They were silent for a bit until Ember broke the silence, "Since we have already relayed the intel about the cult to Exeo, I think we'll need to check out the location that the old man told us."
Valens nodded in agreement, and both decided to start their mission right early in the morning.
The next day dawned without them sleeping much at all. It was still dark outside but the two brothers were already packed and ready to go.
They checked out of the inn and started to travel before even the sun is up.
They headed to where the old man had told them the location of the ruins and arrived at the mountain the old man said.
As soon as they approached, they noticed a road that slopes down to a small, rocky island.
Val keeps looking around and said, "The old man said that there's nothing surrounding the island, just sand dunes and some small shrubs."
Surveying the area from different angles, they confirmed it—endless sand dunes stretched outward, the small island isolated, like a secret the desert barely wanted to keep.
They went down and found it hard to walk due to its softness, but it wasn't as if they would be spending long there.
They kept on walking and eventually noticed something. They noticed that the ground beneath their feet had gotten firmer and harder with time, the sand underfoot grew sturdier.
"That must be a building over there," Valens said, pointing to some rocks and stones on top of a low hill.
Ember looked in the direction indicated and saw indeed some large rocks, almost looking like boulders. The ground under their feet is completely back, the sand under them is hardened clay and there seemed to be some sort of wall or construction of sorts, as if part of the rocks had been broken and made into steps.
The clouds above have started to clear, revealing a blue sky, but still not enough for sunbeams to shine through. It was very gloomy here.
They decided that they should get closer to the ruins to see it better.
As they moved slowly forward, they saw what seems to be a small temple in the middle of the ruins; with two doors at each end and a tall tower.
As they get closer, the walls around the temple got taller and sturdier with more and more stones and boulders on top of them, which were later revealed to be stairs, as well as pillars and small columns.
There was no roof nor any windows to be found within this structure.
Valens said, "That must be some kind of temple or a tomb,"
Ember said, "There is an altar in the center and many tombs all over the place. We should take pictures."
They started to walk up the stairs towards the altar. On the way, they noticed that some of the steps are worn, so that only your heel could reach them while you're walking on it.
Val pulled out a small drone from his backpack, and attached its camera to one of the steps; then, using its remote control he activated the camera and sent the pictures he just took into the phone he had in his pocket.
He was now going through them, looking for anything worth reporting back to General Luis about.
While Val was busy taking pictures and recording video, Ember was checking the structure of the building, as if inspecting some kind of a building before it got torn down. They were almost there to the altar when something came flying over Ember's head!
"Oh shit!" said Ember.
He whipped his head in Val's direction and saw that Val had this mischievous look on his face, with the drone hovering high above him.
"Try that again, and it's nonstop training when we're back," Ember muttered, a smirk edging his words.
Val just laughed lowly and started to maneuver the drone back scanning the area.
Ember shook his head and his brother's antics and picked a small metal ball from the bags. He tossed it on the ground, and a small 'switching on' sound can be heard. A few seconds later the small sphere started to roll on the floor like a small rock and started to move.
The red grid lines coming from the small metal sphere scanned the area below while the drone above scans the whole area. The two are starting to work to get a gist of how big the area is exactly. The small sphere went towards the left of Ember and continued to scan the area.
Both stopped at the center but not too close to the altar, scanning the area.
Val kept his head low, looking at the tablet and checking to see anything unusual. His brother was also standing still, checking on the tablet from time to time for anything unusual too.
After the first round of scouting, Val turned off the drone and put it into its bag, The small sphere was also back a few minutes later.
Ember said, "Okay, Val, anything unusual places from the drone shots?"
"Not yet," he replied, "But I'm still going through them."
Val pulled out a small metal rod from his backpack and switched it on, and stabbed it into the ground. The small red light from the metal rod started blinking.
Val said, "I need to find another location, I've left one marker here so that the drone shots I'll get later will not be repetitive."
Ember nodded and said, "Okay, we'll do that later, let's grab some food from our bags first."
They headed to their bags while Ember was still checking his tablet and the map for anything else that might come up useful.
After their small meal, both of them started to walk slowly toward the altar, which looks like some kind of a throne or chair for a God.
In front of them is the altar. On top of it, they can see several small stones placed on top of each other until the surface became uneven and flat. In addition, there were also other rocks scattered around the area.
It seems that somebody had tried to cover this area up with dirt and stones, but in the process, he left something behind that has caused people to come back years later just to look at it.
It seemed that the place had been used as an ancient cemetery or a grave for someone of importance.
Val pointed with his thumb at a spot between two small rocks where a stone had fallen and made a hole in its side, revealing more stones inside. The stone that fell from its place is black in color, the rest are gray.
They both crouch down to take a better look.
There's one large rock inside, surrounded by three other stones in similar shapes and sizes. It almost looks like a grave, or perhaps something buried more important.
Val points to the center of it and says, "This looks interesting."
Ember kneels beside him and takes a look. He also points at the center of it; they are both thinking. Ember stands up and looks at Val and says, "Well? What do you think?"
Val shrugs and says, "I don't know… Let me ask you: Do we dare dig here?"
Ember thinks for a moment, then shakes his head, "No, it's too dangerous. This is some kind of sacred place or maybe a tomb. The stone might fall down and hurt us, and this may be the wrong time to disturb it."
"It seems that whoever or whatever was buried here was of great importance."
Ember nods in agreement. They both stand up, looking at each other for a while.
They stood up and started looking around for more of the arranged small stones. The two boys found five more on their first round, but all of them seemed like just that: stones placed on top of each other and scattered here and there in order to cover the hole that they have uncovered.
Ember pulled out the small sphere again and throw it on the ground to scan this area. After that, he turned the sphere off and placed it back into his bag.
He turns to Valen and says, "Well?"
When the images from the small sphere have been shown on Ember's tablet, show a pattern. Val pointed to it and said, "There is a line, with many small circles connected on it. It looks like a map."
Suddenly, the shadow inside Val said, "That's a map."
Val raised his right hand and pointed at the stone that has fallen off. Then he points to one of its small stones that fell from its place, then another.
"It looks like a map with these little circles," Valen continued pointing out the different stones he has found until now.
Then suddenly, the sky grew dark, and loud rumbles could be heard.
The weather just changed and based on this, both thought that there will be some rain soon.
They packed up their things and tried to find shelter within the ruins. They found a large tree trunk in one of those old tombs and placed it under the protection of the roots of the tombstone nearby.
In order to avoid wetting their clothes and getting drenched, they sat on the dry grass.
Both Val and Ember prepared their meals for their lunch and dinner that day.
After a few minutes have passed and the rain stopped, the sky became clear again, and it turned into a very nice day outside.
They stayed there, and Ember pulled out the tablet again from his bag and looked at the images again while munching his food.
"Found something?" Val asked.
Ember turns to look at his brother and says, "Well, maybe some clues. You said earlier it was a map, but I'm not sure yet. I just need a closer look."
He opens the tablet and begins searching for anything that will give him any clue about the place. He looks back at Valens and tells him, "You stay here for now. Check the images again from your tablet or something. Try to find anything more."
Ember stood up and began moving around while Valens pulled out his tablet as well checking again the images he gathered from the drone shots.
After a few minutes, Ember came back and sat on top of the large tombstone. He took another sphere out and started scanning once again the area where the stone has fallen down.
He was looking up for a moment and noticed that there is a hole above the surface. He looks at this with curiosity and wonder, thinking, 'Is it some sort of tunnel? Is this a hidden door?'
Then suddenly he remembered the images of some sort of a long tunnel that was captured by the small sphere, which he placed into his bag again.
The new images being shown right now on Ember's tablet made his brow furrow with confusion.
He looks up to the sky as if looking for answers. Then suddenly a thought struck him.
"I have a feeling that we should look for more of these little stones," he muttered while pointing at the five he had already found.
'If they were scattered about here and there, then it will be easier to find the rest of them.'
So without saying a word, he stood up again and looked around him with a serious expression, searching for something to help him search.
He zoomed out the images they captured earlier on the small stones that were on top of each other, and by the looks of it, it really looks like a map. There seem to be lines connecting those small stones
Ember rubbed his chin while analyzing the images, standing still. The lines aren't obvious when someone's staring on the ground but thanks to the scanned images, it is much more clear.
Then after some thinking, he is slowly walking trying to find the center point of this map from the center of the five stones, which they have found so far. He then walked around a bit more to see if there will be more stones that can connect them together.
Ember went back to where Val is and discussed what he had discovered so far. He thinks that maybe there are more of those small stones gathered, but decided they should rest for now and continue tomorrow. They started their dinner after a few hours of more analyzing, they decided to call it a day.
The next morning, the sun came out, just in time for the brothers to begin their search again. They searched high and low for the rest of the stones until one of them found something similar away from the altar. After looking at the small stones for a minute, Val said "Brother, seems like the same as the one we found yesterday, similar small stones stacked up."
"Maybe yes," Ember answered while looking at the stones with a frown. "We need to look around."
While looking around, Ember was thinking, 'The images yesterday being scanned didn't show this part of the stones.' frowning deeply.
Ember took out his tablet once again and zoomed the area to look for any more of these small stones.
After a few minutes of searching, Ember stood up and muttered, "I don't see any other of those little stones."
He turned around and threw the small sphere again, scanning again the new small stones they found just now. He follows the small sphere in that direction with his eyes, trying to find anything else about it.
He walked towards the stones and widened his eyes in shock. The sphere just went through the small stones. A bead of sweat was formed in his temple, deep in thought about what he just saw.
'Illusion? Was there a magic barrier here?'
He picked up the small sphere as soon as it arrived at his feet and scanned his surroundings with his eyes.
Ember called out, "Val, be careful!" without turning around and put back the tablet and the sphere back in his backpack.
He went into a defensive position, with two daggers in his hands and with his Purple Fire activated.
"What is it?" asked Valens while looking around himself with suspicion.
"The stones we found earlier might be an illusion and there might be a magic barrier here."
"Really?" Val said while getting on guard, as he saw Ember walking towards him.
Then soon, Val realized it as well, he remembered that he did put a marker in this location but seems that it was now nowhere to be found.
"I think we're not alone here," Ember said while looking around carefully.
Both Val and Ember are now standing back to back. They look out in every direction possible but only the trees could be seen from their position. There's no one else around.
This time, Ember yelled, "Who's there!" but got no answer.
Ember looked at the surrounding ruins, he can see no shadows nor motion of anything but still, he felt uneasy. He looks again and sees nothing suspicious in front of them anymore.
"We should go before anything happens," Ember whispered while turning around, ready to move.
A subtle tremor crept up through the soles of their boots, growing to a rumble that pulsed against their feet, like something massive shifting beneath the earth.
Ember grabbed Valens and yelled, "Get behind me."
Val moved to Ember and stood right behind him. As if they're trying to avoid whatever or whoever it is coming in their direction.
"It's moving in our direction," Val said while looking straight ahead of him. "What should we do?"
Ember thought a second then said, "Stay here."
And so they remained behind one another, waiting for whatever might be approaching towards them.
Ember took out a small sphere that he kept in his belt pouch for protection against any attack they'll encounter on their way. It was still a small sphere but it's used to absorb magic or any harmful attack thrown at you.
Then, the shadow inside Val spoke in his mind, "You can remove one layer of the magic seal on your eye here."
Val was shocked, and asked, "Huh?! Why are you talking about the magic seal right now?"
"You need to look through your own eye."
Val paused, a faint tremor in his hands as he considered the shadow's suggestion. Then, steeling himself, he focused, and his left eye began to glow, a deep red light spilling forth like a secret being set free.
He could still feel some stinging pain from his left eye and groaned loud enough for Ember to hear.
This made Ember look behind him and was shocked at what Val is doing.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Ember asked while grabbing the shoulder of Valens.
Val just looked at him and said, "The shadow said... I could remove a layer of the seal on my eye, right here."
Valens's voice was barely above a whisper, and Ember's eyes narrowed in shock. "Wait. Here? But—"