The great mountain wall at the end of the passage shuddered, the tremors reaching through the ground to the surroundings. Kunwa lost his footing, falling on to his knees. Nanate knelt down beside Beibei, trying to protect her unconscious body from the falling stones.
The entire mountain face started distorting and shifting backwards, gradually changing in its coloration. After a long while the tremors came to a halt, and the dust in the air too settled.
Nanate and Kunwa looked up. The mountain wall had disappeared. In its place was a gigantic skull of some strange beast, half embedded inside the mountain, half emerging outwards. Its jaws were stretched wide. The lower jaw almost dug itself into the ground below, the upper half stretched to reach the sky.
And inside the jaw, through the hundreds of sharp and thin teeth, lay the path to the inside of the mountain. Both the men felt a shudder course through their body as they stared at the gaping black hole staring back at them, hidden behind the rows of teeth. They looked at each other in dismay.
Was this the way to the inside.....or was this another puzzle? And what lay inside? Would they really get to meet the Totram Tribe? Did they still exist in such a place?
Nanate picked up Beibei's senseless body, holding her like a precious treasure. Kunwa struggled to his feet, feeling exhausted beyond care. Staggering on feet which felt as heavy as rocks, he followed behind Nanate as they entered the jaws of the giant skull. Both could only hope that this ancient looking skull would hold on till they had entered and exited the place.
The hole beyond the mouth of the skull wasn't too long, and soon they exited the other end of the bone tunnel, squinting their eyes to adjust to the sparkling light which greeted them.
Nanate stopped in shock, and Kunwa almost walked into him. Both of them stared in surprise at the large and lush valley spreading out before them. An endless expanse of green, like they had never seen in the past five years, spread out endlessly till the horizon. Seven large and small mountains stood tall in this valley, with a bubbling stream meandering in and out of each mountain and going on till it vanished in the horizon.
Colorful flowers and verdant grass and lush shrubs sprung out from the crevices of the rocky mountains. A light and chilly breeze swept through the foliage, and the air filled with heart tingling rustling sounds.
"There is something strange about this place!"
Nanate looked at Kunwa in a daze. The more he looked at the valley, the more peaceful and happy he felt inside. The sudden exclamation from Kunwa broke through his breezy emotions, making him momentarily feel a sense of loss. He stared in confusion.
"Tsk! Don't look at the valley so happily. This is some kind of illusion. The more you look and take it as reality, the quicker you'll lose control over yourself! Snap out of it. Beibei is already down. We can't lose our senses as well!"
Kunwa slapped Nanate on his back, and he almost staggered under the sudden force. He blinked and shook his head, trying to clear his mind from the numbing daze. At once he too sensed something strange.
"There is an overpowering sweet smell in the air here! We should quickly close off our senses."
Nanate and Kunwa quickly channelized their spiritual energy and blocked out their sense of smell.
"There's more things strange here than just the smell. Have you noticed that other than the sound of the wind, there is absolutely no other sound in this valley?"
Nanate placed Beibei's body near a thick bush to shield her from the bright light, then wandered around the foot of the mountain through which they had just come. Other than the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind, there was truly no other noise. No birds, beasts, insects, flies.....or humans! They couldn't even hear the sound of water though the stream seemed to be flowing in great speed!
"Is this an illusion then? How are we supposed to break this illusion?"
Kunwa was starting to feel a bit dizzy. He was way too exhausted with the fight which had already been more than his capability. Moreover, he had lost too much blood. All the old and new wounds were paining, itching like crazy as they rubbed against his clothes, and the sweat rolled all over them. He sat down, leaning against the mountain wall, his breathing becoming shorter and more shallow.
Nanate wandered around for a long time, and by the time he came back, Kunwa had already fainted from exhaustion. He sighed, then dragged Kunwa's body to another bush near Beibei, laying him under the shade of the thick foliage.
Then he sat down a little way apart from them, analyzing the rock he had broken out from a larger rock of the mountain just ahead of them. If he was not wrong, then this was the infamous Shodeya Stone. This was a very rare stone. It could absorb all sounds, and it was probably the cause of this lack of sounds in this valley.
In actuality, the wind outside was pretty ferocious. He had been almost blown away as soon as he stepped out of the shade of the mountain. But what they heard was only gentle rustling, since most of the sound was being absorbed by the stones. Also why they couldn't hear any other sounds in the valley.
Deeply focusing on the rock in his hands, Nanate failed to notice when the sweet scent in the air had gradually become stronger, and the air around them too turned thicker. A light white mist, almost invisible to the naked eyes, floated around the three people, slowly entering their bodies through every breath they were inhaling.
Nanate didn't even realize when his eyes fluttered close. His body slowly leaned to one side, and toppled over, hitting the ground with a soft thud. The rock fell from his fingers, rolling a little further before stopping. When silence prevailed again all around, save the gentle sounds of rustling, long and thin shadows emerged from the corners of the mountain, gradually growing longer and stouter as more shadows emerged, and slowly surrounded these sudden trespassers.
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When Beibei opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was an old, wrinkled face hovering right above her own face. A pair of dark eyes stared at her solemnly. They were black, from end to end. Like two dark pupils had stretched and merged with all the whites of the eyes, turning them into a creepy set of wholly black eyes.
Beibei stared back in shock and fear, unable to utter a sound. Or rather she felt herself scream....but no sound came out! The face frowned, as if displeased, then moved back. Beibei scrambled to sit up, her heart still beating fast at this sudden turn of events.
What was this place? Wasn't she still on Visionless Path? The last thing she remembered was seeing the strange black creature of darkness and those snakes it was forming from the black mist floating all around. How did she come here? And where was Nanate and Kunwa?!
She looked around in a daze. She seemed to be in some kind of a dwelling. The walls were made from roughly cut rocks, while grass and bare branches of trees formed the thatched roof. The room itself was not very large, but its minimalistic setting created a sense of space.
In another part of the room sat three old women, sitting cross legged on the ground, weaving long dried creepers into ropes. And all these three women and the same creepy eyes. Beibei squinted her eyes, trying to link the last of her memories with the current situation.
Was this the Totram Tribe? Did they somehow manage to kill the creature of darkness and uplift the illusion? Did Nanate and Kunwa bring her inside and they finally discovered the hidden settlement? But where were they?
Beibei slowly got up to her feet. Her body still felt heavy from exhaustion and rusty from not moving for too long. But otherwise all her wounds seemed to have been taken care of, and there was no lingering pain.
She wanted to thank the women, but no matter how loudly she talked, no sounds seemed to come out of her mouth. Moreover being stared at by those three pairs of black eyes and deeply furrowed eyebrows made her more and more uncomfortable. Lowering her head, she quickly exited the small dwelling. She should first seek out Nanate and Kunwa and figure out what was going on.
Beibei paused outside the dwelling, taking in the surroundings. For five years all she had seen were the desert lands. Be it the Main City or the outskirts, it seemed only the desert lands existed.
And yet here was land full of lush green vegetation. The green foliage and vibrant flowers waved about in the wind. She felt she had entered a strange and scary dream. Scary because there was absolutely no sound! She could see the plants waving wildly in the wind, the stones falling to the ground, the birds flying past the dwelling, even some tamed beasts sauntering past the mountains.....but there was no sound!
Beibei walked around all morning, taking in the sights. There were many people. All of them had similar, creepy eyes. And whenever she walked past them, she could feel those creepy eyes boring into her back, giving her cold goose-bumps. But what was more shocking was that none of these people seemed to talk. Instead they communicated with each other using some special signs and hand language!
They all seemed to live in similar thatched roof huts, and led simple lives.
The seven mountains were connected through many rope bridges. The creeper ropes were tied to the hanging rocks and boulders of the different mountains, and trunks of different trees had been cut into rough planks, tied to these creeper-ropes, and made into hanging bridges.
Despite the precarious looks of these bridges, the people seemed used to them, as they nimbly walked and even ran from one mountain to another, carrying on their daily activity. The presence of an outsider merely made them pause to stare at her for a moment before they were up and running again.
But where was Kunwa and Nanate? And how was she supposed to find out the whereabouts of the Hidden Family from these people if they did not even speak?!