1140 hours, 4 July 0145...
After waiting for a few seconds for both Nolan and Lisabelle to arrive, I raised my neck to gaze at the vast inscription inside the middle of the wide cave. It was a stroke of luck that they finally arrived at my back in perfect timing, with the sound of their footsteps growing closer with each passing second.
Just as I rotated my body to greet their arrival, Nolan then queried at me with a hint of confusion, eager to look for some answers.
"Jeez, Tsuyuki… Please don't just wander around like an idiotic child, will you?!"
But before he could continue, both were suddenly bewildered by the fact that they witnessed a vast inscription with a tip that almost touched the ceiling, and the light of the ceiling's cavern hole enlightened the darkened vast cave.
They lifted their heads in awe and a mildly frightful surprise, as if their inner megalophobia was awakening inside their intrusive thoughts when witnessing it.
"Holy shit! What was that?!"
"That's so huge!"
But despite their awe, I then cleared up the whole thing with a brief shrug on my shoulders as I pointed at it.
"Hell, how do I know? Unless we had to find it out closer."
With collective nods between both, the three of us slowly walked our way to the vast inscription while raising our heads to the inscription's tip that almost touched the ceiling. The light of the cavern hole in the ceiling enlightened the vast, dark cave.
But as I almost reached my hand to the vast inscription, there was an obscure whisper that's echoed through my ears. It sounded like it was calling my name, and the eeriness permeated through my sanity and eventually chilled my spine. It reminded me of my childhood trauma.
On noticing the creepy echoing whispering in my ears, I then glanced over my shoulder to the latter with a query.
"Did you guys hear the whispering voice?"
Both Nolan and Lisabelle briefly glanced at each other with questions in their facial expressions before Nolan glanced back at me with a shook on his head.
"I don't think so. It might be your imagination."
"Imagination?! I mean, it was-"
But the whispering was getting louder with each word it spoke. Out of creeped-in curiosity, I then glanced back at the vast inscription and wondered if the inscription was talking to me for that.
And surprisingly, Lisabelle alerted us with her sudden statement, which prodded us to glance at her.
"Wait… I also hear it."
It seems like I'm not the only one who hears the eerie whispers. But it still wondered me on what does these means? And what the hell did they want from me for that? My mind oversteered like crazy, until Nolan glanced at Lisabelle with peaking curiosity.
"You did?!"
All Lisabelle could do to respond was lift her shoulders once as she pointed at me while still glancing at Nolan.
"He's not lying, though."
"But what does it say?"
"I don't know; probably it's calling his name."
"But why?"
Still, questioning each other won't give us a concrete answer. In which, I prodded myself to get closer to the vast inscription whilst reaching my right hand to the inscription.
"Hell, how do I know? I'm going closer."
After everyone fell into silence while paying attention to me, I then touched my right hand against the rough stone surface. I could feel that the stones that I touched were aged around millennia ago, before humanity's arrival on this planet.
When I caressed the stony surface, I could feel each gap as the inscription scratched the hard stone. But it still left my mind bewildered when I paid close attention to the writing, which looked like a work from an extinct civilization.
But as I'm about to draw my phone to translate the writing, there's an eerie whisper that's echoed through the hallway, where each echo reverberates the surrounding area.
"Tsumaki…"
Hearing the sudden whisper froze me in place and chilled my spine from how spooky and unexpected it was. I was worried if that eerie whisper was like a warning to us that we should get out of this place, or else the one that whispered in our ears would reveal themselves from the shadow and eventually splay us into the gore.
Just as I lost myself in my thoughts regarding the eerie whisper, Nolan suddenly patted my left shoulder with a query full of concern in his tone.
"What do you make of this?"
It jolted me to death when his query suddenly regained my senses to normal. I then rotated my body to meet his gaze, and he responded with a hint of trepidation, still confused about what we should do next as I pointed at the vast inscription.
"It seems like... It wanted us to know more about the story of that inscription."
"But how can we do that?"
Right after Lisabelle voiced her confused query, my left cyborg hand emanated a glowing blue light. With each second, it grows brighter even without triggering it. And noticing my sudden glow at my left cyborg hand, Lisabelle pointed at it with an increasing surprise in her tone.
"Wait… Your left arm... is glowing."
I then noticed it and was eventually surprised, just as Lisabelle's first impression of this unexpected phenomenon on my cyborg hand. But there was something weird with my cyborg arm's glowing, as if it glows in certain situations, places, and times.
As my mind suddenly emanated a lightbulb of ideas with a brief gasp, I then reached my glowing left cyborg hand to the vast inscription. Lo' and behold, the vast inscription was the reason behind my cyborg hand's sudden glow!
But it still left me bewildered: what's beneath that vast inscription that might trigger my cyborg hand's sudden glow? And as I touched the rough, stony surface of it, Nolan couldn't help but mildly gasp in awe, with a hint of amazement mixed with curiosity.
"What the hell? How's that even possible?"
"What should we do right now?"
Right after Lisabelle voiced her concerned query, worried if something wrong was about to suddenly plunge on us, the eerie whispers suddenly turned into a noisy cry of fear. Their cry of fear was also mixed with the scream of a warmonger, where blade parries, explosions, and even demonic grunts echoed in my ears.
But the more I think about it, everything feels like it's clicking with each other. It seems like that vast inscription was telling us a story of devastating war between the ancient civilizations against the evil forces. Or even worse, the inscription was like an SOS message from the dying civilization before their ultimate demise.
After I snapped my right hand, I then glanced over my shoulder as I ordered both Nolan and Lisabelle. I also reached my right hand into their sight, hoping that I would find the answer there.
"Guys, I think I know what to do. Hold my hand."
It still confused both, as they glanced at each other with their confusion at its peak. Lisabelle tilted her head and furrowed her forehead with confusion.
"What's that for?"
"Maybe the inscription wants to tell us a story."
After they briefly glanced at each other, they finally conceded with a brief nod and eventually held my right hand. I'm hoping to also find the answer that I've been looking for in that vast inscription.
They suddenly held my right hand, and I touched my left cyborg hands toward the stony surface of the vast inscription, my left hand glowing even brighter and eventually blinding the entire half-darkened cave, much like God's revelation to his prophet.
And with everything going white, I hope that I'll find the answer that lies beneath that vast inscription.