moment later, the sound of footsteps approached. It was the voice of the five soldiers who had just caught up. Each of them had a tired look, their bodies ragged and covered in blood stains. Their weapons showed traces of recent use.
"Sorry I'm late. We found a giant earthworm," reported the first soldier.
"But everyone's safe," the second soldier hurriedly said when Alto looked at her bloodstained clothes with concern. This blood belonged to that giant earthworm.
"We don't think earthworms are dangerous. Even if their heads are as big as an elephant... but they have sharp teeth. And they immediately attacked..."
"So be it," Sonata cut in.
He did not bother to listen to the details. He asked Alto to brief everyone about the gate.
Sonata turned on his communication device to connect with his foster father who was a brilliant scientist, Dogma. He sent Doc all the information he saw to help him analyze.
"This way, there is an update. Now it's clear that we're in the year 9594," Dogma informed via a telecommunication device.
"Yes indeed. This is the past. Four hundred and seven years ago," Sonata replied calmly. He had already considered that this might be the case. He also believed that the reason for this planet's condition might be the work of Zerrians who had traveled back in time as well.
"What should we do next? Should you come back and make plans first?" Dogma asked worriedly.
"No, I'll continue to investigate. There are still many things I want to know." He cut off the signal as soon as he finished speaking.