Chapter 12 - What is This?

Clementine woke up groggy a sharp stinging pain assaulted her head. She struggled to pull herself off the floor and sit more comfortably with debris all around her. Clementine weakly dragged her hand through her hair, she felt a large amount of dry blood sticking to her hair and scalp. She let out a weak shaky breath. 

How stupid am I! Why did I even take that hit for the heroine, she would've been perfectly safe! Now I'm stuck in this stupid quarry. From now on I have to stay far far away from the original story. 

Clementine rested on the floor for about an hour before standing up shakily. Unfortunately, the cave-in caused a large amount of debris and rocks to completely cover the original pathway, and she was stuck. Clementine angrily kicked the rock wall weakly but she suffered as pain shot through her foot. Looking around Clementine noticed that the cave-in had created a crack in the wall that revealed an extremely old path that had been covered up due to the passage of time. Clementine prayed silently that this path would somehow lead her out of this quarry as she pushed forward. 

It was incredibly dark for most of the way, Clementine was incredibly grateful that she wasn't afraid of the dark but to be honest, this long expansive darkness wasn't helping her from forming a new fear. She wasn't sure how long she walked in the dark but after what felt like an eternity there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Clementine picked up the pace as she squeezed through the tunnel until she finally landed at the end of the tunnel. 

Clementine cried happily to herself, she was starting to go slightly mad as she walked in darkness. But being able to return to light comforted her greatly. After making sure that her mental state had improved Clementine took the time to look around and analyze what was around her. The path she took had led her to a fairly small quarter, it wasn't very elaborate except for a large metal door in the center. 

The door had no visible handle and it looked as though some sort of puzzle was required to unlock it. Clementine grumbled to herself, this door was likely her only chance at escape yet someone was hell-bent on making it as difficult as possible for her to leave. She could just turn back and try to find another way out but at this point, she was feeling quite frustrated, she had no interest in going back and forth through tunnels until she finally escaped. Clementine gnashed her pearly white teeth in slight frustration as she walked forward to the door to take a better look at the puzzle in hopes of solving it. 

The door had a series of enigmatic symbols engraved along the edges. Under these were a series of cogs, gears, and glyphs, it seemed to Clementine that she would have to precisely manipulate the cogs, gears, and levers to unlock the door. Clementine stared at the door in frustration the way to solve the puzzle would likely require knowledge of a code that would help decipher the symbols, which was something she didn't have access to. She was just about to walk away and try finding a different exit when a sharp stinging pain assaulted her head. She felt as though images, memories, and codes were transmitted into her mind, slowly the answer to the door code was forming in her mind. 

The pain slowly faded away which granted Clementine a slight amount of relief. She wasn't sure how or why these images flowed into her mind but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, as her finger flashed quickly across the door solving the puzzle. Once completed the door emitted a a series of clicks, whirrs, and a faint hissing sound. Finally, with a triumphant clunk, the door swung open as a torrent of steam covered the doorway. Clementine hesitated slightly before she walked into the door through the steam. 

Clementine coughed slightly as she waved the smoke out of her face. Looking around this new area seemed to be an old lab. The original owner of the lab must of either been incredibly disorganized and messy or the cave had caused a lot of notes, tools, and metal parts to be strewn about the room. Clementine's urgent desire to escape was momentarily thrown to the side as her inventor's brain took over, as she happily looked and analyzed the blueprints and prototypes in the room. Her excitement and jubilation were momentarily curbed, many of the blueprints and prototypes were incomplete so she couldn't decipher what the invention was or its purpose. Even though it was incomplete Clementine could tell that the creator was incredibly skilled, likely at a level higher than her and her mentor. She wished she could meet the original creator to understand their genius but judging from the look of the papers and blueprints they lived a very long time ago, and likely weren't around anymore. 

Clementine slapped her cheeks gently to bring herself out of her momentary state of excitement and focus on the task of escaping. She struggled to ignore analyzing the inventions in rooms as she walked around the lab looking for an exit. She didn't find any noticeable exit points which only made her angry at the thought that unlocking this door was a waste of time. She slumped into a chair in frustration angrily banging her fist into the desk. Clementine heard a small click as a small drawer popped out of the desk. An incredibly bright light showed from within the drawer which drew Clementine to whatever the possible contents of the drawer could be. 

Inside was a relatively large creamy white Ether stone. Clementine wasn't sure what grade this Ether stone was but she had a very powerful feeling. After some thought, she slipped the Ether stone into her pocket. 

I wouldn't normally do something like this but this can be compensation for all that I've suffered through here. 

After packing away the Ether stone and a few of the blueprints Clementine once again walked around the room looking for an exit, she wasn't extremely hopeful that she would find an exit this time around but, a girl could dream. 

As she walked towards the back wall Clementine felt the Ether stone in her pocket react generating a small amount of heat within the pocket. Confused Clementine removed the Ether stone from her pocket and brandished it towards the wall, waving it around hoping that this would cause something to happen. Luckily for her, this did seem to do something as part of the wall reacted to her random movements as a crease formed in the wall as the door opened up. Clementine smiled happily, she turned around and gave the room one more look over before stepping through the door and leaving this terrible quarry behind her.

....

Three hours after Clementine left this secret lab an elite group swaggered up to the door which was once more sealed, the puzzle reset waiting to be solved. One of the figures gestured towards the door and one of the elite guards responded to the order placing a small explosive device on the door. The group moved back to a safe and reasonable distance as the bomb went off causing the door to come off its hinges and fall to the ground. The group moved through the hidden lab ransacking it frantically but they couldn't find what they were searching for. 

"Sir the traces are gone. The stone is no longer here and from the looks of it this happened fairly recently." A cowardly spoke to the imposing figure in front of him. 

Red eyes blazed in furious anger he turned to his cowardly subordinate smiling at him, this only caused the subordinate to shiver in fear. 

The red-eyed figure put an elegant gun to the man's temple as he continued to show him a beautiful smile. "Then find it." He hissed. 

"Yes sir."