Somewhere far, far, far below this lands surface, the layers of sub-soil started shifting, as fossilized bones and hard rocks crumbled under the pressures of the sudden rigorous movement of tectonic plates.
And as the crushing momentum created cracks and fissures in the layers, faint black miasma started seeping out from below in almost invisible thin strings.
For below was a chamber, quite a bit large, and entirely empty save the pillars supporting the roof and keeping the massive weight of the earth above from completely crushing the chamber into the floor beneath it.
A strong golden-white light burned around the chamber, a barrier of explosive energy, tinged with flowing blood shimmering vividly against the light of the barrier.
Was this barrier for protecting what was inside?...or did this barrier protect the rest of the lands from what was being held captive inside the chambers?!
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Somewhere far away from the Ice Fire Desert, far above the ground, in a secluded place amidst the dense green mountain peak, an old pair of eyes fluttered open. Fine wrinkles caressed the old eyelids, creasing the corners of the eyes till the lines blended into the innumerable wrinkles adorning the leathery tanned skin of the weathered face.
The lips were thin and pale, covered in tiny cracks formed from lack of moisture. The lips trembled, then pushed against each other, in an effort to release themselves from each other's clutch and part. It looked like the mouth had not parted to speak a single word in a very long time.
As the old man was still struggling to open his lips, sounds of flurried footsteps echoed in the hallway outside, and then light knocks disturbed the silence of the small room.
There was a pause, then the knocks came again, this time bordering on faint anxiety and restlessness. The old man opened his lips, but years of being in complete seclusion had robbed him of his voice temporarily. He heaved a tired sigh, then picked up the wooden mallet by his side to knock on the cold stone floor, signaling the person to enter.
The large stone door silently swung to one side, and a short, middle-aged man entered, bending low in salutation. Silently swinging the door back to its previous state, he kneeled before the old man and bowed down to the floor with both hands laying flat on the ground before him.
"Hmmm."
A deep, hoarse sound broke through the years of silence, startling even the old man himself. He had never heard his voice to be this broken and coarse...or perhaps he just didn't remember.
"Lord, the Seer is here to meet with you. He said that the Divination is done. The Star of Ancient Daya has crossed over the Meriocle Path and entered the Seven Star Patrion. He said....he said that the Tatsuya has already been born."
The old man closed his eyes, pondering on the words and its meaning. For a long while the silence remained unbroken. The middle aged man remained bowing, even his breath so low as to not disturb the dust on the floor.
The old man opened his eyes at long last, breathing deeply as he tried to speak once again.
"I had a Sight. The Evil Miasma is rising again. Tatsuya is still too small. Let her grow for a few years more. The land underneath is starting to shift. Find the Nine Rubeiya Doste first. They should have already taken birth. We will need them to maintain the restrains till the Tatsuya comes of power."
The middle aged man shivered in response, but he never raise his head to question his Lord. For even he knew the threat behind this sudden rising of the Evil Miasma, and the significance of finding all the Nine people...the very important parts of the array.
Signaling that he had understood, and receiving his Lord's gesture of dismissal, he once again stepped out of the room and silently closed the huge door. The breath he released was full of heaviness and anxiety, as he quickly rushed forth to the large outer hall of the residence, where the Seer was still waiting for his Lord's instructions.
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Suli Wenzhaobei stood before the large golden table, which cast a heavy and oppressive aura in the entire room. That the table itself was carved from the inner spine of the Golden Dragon, was a fact which few knew. Only those who knew could understand the source of this pressure emanating from a mere table.
But currently he was facing a more oppressive set of eyes, staring at him like he could see the depth of his soul, and the icy chill radiating from the sharp and glinting pupils made him feel as if he had fallen into the Poison Frost Vacuum of Void River! He took a large gulp, his throat feeling cold and dry, and almost lowered his head in fear.
"Repeat."
The voice was as expressionless and chilly as ever....but then why was he asking him to repeat what he had just said?.....Could it be his Master was really interested in.....that little brat?!
"Ahem...I had implanted a strand of Split Dark Aura into the girl's soul. I had checked a few times before, and I could always feel exactly where she was through the Aura Connection......But....but two days ago...I suddenly lost the Aura Connection. Either she has entered some place which is out of range for my Aura Connection.....which is not very probable......or she might be.....dead.....and her soul might have shattered completely...."
The more he spoke, the less confident he sounded, and by the end of his sentence, he almost swallowed back the words under the huge pressure directed towards him from the man in front. His Master was so SCARY!!
The iceberg didn't thaw, neither did the expressionless eyes suddenly fill with worry.....but Wenzhaobei had been with his Master for a very long time, and he was very aware of every single gesture and pause.
Even the slight hesitation in the movement of his fingers, the tiny creasing of his eyebrows, and the way he took in a small sharp breath.....everything denoted his anxiety and irritation.
"Where did you lose the connection?"
"It seems...she was in the lair of the Dormions before she went missing."
"Dormions?.......What about the Dimensional Pocket?"
"There was apparently a huge fight inside the lair, and most of it got destroyed. The entry of the Pocket too disappeared. The people who went to eliminate the Dormions said that there were huge explosions within, even before they could break through. The entry was probably destroyed by a direct explosion. But....even if she did enter the pocket.....there is no reason for the Aura Connection to stop working!"
The fingers started moving once more, gently gliding along the smooth surface of the hexagonal Crystallized Water Bedeam Stone. The room plunged back into silence, only a very faint sound of the golden energy string burning through the surface of the stone, marking it with a burnt-gold pattern could be heard.
Wenzhaobei stared guiltily, wondering what was going on in his Master's head. Was he over thinking? He stood there for a long time. His Master did not speak....yet he did not give him the signal to leave! What was he supposed to do?!
"Didn't Jorobei contact you a few days ago....about something happening in Feyin-Damaya? You should go. Take the path through Ice Fire Desert. Might as well take a look into this new Dimension Pocket on your way. And take Bodus and the others with you. Consider it a small vacation."
Wenzhaobei stared at the cold face concentrating on the stones in his hands, and gulped unconsciously. When did a path from the Underworld Abyss to Feyin-Damaya go through the Ice Fire Desert?! He was clearly being told to check up on the little girl. No matter what happened, if he didn't make sure that the girl was alive and completely fine...he might not be able to come back to the Underworld Abyss ever again!
In a daze, he nodded, and then receiving the signal of dismissal, he walked out, his head hanging low as he mused on the relationship between his master and that little brat.
Tsk! No matter what.....this proved that his Master had not only taken a liking to that girl....but was also taking her under his wings! Only a handful of people knew what it meant, being under the security blanket provided by the Lord of Underworld Abyss...This girl was really lucky!!