Erec gazed at the eerie looking symbol and tried to rationalize the situation as best as he could.
<<It's a common symbol in the outside world. It has to be. It's probably the mark of some organization or a family crest, and whoever left it here simply did it out of boredom. It's coincidence. That's all it is: a simple and completely rational coincidence that has no meaning.>>
He tried to quell the anxiety creeping up his spine, but the sight of the symbol in this desolate cave was gnawing at him. And it wasn't the symbol itself that worried him, it held no meaning for him. But he knew his brother. Azra's reckless sense of adventure had led them into danger before, like the time he claimed a bird had waved to him and somehow turned berry-picking into a life-or-death sprint from a bear.
Sure enough, when Erec looked back at his brother, he saw a familiar, unnerving glint in Azra's eye. The stunned awe had melted from Azra's face, replaced by a grin as broad as it was dangerous.
"Azra" Erec began, cautiously. "Listen. We need to get the deer back to the cabin before the meat spoils. Once that's done, we can-"
"Aopen doer du haer tjant di plikt" Azra muttered, his eyes transfixed on the wall. He looked a bit disappointed that no reaction had come from his mutterings, and so he continued chanting the strange, guttural syllables with growing fervor.
Azra started exclaiming a series of nonsense words, once again forcing Erec's mouth to stand open in bewilderment. Fearing that the sheer excitement of the symbol might have been too much for Azra's mind to handle, Erec was worried that maybe his brother had suffered a stroke or become a lunatic.
"Azra? Are you… alright?"
Erec's heart was pounding now as he watched his brother's face twist with each unintelligible word. "Maybe we should head back."
"Doer du plikt tjaent her, di aaben!"
Azra's voice grew louder, the words spilling from his lips like the fevered ramblings of a drunk.
Erec grabbed his brother by the shoulders and started to shake him while yelling "Azra damnit! Snap out of it! IT'S A COINCIDENCE! THERE IS NO ADVENTURE HERE!"
But Erec's words went on deaf ears as Azra simply started to shout louder and louder.
"DOER DU HAR TJENT DIN PLIGT, AABEN!"
With a flash of anger, Erec drew back his fist, ready to snap his brother out of it the hard way.
<
But just as his fist shot forward, the ground shook violently. He stumbled, missing Azra by inches, and lost his balance. Erec fell hard against the stone floor, but not before he heard Azra's low, unhinged laughter echoing throughout the cave.
As he scrambled up, Erec's gaze darted to the source of the tremors: the wall beside the symbol had cracked open, spilling dust and rock, revealing a shadowed passageway leading into the depths.
Erec lay on the ground, staring up, his mouth agape, watching Azra's manic grin glow brighter in the dim light. When he found his voice, he hissed: "Brother… what did you just do?"
Azra finally stopped his mad howling, and looked at Erec with a big, seemingly innocent grin.
"There's a phrase in the book. The servant could never really understand what it meant or why his master kept muttering it. However i knew, the moment i saw the symbol on that wall, just what the phrase was meant for."
Although Erec had spent countless hours being forced to listen to his brother rave on and on about the book, its content, and its writer the feeble servant, the truth is he never really payed it any attention and the words would simply go in one ear and straight out the other. As such Erec's mind was now filled with questions, and right now the only source of answers, was standing before him wearing a smug and vexatious smirk.
"What language was that? I've never heard words pronounced like that. What did the phrase mean?"
"No idea. The servant didn't know either. He just scratched it out phonetically in the diary, guessing. I have no idea what it means, only that it was important enough for the servant to record. So imagine was those words were guarding" Azra gestured toward the newly revealed passage. "Enough talking! Let's see what's hiding in our little cave within the cave!"
Erec was about to protest, but before he could even form the words, Azra had disappeared into the darkness, practically jumping through the newly created doorway.
<<That reckless, naive, pain-in-the-ass…>>
Erec had always known Azra to be carefree, even lazy at times. But there was a part of his brother no one else seemed to see: this stubborn, thrill-driven side that couldn't resist a hint of adventure. And once Azra's mind was set, not even his own brother could hold him back.
Now, with Azra holding their only torch, Erec was forced to stumble blindly through the shadowed entrance, his hands feeling along the cold, jagged walls. After a few tense steps, he emerged into what appeared to be a hall. The ceiling arched high overhead, maybe three or four meters, though it was difficult to tell in the dim glow. The circular room stretched out around him, the walls forming a rough circle, where strange culverts jutted from the rock, filled with some dark, viscous liquid.
He squinted his eyes, trying to make out the silhouette of Azra, already halfway across the room, dipping his hand into one of the culverts. Erec watched as his brother raised his dripping fingers to his nose, inhaling the scent with a curious frown. And then, without hesitation, Azra plunged the torch, their only source of light, into the liquid.
"Wait! What if-"
Erec's protest went on deaf ears.
The moment the flame touched the exotic liquid, it ignited, bursting into an eerie blue fire that leapt to life and raced around the room through the culverts. A circle of cold, unnatural light sprang up along the walls, illuminating the room in a vivid, otherworldly glow.
Erec winced as the sudden brightness burned into his eyes, still adjusted to the darkness. But as his vision cleared, he could finally see the room for what it was. The culverts traced the walls in a perfect ring, and where the blue flames danced, their flickering light cast deep shadows. Here and there, massive metallic chains stretched taut, disappearing into the stone like the roots of some ancient, unseen machinery.
But Erec's eyes were quickly drawn away from the chains to the center of the room, where something far more shocking was hanging. In the heart of the chamber, bound by seven thick chains, was the figure of a man.
Erec froze, a chill washing over him. The man hung limply in the center of the room, his body shrouded in the shadows cast by the great chains. Even from a distance, the tension in his bound form was unmistakable. Four of the chains coiled tightly around his arms and legs, holding him aloft. Another wrapped around his torso, pressing him close to the stone. A sixth chain circled his neck, tilting his head forward in a grim, unnatural pose. And the final chain crisscrossed over his face in an X, obscuring his eyes.
The sight was as mesmerizing as it was horrifying, a macabre monument to something ancient and foreboding. The figure seemed almost statuesque, frozen as if caught in an unnerving state between sleep and death.
Azra, of course, edged closer, his eyes alight with fascination and temptation. Erec felt his stomach twist as he called out, his voice barely more than a whisper:
"Azra… I have a bad feeling about this. Don't get any closer."
But Azra ignored him, leaning in to examine the figure with that same reckless curiosity that had gotten them into trouble a hundred times before. He leaned in, studying the figure's face, or what was visible of it. There was something menacing in its stillness, a barely contained power radiating from the seven thick chains, as though even they struggled to hold whatever lay bound before them.
Erec's mind raced as he took a step forward, not daring to look away from the bound figure.
"Azra. We need to leave. Now."
But Azra only grinned, his gaze locked on the figure in the chains.
"Come on, brother. This-"
But before he could finish, Azra made the mistake of brushing his arm against one of the chains, disturbing the heavy layer of dust that had settled there for untold ages.
For a split second, silence reigned. Then, as if in response, a piercing, unearthly scream ripped through the chamber, chilling the very air. Erec watched as Azra's body froze, his face twisting in agony and his mouth stretched in a scream of terror and pain that seemed to echo from deep within him.
"AZRA!"
Erec bolted across the room, not wasting a second. He reached Azra, grabbed him by the shoulders, and with all his strength wrenched him away from the ancient chains and their cursed prisoner. He dragged his brother back from the center of the room, practically throwing him clear of the chains before dropping down beside him, ears straining desperately for the sound of his breath. His heart pounded in his chest, until at last, he felt the shallow warmth of Azra's breath against his ear. Relief flooded him. His brother was alive.
But the sound that met Erec next, sent ice down his spine: the unmistakable, metallic rattle of chains shifting in the shadows.
Raising his head and dreading the sight that met him, Erec looked up toward the center of the room. There, barely visible through the flickering blue light, the figure bound in chains seemed to be stirring. The chains -once taut and unmoving- now shuddered as though something colossal was pushing against them from within.
Erec's mind whirled with terror and disbelief.
The heavy links groaned, straining as if they were being stretched to their breaking point.
"What have we done?" Erec whispered, his voice barely audible.