Val just looked at him and said, "The shadow said that I can remove a layer of magic seal here."
"What?"
Ember spoke again, "Is this why the ground's shaking?" while looking down.
It seemed like whatever it is approaching them, it has no intention of going anywhere else except in their direction.
The shadow replied in Val's mind, "You see, that stone altar there is the source of all of this." and relayed it to Ember.
Ember turned around, and indeed the altar was indeed shaking and its stones were coming loose as if something heavy is trying to get inside the ruins.
Ember stood back and readied himself to fight.
However, this time, Val said, "Brother, stay here. I don't know exactly how to remove it, so I'll follow what the shadow is telling me. Watch my back, brother."
And with these words, Val ran forward toward the stone altar. He stopped a few steps away, the shadow said in Val's mind, "Touch the altar."
Then Val did what the shadow told him to do, then suddenly, something strange happened.
All Val heard was the sound of rushing wind coming from behind, but no sign of wind on Val's skin could be felt or seen.
Then suddenly, the stone slab shifted with a guttural groan, grinding against the altar's surface before sliding away as if lifted by invisible hands. Beneath it, a black void stretched wide, dark as pitch, waiting. The ground where Val stood seemed to vibrate intensely like it was about to crack and crumble at any moment.
Then the shadow inside Val's head spoke once again: "Look through your own eye. It will reveal everything."
So Val looked up. What he saw, his eyes could not comprehend, nor describe in words.
A dark void opened right in front of him, it was huge, and it was so wide it almost looks as if it was about to swallow everything under it.
The void was moving, slowly. He watched the void grow bigger, then it stopped growing, but its edges were moving toward Val as if a giant was pushing the edges away. And when it gets close enough to Val, it touched his head.
"Val! Are you ok?" Ember shouted to him.
But Val said nothing because he can't move his mouth. The thing that appeared from the dark void grabbed him and held him fast, and then all Val heard was his brother yelling at him again and asking if he was fine. But there wasn't any answer.
Val tried to push against whatever is holding him tight, but his strength cannot break through it.
The only thing he can do is look forward, and watch how this thing that's in front of him moves closer and closer. And now the thing has closed the distance with a few inches between them, and it began to pull him by its hand. The black void in front of him began to glow white and became so bright it nearly blinded Val.
Then, suddenly, the light turned blue, then green, then purple like an eclipse, but this time, a giant face appeared right before his eyes.
An immense head loomed, crowned by horns that curved like ancient stone. The creature's fangs jutted out like drawn blades, casting long shadows across its scaled jaw.
Val's heart pounded, each beat slower, as the creature's luminous purple eyes locked onto him.
The creature seemed to be wearing clothes of some kind, made out of a deep black cloth, and had a big golden crescent moon hung around its neck.
"Bellator. Are you one of them?"
The voice that came from behind the face was so loud and powerful that it caused Ember to fall to his knees. But Val stood strong against all odds, despite the strange fear inside him, he replied in a calm tone of voice, "Yes I am."
At this statement, the creature raised one arm and placed his other hand over Val's head, and he felt something warm and sticky run down his cheek.
The creature let go of him and walked toward Ember, who fell on his knees groaning at the immense pressure the creature is causing.
He stopped in front of Ember and asked the same question.
"Bellator. Are you one of them?"
Ember stood up again with great difficulty and said "Yes I am." huffing and puffing, with sweat trickling down his forehead.
The creature turned around and walked back towards Val, who was trembling.
It transformed once again into a big black void that looked like it would swallow everything on the ground. It opened its mouth as wide as it can be and spoke in one continuous stream.
"I have been waiting for you."
Then a bright flash came out from its mouth and it vanished instantly. The whole place went dark. Val could feel something cold run down his legs and arms. He fell to his knees, trembling.
"Val! Val! Are you okay?"
Ember ran towards him and grabbed him by the arm. Ember moved Val and lay him down, as he fell unconscious.
They were still in front of the altar, the whole place which was covered in darkness, slowly began to fade and gradually turn into a cloud of black smoke. Then, it slowly moved and seeped into Val's left eye.
As soon as this happened, all the events that took place in this place started began flashing inside the back of Val's mind.
It was like a film playing before his eyes.
It comes with immense pain. The image becomes clearer, and the feeling more intense, until everything became so real that he can hardly move because it hurt too much.
But the vision did not stop there; Val began to see other scenes from the past. The scene is dark and gloomy, and Val felt the presence of evil lurking around him.
Then, suddenly, fire is scattered all over the area. He hears screams of people running, but Val couldn't tell if they are from men or women. He looked around and noticed that this place was the one they were investigating earlier.
'Was this how it looked in the past?'
Val thought as he kept his eyes roaming around, still standing in place. All kinds of noises could be heard from the outside: the sound of swords clashing, people screaming their lungs out, and some kind of laughter.
He felt a little dizzy, and he fell down on his knees again, trying to control his breathing.
Then he heard an unfamiliar voice: "Well done."
It was the same voice that spoke earlier and Val got up slowly. He wanted to look behind him, but something held him back.
He took a deep breath; he felt a warm glow spread all over his body and face. A bright light appeared before him.
Everything turned into a golden mist and vanished instantly.
Then, Val slowly opened his eyes, his vision was slightly blurry but regained it eventually.
He stood up in a sudden daze. The sun had just started its rise above the horizon.
In front of him, he saw Ember's back, talking to someone on the phone. But Val couldn't hear what he was saying. All he could do was stare at his brother without moving or speaking.
He tried to talk but words failed him, and then the world suddenly went black.
Val opened his eyes once again in great pain, his vision was blurry, so he closed them tight again, waiting until his sight would get better.
It felt like forever.
The moment he got his vision back, he realized that Ember had turned around.
"Are you okay?" Ember asked, worried.
Val gave a small nod. He felt like his whole body was shaking all over; his head too.
Ember put his arm under Val's shoulder, helping him stand up, and guided him to lean on Ember while walking through the grass. They stopped at a clearing, where they rested for a few minutes. Ember sat Val on a rock.
They stayed there for more than three hours until it got dark. Val kept falling asleep every now and then.
Finally, when it became pitch-black and there were no signs of dawn on the horizon, he felt Ember help him to sit on the ground.
Ember said to Val while preparing for the night, "It has been three days since you have been unconscious, how do you feel?"
Val managed a nod. "I feel... stronger. Like I've gained something." His voice was soft, distant, as though he was speaking more to himself than to Ember. "But this place… it's like something stayed behind, watching."
Ember stopped what he was doing and asked, "What's wrong? Did you see someone familiar or hear something?"
Val shook his head with a smile that seemed to be very far from him and said, "No... But the place itself, it's like an abode for some evil power, and they are not living anymore. Something is still dwelling here, and I can feel its presence every now and then."
"We'll need to go through this place again, Val," said Ember. "If we have a plan and know what we're going to do there, it will be safer. But until then..."
Ember continued, "I think the best thing is to sleep somewhere near. If there is anything else that happened when you were unconscious, you should talk about it now." which Val just shook his head telling Ember that that was the only thing that he saw.
The night passed quietly but peacefully for Val; he was glad nothing of that nature had happened.
When morning broke, they went for a short walk around their location before they began.
Ember kept a close eye on Val to see any unusual changes but none showed.
They went back to the temple ruins and continued to search, however, no result was obtained from there either. After an hour of searching, Ember said to Val, "Val, use the drone, we need to expand our search."
They walked over to the edge of the cliff where Val used the drone and found something. He took out his tablet and tried to zoom in further on a certain location that caught his eye.
"Brother," he called, and when he saw the older brother appear at his side, he told him what had been discovered, "There seems to be something just a few miles away from here."
Val gave the tablet to Ember and maneuvered the drone to get a better view.
The drone's camera focused on some ruins, located about four miles away from them. While Val was doing this, Ember said, "Move the drone further, but slower," while looking at the tablet.
As Ember did so, he continued talking. "There is something very peculiar about these ruins."
"Peculiar? What do you mean by 'peculiar'?" asked Val.
"It's strange…like a village, or a fortress maybe," Ember murmured, eyes narrowing at the monitor. "But this place has the weight of something older, like a secret that's been sealed away for centuries."
They continued to watch through the drone for a long time until they saw something interesting. They stopped the drone and watched carefully.
Val maneuvered the drone to fly low to capture the images. He focused again on a particular point that looked interesting. It seemed to have a sort of tower at its center, but not quite like anything he had seen before. Ember kept watching using the tablet, then suddenly, he said, "There! Let the drone fly over there! Focus on whatever is written or drawn there on the wall."
With Val's help, Ember zoomed in and focused his attention on a symbol or insignia.
All the other areas were already in ruins, except for this specific wall, which was now clear.
When the camera finally got close enough to focus on the mark, Ember just stared at it silently.
After several minutes, Ember took his hands off the tablet and sighed deeply. He pulled out his mobile phone while beside Val.
A few moments later, they heard the ringtone from inside the pocket of Ember. He looked at Val with an exhausted look and answered, "We might have found it."
He listened and nodded slightly, then looked back to the tablet where Val is still maneuvering the drone.
After the call ended, Ember asked him to stop the drone; then he turned around to Val, and said, "Let's go."
They jumped down and began walking toward the spot where their drones had captured images. The ruins are about four miles away from here. It seemed to have been a village or small city before whatever destroyed it and abandoned it.
Although there was a mark on the wall from the drone image, they still need to make sure that it was the Blovik Empire they were looking for.
Ember stopped before they entered the ruins. He took a deep breath.
"You think this is the place?" Val asked quietly.
"Maybe, but I don't think we have any other choice," responded Ember. He continued looking around him and sighed. "What a pity that this has been abandoned so long ago."
"Yes, the ruins do not appear well kept at all," commented Valens.
"Well, let us get started," Ember said firmly. They entered the ruin. As they did, their eyes caught something peculiar; Ember walked over to investigate it with his eyes wide open and found what appeared to be a door of some kind lying flat on the ground, in front of them. He picked it up and placed it back on its hinges, then went inside.
Val followed after him into the room where their drones had taken pictures earlier. They looked at the tablet again and saw a picture of what was written or drawn on the wall there.
They stared at it for a while without talking before Ember turned around, with the tablet in his hands, and spoke. "I think this is it."
He put down the tablet in front of Valens. It was not much, but enough to convince them about the Blovik Empire, which seemed to have been established a long time ago.
They tried to look around if there might still be remnants of some kind of library or something in this abandoned place. It was not that easy though. The place was deserted and there wasn't any trace of a book, scroll, or writing anywhere.
"It must have been like a fortress," Val remarked while he stood on the door frame.
"Maybe, although the ruins appear so old, maybe a long time ago," agreed Ember. To test that this is definitely the area or part of Blovik Empire, Ember pulled out the small metal ball scanner to scan the area and pulled out his tablet.
Ember was looking at something on his tablet for quite a while, until he said, "Well, I think we'll have to stay here to wait for the results of the scan. It may take a while."
The scans were conducted from different places inside and around the ruins of the city or village that used to stand there. The scans revealed what they wanted to find: the marks left by the inhabitants of Blovik Empire, and that indeed it seems these are the markings left behind by them.
The mark is a symbol in which three symbols of different sizes are intertwined within a circle. These marks seem to indicate some sort of building, perhaps a castle or fort; but there are no remnants anywhere that might indicate such a thing. It may just be that it is too old for that.
The next best thing could be that these are the remains of this place, which would not have been abandoned without reason.
They must have had some sort of trouble here that led them to leave it all alone and abandon it.
What could cause them to abandon a place so easily?
There is only one possible explanation: an invasion force.
Perhaps their own nation was being invaded, and that was why they abandoned the place. This was the most likely possibility, although it does not explain what could have happened exactly.
There were many other possibilities as well, but the above seemed most probable to Ember as he is currently watching the images being slowly revealed on his tablet. He thinks of what else can be done until the scans are complete.
"I think we should take a rest for a while and then get started again."
He looks up at the sky through the ruins, seeing nothing but blue and white clouds passing by slowly, which he finds peaceful.
Valens nods in agreement, looking down to the ground before him with a grim expression on his face. The young Bellator brother turns around to find out something.
Ember follows him after seeing his face, and asks: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," says Valens in response. "I just think maybe we should have brought more members of our team. This is big enough to have four or five members working at this."
Ember nods, then speaks: "You're probably right. We might need help if the task at hand gets too hard to do just for the both of us."